
. O > • 








^0 c " " ■= ♦ O 



'''^ A* 






•1 o 






c^'^. 




























0*0, 



O ' ...» A 
o > 

4 O 











.•iq. 




^* A 









' .^" 











.40 





yy . 




y^'s*'. 



.•i q. 



-'.-'. '> 



' /\v;7^'\ c°^^^%'^°o /\c;^/'\ '^^ ""° - 



i^' 









>i?^- 






.^*" .^"^'^. 











<*•, 







'■cr. ^<i' 







. ^^ A^ . 









.' A 






.'5^'' . 












'bV 









^ * » . » ' .«^ 






•n-0^ 

.^•^°- 










■.'.•,^'* -> V^ 




.•iq 






» ,'? 











A PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL 

6 Y -/ 

RECORD "^ 

OK 

PORTAGE AND SUMMIT 



COUTNTIES, OHLIO, 



CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY 



Prominent and Representative Citizens, 



TOGICTHEK WITH I'OKrHAITS AND MKKiK A I'M I I'.S ilK All llll 



P='RESIDENTS O F^ THE LJ N 1 T E D ESTATES, 



AM) liKKiKAI'llli'S ilK Till'. 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



LOGANSHORT, I N D. 

A. \V. BO WEN & CO. 
18©8. 



V- i-r 



O. '' 



FROM THE PRESS OF WILSON, HUMPHREYS k CO., 
FOURTH ST., LOGANSPORT, IND, 



'0/ 



INDEZX:. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Adams, J 29 

Adams, J. Q 45 

Arthur, C. A 117 

Buchanan, J 80 

Cleveland, S. G 121 

Fillmore. M 72 



Garfield, J. A 113 

Grant, U. S 102 

. Harrison, B 125 

^ Harrison, W. H 57 

Hayes, R. B 106 

/Jackson,, A 49 



t Jefferson, T 33 

,' Johnson, A 98 

/ Lincoln, A 84 

. McKinley, W 127 

, Madison, J 37 

1 Monroe, J 41 



'Pierce, F TK 

v'Polk, J. K 64 

V Taylor, Z 68 

Tyler, J 60 

/ Van Buren, M 6:^ 

• Washington, G 25 



PRESIDENTIAL PORTRAITS. 



Adams, J 28 

Adams, J. Q 44 

Arthur, C. A 116 

Buchanan, J 81 

Cleveland, S. G 120 

Fillmore, M 73 



Garfield, J. A 112 

Grant, U. S 103 

Harrison, B _ 124 

Harrison, W. H 56 

Hayes, R. B 107 

Jackson, A 48 



Jefferson, T. . 
Johnson, A.. . 
Lincoln, A. . . 
McKinley, W 
Madison, J. . . 
Monroe, J 



32 

99 

8.5 

127 

;{5 

40 



Pierce, F 77 

Polk, J. K 66 

Taylor, 7. 69 

Tyler. J 62 

\'an Buren, M 51 

Washington, G 24 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



Allen, W 156 

Anderson, C 1,52 

Bartley, M 143 

Bartley, T. W 142 

Bebb, W 143 

Bishop, R 157 

Brough, J 150 

Brown, E. A 136 

Bushnell, A. S 163 

Byrd, C. W 1,31 



Campbell, J. E 162 

Chase, S. P 147 

Corwin, T 141 

Cox, J. B 153 

Uennison, W. J 148 

Foraker, J. B 160 

Ford, S 145 

Foster, C 159 

Hayes, R. B 154 

Hoadly, G 160 



Huntingdon, S 133 

Kirker, T 133 

Looker, 135 

Lucas, R 139 

McArthur, 1) 138 

McKinley, W 162 

Medill, W 146 

Meigs, R.J 134 

Morrow, J 138 

Noyes, E. F 1.54 



.Shannon, W 140 

St. Clair, A 131 

Tiffin, E 132 

Tod, I 150 

Trumbull, A 138 

\ance, J 140 

Wood, R 146 

Worthington, I" 136 

Voung, T. L 166 



INDEX. 



PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES. 



Adams, B 107 

Adams, F 167 

Adams, W. H 988 

Akron Chemical Co.. 173 

Alford, W. V 3(59 

Allen, A 582 

Allen, G 1H8, 170 

Allen, 1 174 

Allen, G. L 170 

Allen, M.J 585 

Allen, P. L 578 

Allen, R. H 168 

Ailing, J 169 

Ailing, \V 169 

Allman, C 696 

Allman,J 696 

Andes, J 171 

Andes, P 171 

Arbogast, C 173 

Arbogast, J. A 172 

Aibuckle, T 759 

Aultnian, H 186 

Aultman, W 186 

Bailey, E.B., Mrs.... 180 

Bailey, G. VV 179 

Bailey, \V 180 

Baird, C 180 

Baird, R 180 

Baklwm, CO 883 

Baldwin, E. L 182 

Baldwin, H.. 708, 713,883 

Baldwin, H., Sr 708 

Baldwin, L.C 182 

Barber, j 183 

15arber, L 183 

Barber, M 183 

Barber, X. 1 183 

Barholt, B 692 

Barholt, H 691 

Barker, J 439 

Barker, L 439 

Barker, \V 439 

Barlow, F. F 595 

Barnard, B 692 

Barnard, J. B 692 

Barnes, C. E 722 

Barnes, P 722 

Barnes, S 722 

Barr, A 579 

Barr, J .580 

Bartholomew, C. A. . 881 

Bartholomew, J 881 

Bartholomew, J. P... 882 

Bartholomew, 5s'. S. . 705 

Bartholomew, W.... 881 

Bauer, F.J 184 

Bauer, J 184 

Bean, F. 1 217 

Beatty, H. L 191 

Beatty, J. C 191,192 

Beatty, R 191 

Beattv, S 191 

Becker, L. F 192 

Becker, M 192 



Beckley, N 194 

Beebe, H. Y 195 

Beebe, O. D 195 

Beebe, VV. H 195 

Benner, C. C 196 

Benner, H 196 

Benner, S 196 

Bennett, D 197 

Bennett, J. A '. ... 197 

Bergin, P 198 

Bergin, W 198 

Betz, A 199 

Betz, J 199 

Betz, J. B 199 

Bidleman, G 201 

Bidleman, J 201 

Bidleman, N. B 200 

BiUau, J 202 

Billow, G 202 

Bisho]), G. L .580^ 

Bissell, J. M 947 

Blackburn, T 600 

Blackburn, W 600 

Blackman, E. S .579 

Bliss, E., Mrs 612 

Bliss, F. W 581 

Bliss, L 582 

Boies, F. N 694 

Boies, F. W 693 

Boies, J 693 

Bolender, G 204 

Bolender, J 204 

Bolender, S.J 204 

Boosinger, C 209 

Boosinger, J 209 

Boslev, O 945 

Boughton, A. L 441 

Boughton, H. W.... 441 

Bower. J 705 

Bower, \V 703 

Bowers, F 205 

Bowers, H. F 205 

Bowers, 1 205 

Boyer, B. M 209 

Boyer, G 209, 211 

Boyer, M 211 

Bracklow, W.J 212 

Brewster, A 21.5, 696 

Brewster, A. K 214 

Brewster, G. \V 213 

Brewster, H 206 

Brewster, J. G. ..206, 508 

Brewster, J. H 206 

Brewster, S 214 

Briggs, H 702 

Briggs, X 703 

Brittain, J. T 587 

Brown, C. L 173 

Brown, 1 173 

Brown, J 213 

Brown, S 214 

Buck. H 440 

Buck, J. E 440 

Buck, O. H 440 

Buehrla, A 707 



Buehria, L 707 

Buel, G. M 589 

Buel, S .589 

Burroughs, A 591 

Burroughs, D 235 

Burroughs, L 590 

Burroughs, S 745 

Burt, M 216 

Burt, S. \V 216 

Burt, W 216 

Butler, F. \V 397 

Butler, H. W 397 

Byers, F 217 

Byers, J. F 217 

Cackler, C 218 

Cackler, C, Sr 219 

Cackler, T., Mrs 219 

Canfield, \Y. H 220 

Cannon, I 873 

Cannon, J 833 

Cannon, R. P 873 

Caris, J 221 

Caris, S 221 

Caris, W. 1 221 

Carr, O. B 443 

Carr, S 442 

Carson, D. D 714 

Carson, G 717 

Carter, A 591 

Carter, IT.S 691 

Carter, J. B 752 

Carter, T. A 756 

Case, A 312 

Case, C 596 

Case, H .593 

Case, H., Mrs 593 

Case, L 595 

Case, R 695 

Cassidy, J 717 

Cassidy, J., Sr 718 

Chalker, E 780 

Chalker,J 222 

Chalker, N 222 

Chamberlain, M 886 

Chamberlain, X 886 

Chamberlain, W. E.. 597 

Chapman, B 228 

Chapman, E. E 229 

Chapman, F. P 229 

Chapman, W. D 229 

Childs, D 223 

Childs.O. D 223 

Clapp, S. S 230 

Clark, B.F 224 

Clark, G. C 224 

Clark, M. D 718 

Cleaver, J. \" 231 

Cline, J 749 

Coe. E. J 888 

Cole, A. S 234 

Cole, B 232 

Cole, J 232, 233 

Conger, A. L 606 

Conger, J 726 



Conger, J. C 725 

Conaghan, C. C 598 

Conaghan, D 598 

Conn, E 236 

Coolman, D. C 234 

Coolman, W 234, 235 

Corbett, C 719 

Corbett, L. S 719 

Corbett, N 719 

Cornell, 1 946 

Courtney, F. E 238 

Cox, C 237 

Cox, C. L 237 

Cox, J 237 

Crane, CM 731 

Crane, E. M 721 

Crane Bros 720 

Crane, E. P 728 

Crane Family 720 

Crane, F. T . .' 727 

Cranz, D. E 239 

Crawford, C 728 

Crawford, J 728 

Crocker, A 794 

Crouse, G. W 165 

Culver, CH 240 

Cummings, C.W. A. TiO 
Cummings, M. B. . . . 730 

Cuthbert, J 241 

Cuthbert, S. B 240 

Cutis, D. B 773 

Cutts, R. B 771 

Danforth, M. C 609 

Danforth, \V 609 

Daniels, F. J 7.35 

Daniels, F. S 736 

Danner, P 249 

Danner, W 249 

Darrow, C 247 

Darrow, G 246 

Darrow, G. L 246 

Darrow, J 246 

DarroNV, L 242 

Darrow, X 246 

Darrow, W 242 

Davies, D 490 

Davis, A 740 

Davis, C M 248 

Davis, E 738 

Davis, E. S 737 

Davis, F.J 738 

Davis, G. S 446 

Davis, J 738 

Davis, J.C 444 

Davis, J. D 248 

Davis, M. H 443 

Davis, O. A 739 

Davis, W 445 

Deisman, H. L 609 

Deisman, W. H 608 

Dell, J 732 

Detweiler, S. D 740 

Dickerson, F 745 

Dickerson, W 745 



INDEX. 



Dickinson, A 

Dickinson, H. B. 
Dickinson, W. J. 
Dickinson, W. P 

Doolittle, A 

Doolittle, A., Mrs, 

Doolittle, B 

Doolittle, H. A.. 
Doyle, W. B. .. 
Doyle, W. B.. Sr 

Duncan, C 

Duncan. | 



248 
247 
447 
248 
747 
74o 
747 
747 
(il7 
618 
731 
731 



Ebright,G 24.5 

Ebnght, L. S 24.5 

Eckert, H. C 617 

Eldridge, E .582 

Ellsworth, H. F. . . . 616 

Ellsworth, H.F., Mrs. 616 

Ellsworth, H. L 617 

Everett, J 496 

Fairchild, E 250 

Fairchild, I. 250 

Fairchild, J 250 

Falor, G. A 252 

Falor, H.S... 252 

Farrell, J. J 261 

Farwell, C. H 619 

Fauhle, M 621 

Fauble, S 621 

Feederle, H. O 263 

Feederle, R 263 

Fehler, A 252 

Felmly, D. F 253 

Felmly, J 264 

Fenn, B 860 

Fenn, J 264 

Fenn, \.W 860 

Fenn, P 865 

Fenn, R 865 

Fenn, T 867 

Fenton, C 265 

Ferguson, R 747 

Ferguson, W 747 

Firestone, T. L 266 

Flath, P 256 

Flemings, G. W 748 

Flemings, R 749 

Foltz, D 266 

Foltz, G. K 268 

Foltz, H. H 267 

Foltz, M 257 

Foltz, VV. K 2.56 

Foote, E 259 

Foote, F 269 

Fosdick, M., Mrs 258 

Fowler, E 264 

France, E. E 260 

France, J 260 

Frank, D 267 

Frank, P 267 

Franks, E 269 

Franks, 1 269 

Franks, J 269 

Fritz, H. A 7.50 

Fritz, J 760 

Fritz, P 760 



Fry, J. S 756 

Fry, W 756 

Carl, R 435 

Garl, S 435 

Garrison, J 268 

Garrison, M. G 268 

Gaylord, C 7.57 

Gavlord, J 270,757 

Gaylord, .S 270,7.56 

Gaylord, S., Mrs 766 

Geidlinger, ¥ 271 

Genereaux, N. F.... 626 

George, T 812 

Geyelin, G 271 

Gilbert, C 751 

Gilbert,!" 751 

Gilbert, J. 1 272 

Gilbert, 272 

Gilmore, E., Miss.... 872 

Gondy, J 821 

Goodhue, N. P ... 284 

Goodman, R 694 

Graham, A 273 

Graham, C 273 

Graham, .S. H 449 

Grant, C. R 567 

Grant, H.C 274 

Grate, G. 768 

Grate, G.B '. . . 858 

Grate, L 758,769 

Gray, T. L 497 

Green, C 276 

Green, C. L., Mrs 277 

Green, G. B 276 

Green, S 276 

Grether, J 283 

Griest, C 628 

Griest, S 628 

Griffin, H. G 286 

Griffin, S. B 286 

Crinnell, \V 286 

Gross, C 482 

Grote, F 288 

Grundel, J 288 

Grundel,W. T 288 

Haas, A 769 

Haas, J 768 

Haines, J 854 

Hale, A 289,291 

Hale, CO 290 

Hale, J 291 

Hale, T 290 

Hall, A. C 294 

Hall, A. W 292 

Hall, C. A 294 

Hall, J 296 

Hall, J. A 295 

Hall, J. W 296,296 

Hall, R 292 

Hallock, A. H 451 

Hallock, G 451 

Hammel, C 296 

Hammel, P 296 

Hammond, C. R 304 

Hammond, F. P 304 

Hammond, J 304 

Hansel, W. M 948 



Harden, C 760 

Harden, J 760 

Harding, B 297 

Harding, E. F., Mrs. 298 

Harding, VV 298 

Harper, R.J 305 

Harr, J 794 

Harr, \V. H 793 

Harrintrtnn, F. I. . . . 631 

Harris," S. W 629 

Harris, V. (i 463 

Harris, W. H 630 

Hart, G. VV 306 

Hart, H 449 

Hart, H.J 307 

Hart, J. C 306 

Hart, R :i05 

Hartzell, D. H 7.59 

Hartzell, S 760 

H ask ins, A. M 767 

Haskins, M. E ... . 767 

Hathaway, J. A 638 

Hausnian, H. A 307 

Hausman, P 307 

Hawk, M 639 

Hawk, P 308 

Hawkins, E. A 309 

Hawkins, G.W 309 

Hayes, E 793 

Hayes, G 792 

Hayes, \V. T 791 

Haymaker, A. 0.-278,773 

Haymaker, F 783 

Havmaker, J. D..277,784 

Haymaker, M.R., Mrs 780 

Haynes, J 8.54 

Hazen, C.J 310 

Heath, T. E 311 

Heath, T. F 311 

Heighton, J 312 

Heimbaugh, G 640 

Heimbaugh, P 640 

Heifer, G. H 313 

Heifer, W. A 313 

Heller, C. P 641 

Heller, E 283 

Heller, L 641 

Hemlmg, K 314 

Hentz, H 769 

Hentz, P 769 

Hershey, A 316 

Hershey, B 316 

Hershey, E. A 316 

Hershey, G 317 

Hershev, J 315,318 

Hershev, O. R 317 

Hiddleson, C. S 790 

Hinman, J. B 779 

Hinman, L 458 

Hoffman, J. H 800 

Hnlcomb, E 321 

Holcomb, H 892 

Holcomb, VV 324 

H.ilcomb, VV. A.... 321 

Holcomb, VV. B 891 

Holloway.A ;^41 

Hollowav, J.T 323 

Holloway, W. F. ... *23 

Holt, M , 277 



Holzhauer, L 642 

Hopkins, 1 450 

Hopkins, R 450 

Hopkins, T 799 

Hopkins, T. T 799 

Horner, J 950 

Hough, VV. S 742 

Houser, D 326 

Houser, H. M 1326 

Housley, J. L ;«8 

Housley, I .328 

Hottenstein, E. K... *25 
Hottenstein, \V. J. . . 326 
Howard, A. B. L . . . . 303 

Howard, C. L 327 

Howe, H.VV 329 

Howe, R. K., Mrs... :i30 

Howe, S :^30 

Howe, VV. S 74^ 

Hubbard, E 839 

Hudson, H. F 331 

Hudson, J :331 

Huffman, A 796 

Huffman, VV 795 

Hugill, E 332 

HugiU,] 332 

Hulett, A : 332 

Hulett, G. VV 332 

H umphrey, 1 801 

Humphrey, VV 801 

Huntley, G. A 333 

Hurd, J 463 

Hurd. VV. E 463 

Isande, J.H SW, 336 

lacobs, T. K 340 

Jacobs, VV :J39 

Jacobs, VV. C .339 

Jagger, C. X 462 

Jagger, E 462 

Johnson, A 648 

Johnson, A. H 803 

Johnson, E. A 335 

Jolinson, J 341 

Johnson, J. H 642 

Johnson, M 336 

Johnson, N. A :i36 

Johnson, R. B Ml 

Johnson, P. VV 648 

Johnson, VV 643, 

Jones, D. D 802 

Jones, R. R 811 

Jones, J. D 802 

Jones, L 813 

lones, E. R 811 

Jordan, G 342 

Jordan, J 342 

Kelley, I. M 34:^ 

Kemery, J 336 

Kent Courier 373 

Kent, M 360 

Kent, VV. S 373 

Kent,/ 354 

Kibler, H 762,769 

Killefer, C 459 

KiUefer, H 459 

Kimball, VV. H 461 



INDEX. 



King.G.T 344 

King, -M 344 

Kinney, 13 345 

Kinsey, S 341! 

Kirn, O. C 347 

Kissel, 1 80o 

Kline, G. A 453 

Kline, H. P 462 

Kline, J T49 

Kline, P 347,453 

Koehler, C 809 

Kohler, A 348 

Kohler, A. A 348 

Kohler, J. A 885 

Krake, W. S 318 

Kreider, D 460 

Kreider, J 460 

Kreighbaum, A 205 

Kreighbaum, G 349 

Kreighbaum, J. W.. 349 
Kunkal, F 350 

Laudenslager, J., Jr.. 649 
Laudenslager, L . . . . 649 

Leach, G 895 

Lee, J.S 643 

Leisure, J 810,811 

Leonard, E 351 

Leonard, S 351 

Lepper, J. A 387 

Lepper, P 380 

Lewis, D 813 

Lewis, E. G 373 

Lewis, 1 812 

Lewis, T 812 

Lewis, W.T 811 

Limber, 1 650 

Limber, R 650 

Ling, J 813 

Linton, W. H 951 

Lockert, J 652 

Lockert, L. H 651 

Lodge, G.H 362 

Lodge, R. H 352 

Long,] 375, 821 

Long, L. M 375 

Long, P 821 

Love, W 374 

Love, W. H 374 

Loveland,A 815 

Loveland, S 815 

Low, H. R 436 

I,ow, I. R 436 

Low, M. C 436 

Lusk, C. M 652 

Lusk, M.A 653 

Lyons, J 822 

Lyons, J. B 822 

McCaslin, A 376 

McCaslin, G. B 376 

McCaslin, M. G:.... 376 

McConnell. J 377 

McConnell, W. H.... 377 

McCrum, J.H 654 

McFarland, A 378 

McGirr, H. C 823 

McGirr, 1 823 



McGowan, R.H 824 

.McKenzie, J 656 

McKenzie, R. A 655 

Madlem, 1 379 

Manderbach, B. F... 387 

Marquitt, J. E 658 

Marquitt, M. H 659 

Marquitt,/ 660 

Marshall, J.U 389 

Marshall, R. G 952 

Marshall, S. S 389 

Martin, B 656 

Martin, W. D 658 

Martin, W. M 657 

Marvin, D. L 391 

Marvin, J 390 

Marvin,]. C 390 

Marvin, ].S 390 

Marvin, U 391 

Marvin, U. L 391 

Mason, T. R 893 

Maxson,E. W 392 

Maxson,] 392 

Maxson, W 393 

Mead, A. R 825 

Mead. C. C 825 

Mendenhall, S 834 

Mendenhall, W. T.. 834 

Merkel, E. C 396 

Merkel, ]. E 394 

Merkel, .S 394 

Merrill, E. H 396 

Merrill, H.E 397 

Merts,C 400 

Merts, F 400 

Merwin, J 826 

Merwin, L. A 826 

Messenger, C 869 

Meyer, C 398 

Micle, VV. B 835 

Miles, L. C 399^ 

Miller, A. 399 

Miller, E 666, 834 

Miller, H 406 

Miller, H. A 406 

Miller, H. M 403 

Miller, J 403, 667 

Miller, M 466 

Miller, M. L 667 

Miller, N 399 

Miller, P.... 406, "666, 834 

Mills, G 836 

Mills, G. H 836 

Minich, H. G 404 

Minich, ] 404 

Minich, N. J. A 404 

Mishler, 1 962 

Moeck, ]. B 838 

Monegan, D 464 

Moore, J. F 418 

Moore, S 407 

Moore, S. R 847 

Morgan,] 889 

Morgan, I. A. . ..889 

Morris, H 408 

Morris, J. A 408 

Morriss, A 762 

Montenyohl, E. A... 388 
Motz, C 409 



Motz, J 409 

Mowen, U 839 

Mowen, W. E 839 

Murphy, T. L 849 

.Murphy, U 848 

Musser, H 409 

Musser, P. T 409 

Myers, A 412 

Myers, F" 464 

Myers, 1 849 

Myers. "S 849 

Myers, VV 849 

Myers, VV. H 412 

Napp, H.L 467 

Nash, E. K 465 

Nash, S 412 

Neeb, C 467 

Needham, V 241 

Nesbit, ] 472 

Nettleton, N 255 

Newman,] 298 

Newton, C. B 410 

Newton, J. B 411 

Newton,] 662 

Newton, L 662 

Newton, M. L 661 

Newton, R. P 411 

Nicola, M. ] 413 

Niman, A 860 

Niman, F 850 

North, J 432 

North, T 432 

North, S 433 

Northrop, C. E 855 

Northrop, C.T 856 

Northrop, R. S 855 

Norton, ] 774 

Norton, J. E 778 

Norton, S. D MS 

Norton, S. H 852 

Norton, T 774 

Notman, G 853 

Notman, ] 853 

Notman, W 853 

Odekirk, 1) 738 

Ogle, R 651 

Olin, A 278, 781 

Olin, E 780 

Otis, E. P 414 

Otis, ] 414 

Otis & Otis 414 

Oviatt, E 416 

Oviatt, H 415 

Oviatt, M 416 

Palmer, H. A 417 

Palmer, H. H 612 

Palmer, J. B 475 

Palmer, W 475 

Parker, J 853 

Parkhill, D 421 

Parkhill, W. H. C... 421 

Parks, C. T 422 

Parsons, E 422 

Parsons, E. A 422 



Parsons, T. G 424 

Patton, ] 426 

Patton, W. W 426 

Paulus, A 172 

Payne, S 668 

Peck, A 669 

Peck, H. A 669 

Peckham, A. E 425 

Peckham, B 425 

Pell, H.S 427 

Pell, W. M 427 

Perkins, S 428 

Perry, ].W 429 

Perry, S 429 

Perry, S. W 670 

Pettingell, H 671 

Pettingell, W 671 

Phillips, C 430 

Phillips, ] 859 

Phillips, L. ] 858 

Phillips, T. G 429 

Pickens, S 823 

Pierce, L. B 678 

Pierce, N 679 

Pierce, R 907 

Pierce, S 430 

Plum, B 432 

Plum, H .352, 431 

Plum, ] 431 

Porter, A 433 

Porter, C 680 

Porter, H. T 679 

Porter, ]. L iSS 

Porter, S 4:^3 

Powers, A 469 

Powers, A. M 469 

Powers, ] 470 

Pressler. W 434 

Randall, H. S 856 

Randall, W 856 

Randolph, T .575 

Ravenna Republican 890 

Redding, W 471 

Reed, A 476 

Reed, C. A 476 

Reed, L 477 

Reed, O : 869 

Reed, O. F 868 

Reeves, S. C 823 

Reid, I. N 478 

Reid. J. C 478 

Reid, ]. L ,526 

Reis, F 479 

Reis,\' 479 

Rettig, A 453 

Rhodes, F 481 

Rhodes, G 481 

Rhodes, L. H 481 

Rice, C 870 

Rice, C, Miss 767 

Rice, G. O 482 

Rice, H. H 869 

Riedinger, P. ] 480 

Rineharl, A. B 483 

Riley, E 870 

Riley, L., Mrs 870 

Risk. G 486 

Risk, R, M 486 



INDEX. 



Rittersbach, U 876 

Robinson, J 875 

Robinson, R 874 

Rockwell, D. L 484 

Rockwell. O. S 485 

Rodenbaiiijh, J 487 

Rodenbaugh, L. E. . 487 

Rodenbaugh, P 487 

Rogers, J. M 489 

Rogers, S. G 489 

Roppel, J 890 

Rotherniel, P 498 

• Rothtrock, S. S 498 

Rowland, E 880 

Rowland, W 880 

Rowley, A. j 495 

Rowley, E 495 

Rowley,W 495 

Royer, j 880 

Rubbins, A tj80 

Rubbins, J 185 

Rubbins, J. H 681 

Rugg, C. E 496 

Rugg, E 496 

Ruple, A. C 681 

Ruple, S.. 682 

Rush, C. F 683 

Rush, I. W 684 

Russell, S. E., Miss.. 877 

Russell, F. P 497 

Russell, J 877 

Russell, L 878 

Russell, N 498 

Russell, W 877 

Sackett, A 500 

Sackett, G 499 

.Sackett, H 499 

Sanford, H. C 498 

Sanford, J 498 

Sargent. A. H 501 

Sargent, G. A 501 

Sargent, J 501 

Sauder, B 502 

Sauder, H. K .502 

.Sawyer, U .504 

Sawyer, V. P .508 

Sawyer, W. T .504 

•Schnee, F 506 

Schnee, J. K 506 

Schoch, C 894 

Schultz, H 507 

Schumacher, F. W . . 511 

.Schweitzer, F 512 

Schweitzer, L. G , . . . 512 

Scott, W^ 953 

Season, E. A 892 

-Seiberling, G 514 

Seymour, G 549 

Seymour, G. I) .5.50 

Seymour, J .5.50 

SeynuHir, J. H 518 

Seymour, R 518 

.Shall, E. 1 515 

Shall, K 51tl 

Sharp, I 625 

Sharp, j. E 625 

Shaw, F. J 517 

Shaw, G. A 517 



Shaw, J. F 516 

Shaw, M .516 

Sherman, .A. M .518 

Sherman, H 519 

.Shoemaker, J 896 

Shoemaker, J. P 895 

Shuman, A. P 898 

Shumway, D 518 

Silver, A 898 

Silver, D 898 

-Silver, J. B 898 

Sisler, A .522 

Sisler, J .520 

Sisler, I .520 

Sisler, L. E .528 

Skinner, C 896 

Skinner, W 896 

Smallev, D 900 

Smalley, H. D 900 

Smith, E 866 

Smith, E. C 901 

Smith, G. D 902 

Smith, J .524 

Smith, W. G .524 

Snook, G .525 

Snook, G. J .525 

Snyder, I ,525 

Snyder, P. 1 525 

Sorrick, P 204 

Sothniayd, W 758 

Spangler, A. G 529 

Spangler, I. H 530 

Spangler, J .529 

Sperry, A 828 

Sperry, I. P 903 

Sperry, L 828, 903 

Sperrv, X 828 

Spicer, M 307, .586 

Spires, F. H 907 

Sprenkel, C. O .581 

Stamm, J .532 

Stamm, VV. H 532 

Stanford, C. J 638 

Stanford, 954 

.Stark, B 886 

•Stautfer, J. B 905 

Steele, H .587 

Steele, I .536 

Steele, St. C 535 

Steele, T. A 638 

Stein, H .539 

.Stein, U 581 

Stem, J 532 

.Stein, VV. H .5:38 

Stetler, J. A 540 

Stillman, E 727 

.Stine, H 387 

.Stocker, A. W .542 

Stocking O. C 906 

Stone, N. B 542 

Stow, A. C 908 

.Stow, W 908 

Straight, H. P 910 

Striker, C 912 

Striker, G. G 912 

.Stump, E 543 

.Stump. J 643 

Stutzman, A. B 664 

Stutzman, H .564 



Sweeney, J. S 965 

Swigart, H 552 

Swigart, J .552 

Swmehart, 15 .544 

Swinehart, S .544 

Switzer, C 632 

Switzer, D. S 638 

Switzer, J.B 632 

Taylor, C 914 

Taylor, E. R 554 

Taylor, G 914 

Tavlur, H 914 

Taylor, L.K -554 

Taylor, -S. A 552 

Taylor, \V. B 552 

Thein.J 656 

Thein, P 556 

Thomas, J 915 

Thomas, 915 

Thomas, \V 916 

Thompson, H. C 919 

Thompson, 1 918 

Thompson, M, .566 

Thompson, R. W.... 918 
Thompson, V. M.,Mrs 556 

Thorp, J. M 921 

Thorp, M.B 921 

Tibbals, N. D .569 

Tilden, D. C 445 

Tifft.C 789 

Tifft, J. D .560 

Tifft, S. U 560 

Tinker, A. B 667 

Townsend, E 924 

Townsend, C. P 922 

Townsend. W. R... 924 

Traster. C. E .562 

Traster, D .563 

Treat. S 600 

TruesdallC. M 926 

Truesdall, C. T 926 

Tucker, A 926 

Tucker, 926 

Turner, C. A 921 

Twitchell.A 661 

Twitchell, L 661 

Udall, F. M 927 

Udall, G 928 

Underwood, E 570 

Underwood, L .570 

Upson, J. A 568 

Upson, A 930 

Upson. R 568 

Upson, R.P 928 

\ail, C 931 

\ an Nostran, J 932 

Van Nostran, S. R... 931 

\iall, A. A 677 

\-iall. K. D 677 



\V adsworlh, E. D. 
Wadsworth, S. E . 

Wagoner, .A 

Waggoner, J 



.. 933 



572 
.570 



Waggoner, W 573 

Waite, J ,576 

Waldo, E. A 676 

Walker, A 984 

Walker, H. D 934 

Wanamaker, R. M.. 935 

Warner, A 937 

Warner, A. E 937 

Warner, j 936 

Warner, W. A 936 

Waterman, G. L 846 

Waterman, L., Mrs... 845 

Watkins, J 248 

Weary, S 938 

Weary, S. B 938 

Weaver, D. E 200 

Webb, C. B 939 

Webb, J 941 

Webb, R. S 941 

Weir, E. W 940 

Weir, W. H 940 

Wenkler, A 942 

Werstler, J 944 

Weston, C. J., Mr.s... 948 

Weston, F. S 943 

Wetmore, E. B., Mrs. 957 

Wetniore, H 957 

Weyrick, D 640 

Weyrick, J. W 959 

Weyrick, N. M 959 

Wheeler, F. H 961 

Whipple, C.H 960 

Whipple, J 960 

White, C 414 

Whitestine, A 796 

Whittelsey, E 961 

Whittelsey, J. H 962 

Wightman, C. A. . . . 665 

Wilcox, A. H 963 

Wilco.\, F. A 965 

Wilcox, G. A 963 

Wilcox, 964 

Wilcox, W 963 

Wilcox, W. L 962 

Wild. F 966 

Wild. S. C 966 

Wilhelm. A. 1 966 

Williams, J. T 969 

Williams, T. J 966 

Williams, T. R 968 

Williams, W. L 967 

Willard, C. A 790 

Willard, J. 784 

Willard, R. L 784 

Willsey, H. T 816 

Willscy, W. J 816 

Wilmot, W. A 971 

Wilson, A 970 

Wilson. C. G 972 

Wilson. C. L 974 

Wilson, D 758 

Wilson, F. C 972 

Winchel, J 882 

Wingerter, J 974 

Wingerter, L 974 

Wise, j 644 

Wise, J. E 975 

Wise, J. K 973 

Wise, S.N 201 



10 



INDEX. 



Wise, W. 644 

Wolcott, A 976 

Wolcott, S. P 976 

Wolfcomer, H 806 

Wolfcomer, J 806 

Woods, A. T 979 

Woods, J. B 979 



Woodbridge, D 684 

Woodbridge, F. W.. 684 
Woodbridge, M. A., 

Mrs 690 

Wright, A 592 

Wright, E 977 

Wright, F. H 977 



Wuchter, J 978 

Wuchter, J. H 978 

Wyckoff, J. V 979 

Wyckoff, T 980 

Young, A. B 98'2 

Young, C 984 



Young, H. D 980 

Young, S 981 

Young, W. E 983 

Youtz, W. H 985 

Zook, J 987 

Zook, J. A 987 



PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTY PORTRAITS AND VIEWS. 



Allen, A 583 

Allen, J 176 

Allen, I., Mrs 177 

Allman, J 698 

Allman, J., Mrs 699 

Auhman, H 188 

Aultman, H., Mrs.... 189 
Arbogast, J. A 172 

Baldwin, H.. Sr 715 

Baldwin, H., Jr 710 

Baldwin, H., Mrs.... 711 

Barnard, J. B 693 

Barnes, C. E 723 

Bishop, Geo. L 580 

Blackburn, T 602 

Blackburn, T., Mrs.. 603 

Bliss, A. W 613 

Brewster, J. G 509 

Brewster, J. H 207 



Carter, J. B... 
Clark, B. F... 
Crouse, G. W.. 



753 
225 
164 



Davies, D 491 

Dell, J 733 

Deisman, W. H 608 



Ebright, L. S.. 



244 



Feederle, H.0 262 

Fenn, R 862 

Fenn, T 863 

Griffin, H.G 285 

Hayes, W. T 791 

Hough, W. S 743 

Howard, A. B. L... 300 

Kent, M 364 

Kent, M., Mrs 365 

Kent, Z 356 

Kent, Z., Mrs 357 

Krake, W. S 319 

Lepper, P 382 

Lepper, P., Mrs 383 



Low, H. R . . 
Lusk, C. M 



437 
652 



McCrum 654 

Merts, C 401 

Moore, J. F 419 

Morriss, A 764 

Morriss, S., Mrs 765 

Musser, H 409 

Myers, F 455 



Nesbit J 
Norton, 1 



Parsons, E. A. 



.. 473 
.. 775 

. . 423 



Reid, J. L.... 
Reid, J., Mrs 



526 
527 



.Seymour, G 546 

Seymour, G., \Irs 547 

Sharp, I. E 624 

Sperrv.N 830 

Sperry, X., Mrs 831 



Stutzman, A. B 565 

Switzer, J. B 634 

Switzer, J. B., Mrs... 635 



Tibbals, N. D.. 



559 



Viall, A. A 674,677 

Viall, A. A., Mrs ... 675 

Waterman, L 842 

Waterman, G. L 843 

Whitestine, A 797 

Wightman, C. .\ 664 

WiUard, R. L 786 

Willard, R.L.,Mrs... 787 

Willsey, W.J 818 

Willsey,W.J., Mrs.. 819 

Wise, O. W 645 

Wolfcomer, H 807 

Woodbridge, F. W.. 686 
Woodbridge, F. W., 

Mrs 687 



Young, W. E. 



983 



Fair Oaks . 



301 



Marvin Kent Residence 371 f' 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



his name. It was an exciting campaign. 
Party spirit was never more bitter. Two 
hundred and sixty electoral votes were cast. 
Andrew Jackson received ninety-nine; John 
Quincy Adams, eighty-four; William H. Craw- 
ford, forty-one; Henry Clay, thirty-seven. 
As there was no choice by the people, the 
question went to the house of representatives. 
Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. 
Adams, and he was elected. 

Mr, Adams was, to a very remarkable de- 
gree, abstemious and temperate in his habits; 
always rising early, and taking much exercise. 
When at his home in Quincy, he has been 
known to walk, before breakfast, seven miles 
to Boston. In Washington, it was said that 
he was the first man up in the city, lighting 
his own fire and applying himself to work in 
his library often long before dawn. 

On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams 
retired from the presidency, and was suceeded 
by Andrew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was 
elected vice president. The slavery question 
now began to assume portentous magnitude. 
Mr. Adams returned to Quincy. and to his 
studies, which he pursued with unabated zeal. 
But he was not long permitted to remain in 
retirement. In November, 1830, he was 
elected representative to congress. For sev- 
enteen years, until his death, he occupied the 
post as representative, ever ready to do brave 
battle for freedom, and winning the title of 
"the old man eloquent." Upon taking his 
seat in the house, he announced that he should 
hold himself bound to no party. He was 
usually the first in his place in the morning, 
and the last to leave his seat in the evening. 
Not a measure could be brought forward and 
escape his scrutiny. The battle which Mr. 
Adams fought almost singly, against the 
proslavery party in the government, was sub- 
lime in its moral daring and heroism. For 
persisting in presenting petitions for the aboli- 



tion of slavery, he was threatened with i Jict- 
ment by the grand jury, with expulsioi from 
the house, and also with assassination, but 
no threats could intimidate him and his final 
triumph was complete. 

On the 2 1st of February, 1848, he rose on 
the floor of congress, with a paper in his hand, 
to address the speaker. Suddenly he fell, 
again stricken by paralysis, and was caught in 
the arms of those around him. For a time he 
was senseless, as he was conveyed to the 
sofa in the rotunda. With reviving conscious- 
ness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around 
and said: "This is the end of earth;" then, 
after a moment's pause, he added, "I am 
content. " These were the last words of the sixth 
president. 

HNDREW JACKSON, the seventh 
president of the United States, was 
born in Waxhaw settlement, N. C. , 
March 15, 1767, a few days after his 
father's death. His parents were from Ireland, 
and took up their abode in Waxhaw settle- 
ment, where they lived in deepest poverty. 

Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally 
called, grew up a very rough, rude, turbulent 
boy. His features were coarse, his form un- 
gainly; and there was but very little in his char- 
acter, made visible, which was attractive. 

When only thirteen years old he joined the 
volunteers of Carolina against the British in- 
vasion. In 1 78 1, he and his brother Robert 
were captured and imprisoned for a time at 
Camden. A British officer ordered him to 
brush his mud-spattered boots. " I am a 
prisoner of war, not your servant," was the 
reply of the dauntless boy. The brute drew 
his sword, and aimed a desperate blow at the 
head of the helpless young prisoner. Andrew 
raised his hand, and thus recived two fearful 
gashes — one on the hand and the other upon 
the head. The officer then turned to his 



50 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



brother Robert with the same demand. He 
also refused, and received a blow from the 
keen-edged saber, which quite disabled him, 
and which probably soon after caused his 
death. They suffered much other ill-treat- 
ment, and were finally stricken with the small- 
pox. Their mother was successful in obtain- 
ing their e.xchange, and took her sick boys 
home. After a long illness Andrew recovered, 
and the death of his mother soon left him en- 
tirely friendless. 

Andrew supported himself in various ways, 
such as working at the saddler's trade, teaching 
school and clerking in a general store, until 
1784, when he entered a law office at Salis- 
bury, N. C. In 1788, he was appointed solicit- 
or for the western district of North Carolina, 
of which Tennessee was then apart. This in- 
volved many long and tedious journeys amid 
dangers of every kind, but Andrew Jackson 
never knew fear. 

In 1 79 1, Jackson was married to a woman 
who supposed herself divorced from her former 
husband. Great was the surprise of both 
parties, two years later, to find that the con- 
ditions of the divorce had just been definitely 
settled by the first husband. The marriage 
ceremony was performed a second time, but 
the occurrence was often used by his enemies 
to bring Mr. Jackson into disfavor. During 
these years he worked hard at his profession, 
and frequently had one or more duels on hand, 
one of which, when he killed Dickinson, was 
especially disgraceful. 

In January, 1796, the territory of Tennes- 
see then containing nearly 80,000 inhabitants, 
the people met in convention at Knoxville to 
frame a constitution. Five were sent from each 
of the eleven counties. Andrew Jackson was 
one of the delegates. The new state was en- 
titled to but one member in the national house 
of representatives. Andrew Jackson was 
chosen that member. Mounting his horse he 



rode to Philadelphia, where congress then 
held its sessions — a distance of about 800 
miles. 

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the 
democratic party. Jefferson was his idol. He 
admired . Bonaparte, loved France and hated 
England. As Jackson took his seat. Gen. 
Washington, whose second term of office was 
then expiring, delivered his last speech to 
congress. A committee drew up a compli- 
mentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson 
did not approve of the address, and was one 
of the twelve who voted against it. He was 
not willing to say that Gen. Washington's 
administration had been "wise, firm and 
patriotic. " 

Jackson was elected to the United States 
senate in 1797, but soon resigned. Soon after 
he was chosen judge of the supreme court of 
his state, which position he held for six years. 

When the war of 1812 with Great Britain 
commenced, Madison occupied the presidential 
chair. Aaron Burr sent word to the president 
that there was an unknown man in the west, 
Andrew Jackson, who would do credit to a 
commission if one were conferred upon him. 
Just at that time Gen. Jackson offered his 
services and those of 2,500 volunteers. His 
offer was accepted, and the troops were assem- 
bled at Nashville. As the British were hourly 
expected to make an attack upon New Orleans, 
where Gen. Wilkinson was in command, he 
was ordered to descend the river with 1,500 
troops to aid Wilkinson. The expedition 
reached Natchez, and after a delay of several 
weeks there, the men were ordered back to 
their homes. But the energy Gen. Jack.son 
had displayed, and his entire devotion to the 
comfort of his soldiers, won him golden 
opinions; and he became the most popular man 
in the state. It was in this expedition that his 
toughness gave him the rickname of ''Old 
Hickory." 




MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



PRESIDENTS OV THE IMTED vSTATES. 



53 



Soon after this, while attempting to horse- 
whip Col. Thomas H. Benton, for a remark 
that gentleman made about his taking a part 
as second in a duel, in which a younger brother 
of Benton's was engaged, he received two 
severe pistol wounds. While he was lingering 
upon a bed of suffering news came that the 
Indians, who had combined under Tecumseh 
from Florida to the lakes, to exterminate the 
white settlers, were committing the most 
awful ravages. Decisive action became neces- 
sary. Gen. Jackson, with his fractured bone 
just beginning to heal, his arm in a sling, and 
unable to mount his horse without assistance, 
gave his amazing energies to the raising of an 
army to rendevous at Fayettesville, Ala. 

The Creek Indians had established a strong 
fort on one of the bends of the Tallapoosa 
river, near the center of Alabama, about fifty 
miles below Fort Strother. With an army of 
2,000 men. Gen. Jackson traversed the path- 
less wilderness in a march of eleven days. He 
reached their fort, called Tohopeka or Horse- 
shoe, on the 27th of March, 18 14. The bend 
of the river inclosed 100 acres of tangled 
forest and wild ravine. Across the narrow 
neck the Indians had constructed a formidable 
breastwork of logs and brush. Here 900 war- 
riors, with an ample supply of arms, were as- 
sembled. The fort was stormed. The fight 
was utterly desperate. Not an Indian would 
accept of quarter. When bleeding and dying, 
they would fight those who endeavored to spare 
their lives. From ten in the morning until 
dark, the battle raged. The carnage was awful 
and revolting. Some threw themselves into 
the river; but the unerring bullet struck their 
heads as they swam. Nearly every one of the 
900 warriors was killed. This closing of the 
Creek war enabled us to concentrate all our 
militia upon the British, who were the allies of 
the Indians. No man of less resolute will than 
Gen. Jackson could have conducted this Indian 



campaign to so successful an issue. Immedi- 
ately he was appointed major-general. 

Late in August, with an army of 2,000 
men, on a rushing march. Gen. Jackson went 
to Mobile. A British fleet came from Pensa- 
cola, landed a force upon the beach, anchored 
near the little fort, and from both ship and 
shore commenced a furious assault. The battle 
was long and doubtful. At length one of the 
ships was blown up and the rest retired. 

Garrisoning Mobile, Jackson moved his 
troops to New Orleans, and the battle of New 
Orleans, which soon ensued, was in reality a 
very arduous campaign. Here his troops, 
which numbered about 4,000 men, won a 
signal victory over the British army of about 
9,000. His loss was but thirteen, while the 
loss of the British was 2,600. 

The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to 
be mentioned in connection with the presi- 
dency, but, in 1824, he was defeated by Mr. 
Adams. He was, however, successful in the 
election of 1828, and was re-elected for a 
second term in 1832. In 1829, he met with 
the most terrible affliction of his life m the 
death of his wife. At the expiration of his two 
terms of office he retired to the Hermitage, 
where he died June 8, 1845. The last years 
of Jackson's life were that of a devoted chris- 
tian man. 



QARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth 
president of the United States, was 
born at Kinderhook, N. Y., Decem- 
ber 5, 1782. He died at the same 
place, July 24, 1862, and his body rests in the 
cemetery at Kinderhook. Above it is a plain 
granite shaft fifteen feet high, bearing a sim- 
ple inscription about half way up on the face. 
The lot is unfenced, unbordered or unbounded 
by shrub or flower. His ancestors, as his 
name indicates, were of Dutch origin, and 



u 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



were among the earliest emigrants from Hol- 
land to the banks of the Hudson. His father 
was a farmer, residing in the old town of 
Kinderhook. His mother, also of Dutch 
lineage, was a woman of superior intelligence 
and exemplary piety. At the age of fourteen, 
he had finished his academic studies in his na- 
tive village, and commenced the study of law. 
As he had not a collegiate education seven 
years of study in a law office were required of 
him before he could be admitted to the bar. 
Inspired with a lofty ambition, and conscious 
of his powers, he pursued his studies with in- 
defatigable industry. After spending six years 
in an office in his native village, he went to 
the city of New York, and prosecuted his 
studies for the seventh year. 

In 1803, Van Buren, then twenty-one 
years of age, commenced the practice of law 
in his native village. The great conflict be- 
tween the federal and republican parties was 
then at its height. Van Buren was in cordial 
sympathy with Jefferson, and earnestly and 
eloquently espoused the cause of state rights; 
though at that time the federal party held the 
supremacy both in his town and state. His 
success and increasing reputation led him after 
six years of practice, to remove to Hudson, 
the county seat of his county. Here he spent 
seven years, constantly gaining strength by 
contending in the courts with some of the 
ablest men who have adorned the bar of his 
state. 

Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, 
Mr.VanBuren married a lady alike distinguished 
for beauty and accomplishments. After 
twelve short years she sank into the grave, 
the victim of consumption, leaving her hus- 
band and four sons to weep over her loss. In 
181 2, when thirty years of age, he was chosen \ 
to the state senate, and gave his strenuous 
support to Mr. Madison's administration. In 
181 5, he was appointed attorney general, and 



the next year moved to Albany, the capital of 
the state. 

While he was acknowledged as one of the 
most prominent leaders of the democratic 
party, he had the moral courage to avow that 
true democracy did not require that "univer- 
sal suffrage" which admits the vile, the de- 
graded, the ignorant, to the right of governing 
the state. In true consistency with his demo- 
cratic principles, he contended that, while 
the path leading to the privilege of voting 
should be open to every man without distinc- 
tion, no one should be invested with that 
sacred prerogative, unless he were in some 
degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue 
and some property interests in the welfare of 
the state. 

In 1 82 1 he was elected a member of the 
United States senate, and in the same year he 
took a seat in the convention to revise the 
constitution of his native state. His course in 
this convention secured the approval of men 
of all parties. In the senate of the United 
States, he rose at once to a conspicuous posi- 
tion as an active and useful legislator. In 
1S27, John Quincy Adams being then in the 
presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re- 
elected to the senate. He had been, from the 
beginning, a determined opposer to the ad- 
ministration, adopting the state rights view in 
opposition to what was deemed the federal 
proclivities of Mr. Adams. 

Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen 
governor of the state of New York, and ac- 
cordingly resigned his seat in the senate. 
Probably no one in the United States con- 
tributed so much towards ejecting John Q. 
Adams from the presidential chair, and placing 
in it Andrew Jackson, as did Martin Van 
Buren. Whether entitled to the reputation 
or not, he certainly was regarded throughout 
the United States as one of the most skillful, 
sagacious and cunning politicians. It was sup- 




WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



57 



posed that no one knew so well as he how to 
touch the secret springs of action; how to pull 
all the wires to put his machinery in motion; 
and how to organize a political army which 
would, secretly and stealthily, accomplish the 
most gigantic results. By these powers it is 
said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay, 
Mr. Webster, and secured results which few 
thought then could be accomplished. 

When Andrew Jackson was elected presi- 
dent, he appointed Mr. Van Buren secretary 
of state. This position he resigned in 1831, 
and was immediately appointed minister to 
England, where he went the same autumn. 
The senate, however, when it met, refused to 
ratify the nomination, and he returned home, 
apparently untroubled; .was nominated vice 
president in the place of Calhoun, at the re- 
election of President Jackson; and with smiles 
for all and frowns for none, he took his place 
at the head of that senate which had refused 
to confirm his nomination as ambassador. His 
rejection by the senate aroused all the zeal 
of President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated 
favorite; and this, probably more than any 
other cause, secured his elevation to the chair 
of the chief executive. On the 20th of May, 
1836, Van Buren received the democratic nom- 
ination to succeed Gen. Jackson as president 
of the United States. He was elected by a 
handsome majority, to the delight of the retir- 
ing president. 

His administration was filled with exciting 
events. The insurrection in Canada, which 
threatened to involve this country in war with 
England, the agitation of the slavery question, 
and finally the great commercial panic which 
spread over the country, all were trials to his 
wisdom. The financial distress was attributed 
to the management of the democratic party, 
and brought the president into such disfavor 
that he failed of re-election. With the ex- 
ception of being nominated for the presidency 



by the free soil democrats, in 1848, Mr. V^n 
Buren lived quietly upon his estate until his 
death. 

He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal 
habits, and, living within his income, had now 
fortunately a competency for his declining 
years. It was on the 4th of March, 1841, 
that Mr. Van Buren retired from the presidency. 
From his fine estate at Lindenwald, he still 
exerted a powerful influence upon the politics 
of the country. From this time until his death, 
on the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty 
years, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman 
of leisure, of culture and of wealth; enjoying 
in a healthy old age, probably far more happi- 
ness than he had before experienced amid the 
stormy scenes of his active life. 



*ILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, the 
ninth president of the United 



\\J\ States; was born at Berkeley, Va., 
Feb. 9, 1773. His father, Benja- 
min Harrison, was in comparatively opulent 
circumstances, and was one of the most dis- 
tinguished men of his day. He was an inti- 
mate friend of George Washington, was early- 
elected a member of the continental congress, 
and was conspicuous among the patriots of 
Virginia in resisting the encroachments of the 
British crown. In the celebrated congress of 
1775, Benjamin Harrison and John Hancock 
were both candidates for the office of speaker. 

Mr. Harrison was subsequently chosen 
governor of Virginia, and was twice re-elected. 

Having received a thorough common- 
school education, William Henry Harrison 
entered Hampden Sidney college, where he 
graduated with honor soon after the death of 
his father. He then repaired to Philadelphia 
to study medicine under the instructions of 
Dr. Rush and the guardianship of Robert 



58 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Morris, both of whom were, with his father, 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, 
and notwithstanding the remonstrances of his 
friends, he abandoned his medical studies and 
entered the army, having obtained a commis- 
sion of ensign from President Washington. He 
was then but nineteen j'ears old. From that 
time he passed gradually upward in rank until 
he became aid to Gen. Wayne, after whose 
death he resigned his commission. He was 
then appointed secretary of the Northwestern 
territory. This territory was then entitled to 
but one member in congress, and Capt. Harri- 
son was chosen to fill that position. 

In the spring of 1800 the Northwestern 
territory was divided by congress into two 
portions. The eastern portion, comprising 
the region now embraced in the state of Ohio, 
was called "The Territory northwest of the 
Ohio." The western portion, which included 
what is now called Indiana, Illinois, and Wis- 
consin, was called the "Indiana territory." 
William Henry Harrison, then twenty-seven 
years of age, was appointed, by John Adams, 
governor of the Indiana territory, and imme- 
diately after, also governor of upper Louisi- 
ana. He was thus ruler over almost as 
extensive a realm as any sovereign upon the 
globe. He was superintendent of Indian af- 
fairs, and was invested with powers nearly 
dictatorial over the now rapidly increasing 
white population. The ability and fidelity 
with which he discharged these responsible 
duties may be inferred from the fact that he 
was four times appointed to this office — first 
by John Adams, twice by Thomas Jefferson 
and afterward by President Madison. 

When he began his administration there 
were but three white settlements in that al- 
most boundless region, now crowded with 
cities and resounding with all the tumult of 
wealth and traffic. One of these settlements 



was on the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville; 
one at Vincennes, on the Wabash, and the 
third a French settlement. 

The vast wilderness over which Gov. Har- 
rison reigned was filled with many tribes of 
Indians. About the year 1806, two extraordi- 
nary men, twin brothers, of the Shawnee 
tribe, rose among them. One of these was 
called Tecumseh, or "The Crouching Pan- 
ther;" the other, Olliwacheca, or "The Pro- 
phet." Tecumseh was not only an Indian 
warrior, but a man of great sagacity, far- 
reaching foresight and indomitable persever- 
ance in any enterprise in which he might en- 
gage. He was inspired with the highest 
enthusiasm, and had long regarded with dread 
and with hatred the encroachments of the 
whites upon the hunting grounds of his fath- 
ers. His brother, the Prophet, was an orator, 
who could sway the feelings of the untutored 
Indian as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath 
which they dwelt. 

Gov. Harrison made many attempts to 
conciliate the Indians, but at last the war 
came, and at Tippecanoe the Indians were 
routed with great slaughter. October 28, 
1 81 2, his army began its march. When near 
the Prophet's town three Indians of rank made 
their appearance and inquired why Gov. Har- 
rison was approaching them in so hostile an 
attitude. After a short conference, arrange- 
ments were made for a meeting the next day, 
to agree upon terms of peace. But Gov. Har- 
rison was too well acquainted with the Indian 
character to be deceived by such protestations. 
Selecting a favorable spot for his night's en- 
campment, he took every precaution against 
surprise. His troops were posted in a hollow 
square, and slept upon their arms. The 
troops threw themselves upon the ground for 
rest; but every man had his accoutrements 
on, his loaded musket by his side, and his 
bayonet fixed. The wakeful governor, between 



PRESIDEXTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



59 



three and four o'clock in the morning, had 
risen and was sitting in conversation with his 
aids by the embers of a waning fire. It was a 
chill, cloudy morning with a drizzling rain. 
In the darkness, the Indians had crept as near 
as possible, and just then, with a savage yell, 
rushed with all the desperation which supersti- 
tion and passion most highly inflamed could 
give, upon the left flank of the little army. 
The savages had been amply provided with 
guns and ammunition by the English. Their 
war-whoop was accompanied by a shower of 
bullets. The camp-fires were instantly extin- 
guished, as the light aided the Indians in their 
aim. With hideous yells, the Indian bands 
rushed on, not doubting a speedy and entire 
victory. But Gen. Harrison's troops stood as 
immovable as the rocks around them until day 
dawned; they then made a simultaneous charge 
with the bayonet, and swept everything before 
them, and completely routed the foe. Gov. 
Harrison now had all his energies tasked to the 
utmost. The Pritish, descending from the Can- 
adas, were of themselves a very formidable 
force; but with their savage allies, rushing like 
wolves from the forest, searching out every 
remote farm house, burning, plundering, scalp- 
ing, torturing, the wide frontier was plunged 
into a state of consternation which even the 
most vivid imagination can but faintly con- 
ceive. Gen. Hull had made the ignominious 
surrender of his forces at Detroit. Under 
these despairing circumstances. Gov. Harrison 
was appointed by President Madison comman- 
der-in-chief of the Northwestern army, with 
orders to retake Detroit, and to protect the 
frontiers. 

Harrison won the love of his soldiers by 
always sharing with them their fatigue. His 
whole baggage, while pursuing the foe up the 
Thames, was carried in a valise; and his bed- 
ding consisted of a single blanket lashed over 
his saddle. Thirty-five British officers, his 



prisoners of war, supped with him after the bat- 
tle. The only fare he could give them was beef 
roasted before the fire, without bread or salt. 

In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a mem- 
ber of the national house of representatives to 
represent the district of Ohio. In congress he 
proved an active member, and, whenever he 
spoke, it was with force of reason and power 
of eloquence, which arrested the attention of 
all the members. 

In 1 8 19, Harrison was elected to the sen- 
ate of Ohio; and in 1824, as one of the presi- 
dential electors of that state, he gave his vote 
for Henry Clay. The same year he was chosen 
to the United States senate. 

In 1836, the friends of Gen. Harrison 
brought him forward as a candidate for the 
presidency against Van Buren, but he was de- 
feated. At the close of Mr. Van Buren's term, 
he was re-nominated by his party, and Harri- 
son was unanimously nominated b}' the whigs, 
with John Tyler for the vice presidency. The 
contest was very animated. Gen. Jackson 
gave all his influence to prevent Harrison's 
election; but his triumph was signal. 

The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel 
Webster at its head as secretary of state, was 
one of the most brilliant with which any presi- 
dent had ever been surrounded. In the midst 
of these bright and joyous prospects. Gen. 
Harrison was seized by a pleurisy-fever, and, 
after a few days of violent sickness, died on 
the 4th of April; just one month after his inau- 
guration as president of the United States. 

With the exception, perhaps, of the death 
of George Washington, the demise of no presi- 
dent of the United States, down to this time, 
had created a deeper thrill of sympathy through- 
out the country than that of President Harri- 
son. North and south, his obsequies were ob- 
served with unaffected sorrow, and men of all 
parties seemed to forget differences of opinion 
in doing honor to the memor)' of the dead. 



60 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Vt*OHN TYLER, the tenth president of 
m the United States, was born in Charles 
nj City county, Va. , March 29, 1790. 
At the early age of twelve, John entered 
William and Mary college and graduated with 
much honor when but seventeen years old. 
He devoted himself with great assiduity to the 
study of law, partly with his father and partly 
with Edmund Randolph, one of the most dis- 
tinguished lawyers of Virginia. 

At nineteen years of age, he commenced 
the practice of law. His success was rapid 
and astonishing. It is said that three months 
had not elapsed ere there was scarcely a case 
on the docket of the court in which he was not 
retained. When but twenty-one years of age, 
he was almost unanimously elected to a seat in 
the state legislature. He connected himself 
with the democratic party, and warmly ad- 
vocated the measures of Jefferson and Madison. 
For five successive years he was elected to the 
legislature, receiving nearly the unanimous 
vote of his county. 

When but twenty-six years of age, he was 
elected a member of congress. Here he acted 
earnestly and ably with the democratic party, 
opposing a national bank, internal improve- 
ments by the general government, a protective 
tariff, and advocating a strict construction of 
the constitution, and the most careful vigilance 
over state rights. His labors in congress were 
so arduous that before the close of his second 
term he found it necessary to resign and retire 
to his estate in Charles City county, to recruit 
his health. He, however, soon after consented 
to take his seat in the state legislature, where 
his influence was powerful in promoting public 
works of great utility. He was then chosen 
by a very large majority of votes, governor of 
his native state. His administration was sisr- 
nally a successful one, and his popularity 
secured his re-election. 

John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half- 



crazed man, then represented Virginia in the 
senate of the United States. A portion of the 
democratic party was displeased with Mr. 
Randolph's wayward course, and brought 
forward John Tyler as his opponent, and 
Tyler was the victor. In accordance with his 
professions, upon taking his seat in the senate, 
he joined the ranks of the opposition. He 
opposed the tariff; he spoke against and voted 
against the bank as unconstitutional; he stren- 
uously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, 
resisting all projects of internal improvements 
by the general government, and avowed his 
sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's view of nullifica- 
tion; he declared that Gen. Jackson, by his 
opposition to the nullifiers, had abandoned the 
principles of the democratic party. Such was 
Mr. Tyler's record in congress — a record in 
perfect accordance with the principles which 
he had always avowed. 

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the 
practice of his profession. There was a split 
in the democratic party. His friends still re- 
garded him as a true Jeffersonian, gave him a 
dinner, and showered compliments upon him. 
He had now attained the age of forty-si.x. 
Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, 
for the better education of his children; and 
he again took his seat in the legislature of Vir- 
ginia. 

By the southern whigs, he was sent to the 
national convention at Harrisburg to nominate 
a president in 1839. The majority of votes 
were given to Gen. Harrison, a genuine whig, 
much to the disappointment of the south, who 
wished for Henry Clay. To conciliate the 
southern whigs and to secure their vote, the 
convention then nominated John Tyler for 
vice president. Thus it happened that a whig 
president and, in reality, a democratic vice 
president were chosen. 

In 1 841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated vice 
president of the United States. In one short 




JOHN TYLER. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UMTEI) STATES. 



63 



month from that time Pres. Harrison died, and 
Mr. Tyler thus found himself, to his own sur- 
prise and that of the whole nation, an occu- 
pant of the presidential chair. This was a new 
test of the stability of our institutions, as it 
was the first time in the history of our country 
that such an event had occurred. Mr. Tyler 
was at home in Williamsburg when he received 
the unexpected tidings of the death of Pres. 
Harrison. He hastened to Washington, and 
on the 6th of April was inaugurated to the high 
and responsible office. Gen. Harrison had 
selected a whig cabinet. Should he retain 
them, and thus surround himself with coun- 
selors whose views were antagonistic to his 
own.' or, on the other hand, should he turn 
against the party which had elected him and 
select a cabinet in harmony with himself, and 
which would oppose all those views which the 
whigs deemed essential to the public wel- 
fare.' This was his fearful dilemma, and so he 
invited the cabinet which Pres. Harrison had 
selected to retain their scats. 

The whigs carried through congress a bill 
for the incorporation of a fiscal bank of the 
United States. The president, after ten days' 
delay, returned it with his veto. He suggested, 
however, that he would approve of a bill 
drawn up upon such a plan as he proposed. 
Such a bill was accordingly prepared, and 
privately submitted to him. He gave it his 
approval. It was passed without alteration, 
and he sent it back with his veto. Here com- 
menced the open rupture. It is said that Mr. 
Tyler was provoked to this measure by a pub- 
lished letter from the Hon. John M. Botts, a 
distmguished Virginia whig, who severely 
touched the pride of the president. 

The opposition now exultingly received the 
president into their arms. The party which 
elected him denounced him bitterly. All the 
members of his cabinet, excepting Mr. Web- 
ster, resigned. The whigs of congress, both the 



senate and the house, held a meeting and issued 
an address to the people of the United States, 
proclaiming that all political alliances between 
the whigs and Pres. Tyler were at an end. 

Still the president attempted to conciliate. 
He appointed a new cabinet of distinguished 
whigs and conservatives, carefully leaving out 
all strong party men. Mr. Webster soon 
found it necessary to resign, forced out by the 
pressure of his whig friends. Thus the fpur 
years of Mr. Tylor's unfortunate administra- 
tion passed sadly away. More and more, 
however, he brought himself into sympathy 
with his old friends, the democrats, until, at 
the close of his term, he gave his whole influ- 
ence to the support of Mr. Polk, the demo- 
cratic candidate for his successor. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, he retired from 
office, to the regret of neither party, and 
probably to his own unspeakable relief. His 
first wife. Miss Letitia Christian, died in 
Washington, in 1842; and in June, 1844, 
Pres. Tyler was again married, at New York, to 
Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lady of many 
personal and intellectual accomplishments. 

The lemainder of his days Mr. Tyler passed 
mainly in retirement at his beautiful home — 
Sherwood Forest, Charles City county, Va. 
A polished gentleman in his manners, richly 
furnished with information from books and 
experience in the world, and possessing bril- 
liant powers of conversation, his family circle 
was the scene of unusual attractions. With 
sufficient means for the exercise of a generous 
hospitality, he might have enjoyed a serene 
old age with the few friends who gathered 
around him, were it not for the storms of civil 
war which his own principles and policy had 
helped to introduce. 

When the great rebellion rose, which the 
state rights and nullifying doctrines of John C. 
Calhoun had inaugurated, Pres. Tyler re- 
nounced his allegiance to the United States, 



64 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and joined the confederates. He was chosen 
a member of their congress; and while engaged 
in active measures to destroy, by force of arm.s, 
the government over which he had once pre- 
sided, he was taken sick and soon died. 



">j'AMES KNOX POLK, the eleventh 
fl president of the United States, was 
A ¥ born in Mecklenburg county, N. C, 
November 2, 1795. His parents were 
Samuel and Jane (Knx) Polk, the former a 
son of Col. Thomas Polk, who located at the 
above place, as one of the first pioneers, in 

1735- 

In the year 1 806, with his wife and chil- 
dren, and soon after followed by most of the 
members of the Polk family, Samuel Polk emi- 
grated some two or three hundred miles further 
west, to the rich valley of the Duck river, Tenn. 
Here, in the midst of the wilderness, in a 
region which was subsequently called Maury 
county, they reared their log huts, and estab- 
lished their homes. In the hard toil of a new 
farm in the wilderness, James K. Polk spent 
the early years of his childhood and youth. 
His father, adding the pursuit of a surveyor to 
that of a farmer, gradually increased in wealth 
until he became one of the leading men of the 
region. 

Very early in life, James developed a taste 
for reading and expressed the strongest desire 
to obtain a liberal education. His mother's 
training had made him methodical in his habits, 
had taught him punctuality and industry, and 
had inspired him with lofty principles of 
morality. His health was frail; and his father, 
fearing that he might not be able to endure a 
sedentary life, got a situation for him behind 
the counter, hoping to fit him for commercial 
pursuits. He remained in this uncongenial 
occupation but a few weeks, when at his 
earnest solicitation his father removed him, 



and made arrangements for him to prosecute 
his studies. Soon after he sent him to Mur- 
freesboro academy. In the autumn of 1 8 1 5 he 
entered the sophomore class in the university 
of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. He grad- 
uated in 1818, with the highest honors, being 
deemed the best scholar of his class, both 
in mathematics and classics. He was then 
twenty-three years of age. Mr. Polk's health 
was at this time much impaired by the assi- 
duity with which he had prosecuted his studies. 
After a short season of relaxation he went to 
Nashville, Tenn., and entered the office of 
Felix Grundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk 
renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jack- 
son, who resided on his plantation, the Her- 
mitage, but a few miles from Nashville. 

James K. Polk was a popular public speaker, 
and was constantly called upon to address the 
meetings-of his party friends. His skill as a 
speaker was such that he was popularly called 
the Napoleon of the stump. He was a man 
of unblemished morals, genial and courteous 
in his bearing, and with that sympathetic na- 
ture in the joys and griefs of others which ever 
gave him troops of friends. In 1S23, Mr. 
Polk was elected to the legislature of Tennes- 
see. Here he gave his strong influence toward 
the election of his friend, Mr. Jackson, to the 
presidency of the United States. 

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss 
Sarah Childress, of Rutherford county, Tenn. 
His bride was altogether worthy of him -a 
lady of beauty and culture. In the fall of 1825, 
Mr. Polk was chosen a member of congress. 
The satisfaction which he gave to his constit- 
uents may be inferred from the fact, that for 
fourteen successive years, until 1839, he was 
continued in that office. He then voluntarily 
withdrew, only that he might accept the 
gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. In congress 
he was a laborious member, a frequent and 
popular speaker. He was always in his seat,. 




JAMES K. POLK. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



67 



always courteous; and whenever he spoke it 
was always to the point, and without any am- 
bitious rhetorical display. 

During five sessions of congress, Mr. Polk 
v/3iS speaker of the house. Strong passions 
were aroused, and stormy scenes were witness- 
ed; but Mr. Polk performed his arduous duties 
to a very general satisfaction, and a unani- 
mous vote of thanks to him was passed by the 
house as he withdrew on the 4th of March, 
1839. 

On the 14th of October, 1839, he took the 
oath of office as governor of Tennessee at 
Nashville. In 1841, his term of office ex- 
pired, and he was again the candidate of the 
democratic party, but was defeated. On the 
4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugurated 
president of the United States. The verdict 
of the country in favor of the annexation of 
Texas exerted its influence upon congress; and 
the last act of the administration of President 
Tyler was to affix his signature to a joint reso- 
lution of congress, passed on the 3d of March, 
approving of the annexation of Texas to the 
American Union. As Mexico still claimed 
Texas as one of her provinces, the Mexican 
minister, Almonte, immediately demanded his 
passports and left the country, declaring the 
act of annexation to be an act hostile to 
Mexico. 

In his message. President Polk urged that 
Texas should immediately, by act of congress, 
be received into the Union on the same foot- 
ing with the other states. In the meantime. 
Gen. Taylor was sent with an army into Texas 
to hold the country. He was sent first to 
Nueces, which the Mexicans said was the 
western boundary of Texas. Then he was 
sent nearly two hundred miles further west, to 
the Rio Grande, where he erected batteries 
which commanded the Mexican city of Matamo- 
ras, which was situated on the western banks. 

The anticipated collision soon took place, and 



war was declared against Mexico by President 
Polk. The war was pushed forward by Mr. 
Polk's administration with great vigor. Gen. 
Taylor, whose army was first called one of 
"observation," then of "occupation," then of 
"invasion," was sent forward to Monte- 
rey. The feeble Mexicans, in every encounter, 
were hopelessly and awfully slaughtered. It 
was by the ingenuity of Mr. Polk's administra- 
tion that the war was brought on. 

"To the victors belong the spoils." Mex- 
ico was prostrate before us. Her capital was 
in our hands. We now consented to peace 
upon the condition that Mexico should sur- 
render to us, in addition to Texas, all of New 
Mexico, and all of Upper and Lower Califor- 
nia. This new demand embraced, exclusive 
of Texas, 800,000 square miles. This was an 
extent of territory equal to nine states of the 
size of New York. Thus slavery was securing 
eighteen majestic states to be added to the 
Union. In the prosecution of this war we ex- 
pended 20,000 lives and more than $100,000,- 
000. Of this more than $15,000,000 were 
paid to Mexico. 

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk re- 
tired from office, having served one term. The 
next day was Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. 
Taylor was inaugurated as his successor. Mr. 
Polk rode to the capitol in the same carrriage 
with Gen. Taylor; and the same evening, with 
Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return to Ten- 
nessee. He was then but fifty-four years of 
age. He had ever been strictly temperate in 
all his habits and his health was good. With 
an ample fortune, a choice library, a cultivated 
mind, and domestic ties of the dearest nature, 
it seemed as though long years of tranquility 
and happiness were before him. But the 
cholera — the awful scourge — was then sweep- 
ing up the valley of the Mississippi. This he 
contracted, and died on the 15th of June, 1849, 
in the fifty-fourth year of his age. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



^'-^ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth presi- 
J^r't ^^"*^ °^ *^^ United States, was born 
^ ^ on the 24th of November, 1784, in 
Orange county, Va. His father. 
Colonel Taylor, was a Virginian of note, and 
a distinguished patriot and soldier of the Revo- 
lution. When Zachary was an infant, his 
father, with his wife and two children, emi- 
grated to Kentucky, where he settled, a few 
miles from Louisville. In this frontier home 
young Zachary could enjoy but few social and 
educational advantages. When six years of 
age he attended a common school, and was 
then regarded as a bright, active boy, rather 
remarkable for bluntness and decision of char- 
acter. He was strong, fearless and self-reli- 
ant, and manifested a strong desire to entfer 
the army to fight the Indians who were ravag- 
ing the frontiers. 

In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining 
for him the commission of lietenant in the 
United States army; and he joined the troops 
which were stationed at New Orleans under 
Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after this he married 
Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady from one 
of the first families of Maryland. 

Immediately after the declaration of war 
with England, in 181 2, Capt. Taylor (for he 
had then been promoted to that rank) was put 
in command of Fort Harrison, on the Wa- 
bash, ' about fifty miles above Vincennes. 
This fort had been built in the wilderness by 
Gen. Harrison, on his march to Tippecanoe. 
It was one of the first points of attack by the 
Indians, led by Tecumseh. Its garrison con- 
sisted of a broken company of infantry num- 
bering fifty men, many of whom were sick. 
Early in the autumn of 181 2, the Indians, 
stealthily, and in large numbers, moved upon 
the fort. Their approach was first indicated 
by the murder of two soldiers just outside of 
the stockade. Capt. Taylor made every possi- 
ble preparation to meet the anticipated as- 



sault. On the 4th of September, a band of 
forty painted and plumed savages came to the 
fort, waving a white flag, and informed Capt. 
Taylor that in the morning their chief would 
come to have a talk with him. It was evident 
that their object was merely to ascertain the 
state of things at the fort, and Capt. Taylor, 
well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept 
them at a distance. The sun went down; the 
savages disappeared, the garrison slept upon 
their arms. One hour before midnight the 
war-whoop burst from a thousand lips in the 
forest around, followed by the discharge of 
musketry, and the rush of the foe. Every 
man, sick and well, sprang to his post. Every 
man knew that defeat was not merely death, 
but in case of capture, death by the most 
agonizing and prolonged torture. The savages 
succeeded in setting fire to one of the block- 
houses. Until six o'clock in the morning, this 
awful conflict continued. The savages then, 
baffled at every point, and gnashing their teeth 
with rage, retired. Capt. Taylor, for this gal- 
lant defense, was promoted to the rank of 
major by brevet. 

Until the close of the war. Major Taylor 
was placed in such situations that he saw but 
little more of active service. He was sent far 
away into the depths of the wilderness, to 
Fort Crawford, on Fox river, which empties 
into Green bay. Gradually he rose to the 
rank of colonel. In the Black Hawk war, 
which resulted in the capture of that renowned 
chieftain, Col. Taylor took a' subordinate but 
a brave and efficient part. For twenty-four 
years Col. Taylor was engaged in the defense 
of the frontiers, in scenes so remote, and in 
employments so obscure, that his name was 
unknown beyond the limits of his own imme- 
diate acquaintance. In the year 1836, he was 
sent to Florida to compel the Seminole Indians 
to vacate that region and retire beyond the 
Mississippi, as their chiefs, by treaty, had 




ZACHARV TAYLOR 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



71 



promised they should do. The services ren- 
dered here secured Col. Taylor the high ap- 
preciation of the government; and as a reward, 
he was elevated to the rank of brigadier-gen- 
eral by brevet; and soon after, in May, 1838, 
was appointed to the chief command of the 
United States troops in Florida. After two 
years of such wearisome employment, Gen. 
Taylor obtained, at his own request, a change 
of command, and was stationed over the de- 
partment of the southwest. This field em- 
braced Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and 
Georgia. Establishing his headquarters at 
Fort Jesup, in Louisiana, he removed his fam- 
ily to a plantation which he purchased near 
Baton Rouge. Here he remained for five 
years, buried, as it were, from the world, but 
faithfully discharging every duty imposed upon 
him. 

In 1846 Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the 
land between the Nueces and Rio Grande, 
the latter river being the boundary of Texas, 
which was then claimed by the United States. 
Soon the war with Mexico was brought on, 
and at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Gen. 
Taylor won brilliant victories over the Mex- 
icans. The rank of major-general by brevet 
was then conferred upon Gen. Taylor, and 
his name was received with enthusiasm almost 
everywhere in the nation. Then came the 
battles of Monterey and Buena Vista, in which 
he won signal victories over forces much larger 
than he commanded. His careless habits of 
dress and his unaffected simplicity, secured for 
Gen. Taylor among his troops the sobriquet of 
"Old Rough and Ready." 

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena 
Vista spread the wildest enthusiasm over the 
country. The whig party decided to take ad- 
vantage of this wonderful popularity in bring- 
ing forward the unpolished, uncultured, honest 
soldier as their candidate for the presidency. 
Gen, Taylor was astonished at the announce- 



ment, and for a time would not listen to it; 
declaring that he was not at all qualified for 
such an office. So little interest had he taken 
in politics that, for forty years, he had not 
cast a vote. 

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker 
nor a fine writer. His friends took possession 
of him, and prepared such few communica- 
tions as it was needful should be presented to 
the public. The popularity of the successful 
warrior swept the land. He was triumph- 
antly elected over two opposing candidates — 
Gen. Cass and ex-Pres. Martin Van Buren. 
Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the 
good old man found, himself in a very uncon- 
genial position, and was, at times, sorely per- 
plexed and harassed. His mental sufferings 
were very severe, and probably tended to has- 
ten his death. The proslavery party was 
pushing its claims with tireless energy; expedi- 
tions were fitting out to capture Cuba; Cali- 
fornia was pleading for admission to the 
Union, while slavery stood at the door to bar 
her out. Gen. Taylor found the political con- 
flicts in Washington to be far more trying to 
the nerves than battles with Mexicans or 
Indians. 

In the midst of all these troubles. Gen. 
Taylor, after he had occupied the presidential 
chair but little over a year, took cold, and 
after a brief sickness, of but litttle over five 
days, died on the 9th of July, 1850. His last 
words were; " I am not afraid to die. I am 
ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." 
He died universally respected and beloved. 

Gen. Scott, who was thoroughly acquainted 
with Gen. Taylor, gave the following graphic 
and truthful description of his character: 
" With a good store of common sense, Gen. 
Taylor's mind had not been enlarged and re- 
freshed by reading, or much converse with thp 
world. Rigidity of ideas was the consequence 
The frontiers and small military post:; had 



n 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



been his home. Hence he was quite ignorant 
for his rank, and quite bigoted in his igno- 
rance. His simplicity was child-like and 
with innumerable prejudices, amusing and in- 
corrigible, well suited to the tender age. 
Thus, if a man, however, respectable, chanced 
to wear a coat of an unusual color, or his hat 
a little on one side of his head; or an officer 
to leave a corner of his handkerchief dangling 
from an outside pocket — in any such case, this 
critic held the offender to be a coxcomb (per- 
haps something worse), whom he would not, 
to use his oft repeated phase, "touch with a 
pair of tongs." 



m 



ILLARD FILLMORE, thirteenth 
president of the United States, wag 
born at Summer Hill, Cayuga 
county, N. Y. , on the 7th of Janu- 
ary, 1800. His father was a farmer, and, 
owing to misfortune, in humble circumstances. 
Of his mother, the daughter of Dr. Abiathar 
Millard, of Pittsfield, Mass., it has been said 
that she possessed an intellect of very high 
order, united with much personal loveliness, 
sweetness of disposition, graceful manners and 
exquisite sensibilities. She died in 1831; 
having lived to see her son a young man of 
distinguished promise, though she was not per- 
mitted to witness the high dignity which he 
finally attained. 

In consequence of the secluded home and 
limited means of his father, Millard enjoyed 
but slender advantages for education in his 
early years. The sacred influences of home 
had taught him to revere the Bible, and had 
laid the foundations of an upright character. 
When fourteen years of age his father sent 
him some hundred miles from home, to the 
then wilds of Livingston county, to learn the 
trade of a clothier. Near the mill there was 



a small village, where some enterprising man 
had commenced the collection of a village 
library. This proved an inestimable blessing 
to young Fillmore. His evenings were spent 
in reading. Soon every leisure moment was 
occupied with books. His thirst for knowledge 
became insatiate, and the selections which he 
made were continually more elevating and 
instructive. He read history, biography, 
oratory, and thus gradually there was en- 
kindled in his heart a desire to be something 
more than a mere worker with his hands; and 
he was becoming, almost unknown to himself, 
a well informed,, educated man. 

The young clothier had now attained the 
age of nineteen years, and was of fine per- 
sonal appearance and of gentlemanly demeanor. 
It so happened that there was a gentleman in 
the neighborhood of ample pecuniary means 
and of benevolence — Judge Walter Wood — 
who was struck with the prepossessing appear- 
ance of young Fillmore. He made his ac- 
quaintance, and was so much impressed 
with his ability and attainments that he ad- 
vised him to abandon his trade and devote 
himself to the study of law. The young man 
replied that he had no means of his own, no 
friends to help him, and that his previous edu- 
cation had been very imperfect. But Judge 
Wood had so much confidence in him that he 
kindly offered to take him into his own office, 
and to loan him such money as he needed. 
Most gratefully the generous offer was ac- 
cepted. 

In 1823, when twenty-three years of age. 
he was admitted to the court of common pleas. 
He then went to the village of Aurora, and 
commenced the practice of law. In this 
secluded, peaceful region, his practice, of 
course, was limited, and there was no oppor- 
tunity for a sudden rise in fortune or in fame. 
Here, in the year 1826, he married a lady of 
gr. at moral worth, and one capable of adorn- 




MILLARD FILLMORE- 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



75 



ing any station she might be called to fill — 
Miss Abigail Powers. 

His elevation of character, his untiring in- 
dustry, his legal acquirements, and his skill as 
an advocate, gradually attracted attention; 
and he was invited to enter into partnership, 
under highly advantageous circumstances, with 
an elder member of the bar in Buffalo. Just 
before removing to Buffalo, in 1829, he took 
his seat in the house of assembly, of the state 
of New York, as a representative from Erie 
county. Though he had never taken a very 
active part in politics, his vote and his sympa- 
thies were with the whig party. The state 
was then democratic, and he found him- 
self in a helpless minority in the legislature, 
still the testimony comes from all parties, that 
his courtesy, ability, and integrity, won, to 
a very unusual degree, the respect of his asso- 
ciates. 

In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to 
a seat in the United States congress. He en- 
tered that troubled arena in some of the most 
tumultuous hours of our national history. 
The great conflict respecting the national bank 
and the removal of the deposits was then 
raging. 

His term of two years closed, and he re- 
turned to his profession, which he pursued with 
increasing reputation and success. After a 
lapse of two years he again became a candi- 
date for congress; was re-elected, and took his 
seat in 1837. His past experience as a repre- 
sentative gave him strength and confidence. 
The first term of service in congress to any 
man can be but little more than an introduc- 
tion. He was now prepared for active duty. 
Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, and 
his popularity filled the state, and in the year 
1847 he was elected comptroller of the state. 

Fillmore had attained the age of forty- 
seven years. His labors at the bar, in the 
legislature, in congress, and as comptroller. 



had given him very considerable fame. The 
whigs were casting about to find suitable can- 
didates for president and vice president at the 
approaching election. Far away, on the 
waters of the Rio Grande, there was a rough 
old soldier, who had fought successful battles 
with the Mexicans, which had caused his 
name to be proclaimed in trumpet-tones all 
over the land. But it was necessary to asso- 
ciate with him, on the same ticket, some 
man of reputation as a statesman. Under the 
influence of these considerations, the names of 
Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore became 
the rallying cry of the whigs, as their candi- 
dates for president and vice president. The 
whig ticket was signally triumphant. On the 
4th of March, 1849, Gen. Taylor was inaugu- 
rated president, and Millard Fillmore vice 
president, of the United States. 

On the 9th of July, 1850, Pres. Taylor, but 
one year and four months after his inaugura- 
tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By 
the constitution. Vice Pres. Fillmore thus be- 
came president. He appointed a very able 
cabinet, of which the illustrious Daniel Web- 
ster was secretary of state. 

Fillmore had very serious difficulties to 
contend with, since the opposition had a ma- 
jorty in both house. He did everything in 
his power to conciliate the south; but the pro- 
slavery party in the south felt the inadequacy 
of all measures of transient conciliation. The 
population of the free states was so rapidly in- 
creasing over that of the slave states that it 
was inevitable that the power of the govern- 
ment should soon pass into the hands of the 
free states. The famous compromise meas- 
ures were adopted under Fillmore's administra- 
tion, and the Japan expedition was sent out. 
On the 4th of March, 1853, Fillmore, having 
served one term, retired. 

In 1856, Fillmore was nominated for the 
presidency by the "know nothing" party, but 



76 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



was beaten by Mr. Buchanan. After that 
Fillmore lived in retirement. During the ter- 
rible conflict of civil war he was mostly silent. 
It was generally supposed that his sympathies 
were rather with those who were endeavoring 
to overthrow our institutions. He lived to a 
ripe old age, and died in Buffalo, N. Y. , 
March 8, 1874. 



BRANKLIN PIERCE, the fourteenth 
president of the United States, was born 
in Hillsborough, N. H., November 2 3, 
1804. Franklin was a very bright 
and handsome boy, generous, warm-hearted 
and brave. He won alike the love of old and 
young. The boys on the play ground loved 
him. His teachers loved him. The neigh- 
bors looked upon him with pride and affection. 
He was by instinct a gentleman; always speak- 
ing kind words, doing kind deeds, with a 
peculiar unstudied tact which taught him what 
was agreeable. Without developing any pre- 
cocity of genius, or any unnatural devotion to 
books, he was a good scholar; in bod}', in mind, 
in affections, a finely developed boy. 

When sixteen .years of age, in the year 
1820, he entered Bowdoin college at Bruns- 
wick, Maine. He was one of the most popu- 
lar young men in the college. The purity of 
his moral character, the unvarying courtesy of 
his demeanor, his rank as a scholar, and genial 
nature, rendered him a universal favorite. 
There was something very peculiarly winning 
in his address, and it was evidently not in the 
slightest degree studied; it was the simple out- 
gushing of his own magnanimous and loving 
nature. 

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Frank- 
lin Pierce commenced the study of law in the 
office of Judge Woodbury, one of the most 
distinguished lawyers of the state, and a man 
of great private worth. The eminent social 



qualities of the young lawyer, his father's 
promince as a public man, and the brilliant 
political career into which Judge Woodbury 
was entering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce 
into the fascinating, yet perilous, path of po- 
litical life. With all the ardor of his nature 
he espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson for the 
presidency. He commenced the practice of 
law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected to 
represent the town in the state legislature. 
Here he served for four years. The last two 
years he was chosen speaker of the house by a 
very large vote. 

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was 
elected a member of congress. Without tak- 
ing an active part in debates, he was faithful 
and laborious in duty, and ever rising in the 
estimation of those with whom he was associ- 
ated. In 1837, being then but thirty-three 
years of age, he was elected to the senate of 
the United States, taking his seat just as Mr. 
Van Buren commenced his administration. 
He was the youngest member in the senate. 
In the year 1834 he married Miss Jane Means 
Appleton, a lady of rare beauty and accom- 
plishments, and one admirably fitted to adorn 
every station with which her husband was 
honored. Of the three sons who were born 
to them, all now sleep with their parents in 
the grave. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing 
fame and increasing business as a lawyer, took 
up his residence in Concord, the capital of 
New Hampshire. President Polk, upon his 
accession to office, appointed Mr. Pierce at- 
torney-general of the United States; but the 
offer was declined in consequence of numerous 
professional engagements at home and the 
precarious state of Mrs. Pierce's health. He 
also about the same time declined the nomina- 
tion for governor by the democratic jiarty. 
The war with Mexico called Mr. Pierce to the 
army. Receiving the appointment of briga- 




FRANKLIN PIERCE 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



79 



dier-general, he embarked with a portion of 
his troops at Newport, R. I., on the 27th of 
May, 1847. He took an important part in 
this war, proving himself a brave and true 
soldier. 

When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his 
native state he was received enthusiastically 
by the advocates of the Mexican war, and 
coldly by its opponents. He resumed the 
practice of his profession, very frequently tak- 
ing an active part in political questions, giving 
his cordial support to the pro-slavery wing of 
the democratic party. The compromise meas- 
ures met cordially with his approval; and he 
strenuously advocated the enforcement of the 
infamous fugitive-slave law, which so shocked 
the religious sensibilities of the north. He thus 
became distinguished as a "northern man with 
southern principles." The strong partisans of 
slavery in the south consequently regarded 
him as a man whom they could safely trust in 
office to carry out their plans. 

On the I2th of June, 1852, the democratic 
convention met in Baltimore to nominate a 
candidate for the presidency. For four days 
they continued in session, and in thirty-five 
ballotings no one had obtained a two-thirds 
vote. Not a vote thus far had been thrown 
for Gen. Pierce. Then the Virginia delega- 
tion brought forward his name. There were 
fourteen more ballotings, during which Gen. 
Pierce constantly gained strength, until, at the 
forty-ninth ballot, he received 282 votes, and 
all other candidates eleven. Gen. Winfield 
Scott was the whig candidate. Gen. Pierce 
was chosen with great unanimity. Only four 
states — Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky 
and Tennessee — cast their electoral votes 
against him. Gen. Franklin Pierce was there- 
fore inaugurated president of the United States 
on the 4th of March, 1853. 

His administration proved one of the most 
stormy our country had ever experienced. The 



controversy between slavery and freedom was 
then approaching its culminating point. It 
became evident that there was an "irrepress- 
ible conflict" between them, and that the 
nation could not long exist "half slave and 
half free." President Pierce, during the whole 
of his administration, did everything he could 
to conciliate the south; but it was all in vain. 
The conflict every year grew more and more 
violent, and threats of the dissolution of the 
Union were borne to the north on every 
southern breeze. 

On the 4th of March, 1S57, President 
Pierce retired to his home in Concord. Of 
three children, two had died, and his only sur- 
viving child had been killed before his eyes by 
a railroad accident; and his wife, one of the 
most estimable and accomplished of ladies, 
was rapidly sinking in consumption. The hour 
of dreadful gloom soon came, and he was left 
aloiie in the world without wife or child. 

Such was the condition of affairs when 
Pres. Pierce approached the close of his four 
years' term of office. The north had become 
thoroughly alienated from him. The anti- 
slavery sentiment, goaded by great outrages, 
had been rapidly increasing; all the intellectual 
ability and social worth of Pres. Pierce were 
forgotten in deep reprehension of his adminis- 
trative acts. The slaveholders of the south, 
also, unmindful of the fidelity with which he 
had advocated those measures of government 
which they approved, and perhaps, also, feel- 
ing that he had rendered himself so unpopular 
as no longer to be able acceptably to serve 
them, ungratefully dropped him, and nomi- 
nated James Buchanan to succeed him. 

When the terrible rebellion broke forth, 
which divided our country into two parties, 
Mr. Pierce remained steadfast in the principles 
which he had always cherished and gave his 
sympathies to that pro-slavery party with 
which he had ever been allied. He declined 



80 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



to do anjthing, either by voice or pen, to 
strengthen the hand of the national govern- 
ment. He continued to reside in Concord 
until the time of his death, which occurred in 
October, 1869. He was one of the most genial 
and social of men, an honored communicant 
of the Episcopal church, and one of the kind- 
est of neighbors. Generous to a fault, he con- 
tributed liberally for the alleviation of suffer- 
ing and want, and many of his townspeople 
were often gladdened by his material bounty. 



>T^ AMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth presi- 
M dent of the United States, was born in 
A J Franklin county. Pa., on the 23d of 
April, 1 79 1. His father was a native 
of the north of Ireland; a poor man, who had 
emigrated in 1783, with little property save his 
own strong arms. Five years afterward he 
married Elizabeth Spear, the daughter of a 
respectable farmer, and, with his young bride, 
plunged into the wilderness, staked his claim, 
reared his log hut, opened a clearing with his 
ax, and settled down to perform his obscure 
part in the drama of life. In this secluded 
home, where James was born, he remained for 
eight years, enjoying but few social or intel- 
lectual advantages. When James was eight 
years of age his father removed to the village 
of Mercersburg, where his son was placed at 
school, and commenced a course of study in 
English, Latin and Greek. His progress was 
rapid, and at the age of fourteen he entered 
Dickenson college at Carlisle. Here he de- 
veloped remarkable talent, and took his stand 
among the first scholars of the institution. His 
application to study was intense, and yet his 
native powers enabled him to master the most 
abstruse subjects with facility. In the year 
1809, he graduated with the highest honors of 
his class. He was then eighteen years of age; 



tall and graceful, vigorous in health, fond of 
athletic sport, an unerring shot, and enlivened 
with an exuberant flow of animal spirits. He 
immediately commenced the study of law in 
the city of Lancaster, and was admitted to the 
bar in 18 12, when he was but twenty-one 
years of age. Very rapidly he rose in his pro- 
fession, and at once took undisputed stand 
with the ablest lawyers of the state. When 
but twenty-six years of age, unaided by coun- 
sel, he successfully defended before the state 
senate one of the judges of the state, who was 
tried upon articles of impeachment. At the 
age of thirty it was generally admitted that he 
stood at the head of the bar. 

In 1820 he reluctantly consented to run as 
a candidate for congress. He was elected, 
and for ten years he remained a member 01 
the lower house. During the vacations o! 
congress, he occasionally tried some important 
case. In 183 1 he retire" altogether from the 
toils of his profession, having acquired an 
ample fortune. 

Gen. Jackson, upon his elevation to the 
presidency, appointed Mr. Buchanan minister 
to Russia. The duties of his mission he per- 
formed with ability which gave satisfaction to 
all parties. Upon his return,- in' 1833', he was 
elected to a seat in the United States senate. 
He there met, as his associates, Webster, 
Clay, Wright and Calhoun. He advocated 
the measures proposed by Pres. Jackson, of 
making reprisals against France, to enforce 
the payment of our claims against that country; 
and defended the course of the president in 
his unprecedented and wholesale removal from 
office of those who were not supporters of his 
administration. Upon this question he v/as 
brought into direct collision with Henry Clay. 
He also, with voice and vote, advocated ex- 
punging from the journal of the senate the 
vote of censure against Gen. Jackson for re- 
moving the deposits. Earnestly he opposed 




JAMES BUCHANAN 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



83 



the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia, and urged the prohibition of the circu- 
lation of anti-slavery documents by the United 
States mail. 

Upon Mr. Polk's accession to the presi- 
dency, Mr. Buchanan became secretary of 
state, and as such took his share of the respon- 
sibility in the conduct of the Me.xican war. Mr. 
Polk assumed that crossing the Nueces by the 
American troops into the disputed territory was 
not wrong, but for the Me.xicans to cross the 
Rio Grande into that territory was a declara- 
tion of war. Mr. Buchanan identified himself 
thoroughly with the party devoted to the per- 
petuation and extension of slavery, and brought 
all the energies of his mind to bear against the 
Wilmot Proviso. He gave his approval of 
the compromise measures of 1850, which in- 
cluded the fugitive slave law. Mr. Pierce, upon 
his election to the presidency, honored Mr. 
Buchanan with the mission to England. 

In the year 1856, a national democratic 
convention nominated Mr. Buchanan for the 
presidency. The political conflict was one of 
the most severe in which our country has ever 
engaged. All the friends of slavery were on 
one side; all the advocates of its restriction 
and final abolition on the other. Mr. Fre- 
mont, the candidate of the enemies of slavery, 
received 1 14 electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan 
received 174, and was elected. The popular 
vote stood 1,341,264 for Fremont, 1,838,160 
for Buchanan. On March 4, 1857, Mr. Bu- 
chanan was inaugurated. Mr. Buchanan was 
far advanced in life. Only four years were 
wanting to fill up his three score years and 
ten. His own friends — those with whom he 
had been allied in political principles and 
action for years — were seeking the destruction 
of the government, that they might rear upon 
the ruins of our free institutions a nation 
whose corner stone should be human slavery. 
In this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hope- 



lessly bewildered. He could not, with his 
long avowed principles, consistently oppose 
the state-rights party in their assumptions. 
As president of the United States, bound by 
his oath faithfully to administer the laws, he 
could not, without perjury of the grossest kind, 
unite with those endeavoring to overthrow the 
republic. He therefore did nothing. Mr. 
Buchanan's sympathy with the pro-slavery 
party was such, that he had been willing to 
offer them far more than they had ventured to 
claim. All the south had professed to ask of 
the north was non-interference with the sub- 
ject of slavery. Mr. Buchanan had been 
ready to offer them the active co-operation of 
the government to defend and extend the in- 
stitution. As the storm increased in violence, 
the slave holders claiming the right to secede, 
and Mr. Buchanan avowing that congress had 
no power to prevent it, one of the most piti- 
able exhibitions of governmental imbecility 
was exhibited the world has ever seen. He 
declared that congress had no power to enforce 
its laws in any state which had withdrawn,* or 
which was attempting to withdraw from the 
Union. This was not the doctrine of Andrew 
Jackson, when, with his hand upon his sword 
hilt, he e.xclaimed: "The Union m.ust and 
shall be preserved." 

South Carolina seceded in December, 1S60, 
nearly three months before the inauguration 
of Pres. Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in 
listless despair. The rebel flag was raised in 
Charleston; Fort Sumter was besieged; our 
forts, navy yards and arsenals were seized; 
our depots of military stores were plundered; 
and our custom houses and post offices were 
appropriated by the rebels. The energy of 
the rebels, and the imbecility of our executive, 
were alike marvelous. The nation looked on 
in agony, waiting for the slow weeks to glidf 
away and close the administration, so ternbio 
in its weakness. At length the long looked 



84 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



for hour of deliverance came, when Abraham 
Lincoln was to receive the scepter. 

The administration of President Buchanan 
was certainly the most calamitous our country 
has experienced. His best friends cannot re- 
call it with pleasure. And still more deplor- 
able it is for his fame, that in that dreadful 
conflict which rolled its billows of flame and 
blood over our whole land, no word came 
from his lips to indicate his wish that our 
country's banner should triumph over the flag 
of the rebellion. He died at his Wheatland 
retreat, June i, 1868. 



HBRAHAM LINCOLN, the sixteeeth 
president of the United' States, was 
born in Hardin county, Ky. , Febru- 
ary 12, 1809. About the year 1780, 
a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln left 
Virginia with his family and moved into the 
then wilds of Kentucky. Only two years after 
this emigration, still a young man, while work- 
ing one day in a field, he was stealthily ap- 
proached by an Indian and shot dead. His 
widow was left in extreme poverty with five 
little children, three boys and two girls, 
Thomas, the youngest of the boys, was four 
years of age at his father's death. This 
Thomas was the father of Abraham Lincoln, 
the president of the United States, whose 
name must henceforth forever be enrolled with 
the most prominent in the annals of our world. 
When twenty-eight years of age Thomas 
Lincoln built a log cabin of his own, and mar- 
ried Nancy Hanks, the daughter of another 
family of poor Kentucky emigrants, who had 
also come from Virginia. Their second child 
was Abraham Lincoln. The mother of Abra- 
ham was a noble woman, gentle, loving, pen- 
sive; created to adorn a palace, doomed to 
toil p.nd pine, and die in a hovel. "All that I 



am, or hope to be," exclaims the grateful son, 
"I owe to my angel mother." 

When Abraham was eight years of age, his ' 
father sold his cabin and farm, and moved to 
Harrison county, Ind, where two years later 
his mother died. Abraham soon became the 
scribe of the uneducated community around 
him. He could not have had a better school 
than this to teach him to put thoughts mto 
words. He also bscame an eager reader. The 
books he could obtain were few; but these he 
read and re-read until they were almost com- 
mitted to memory. As the years rolled on, 
the lot of this lowly family was the usual lot of 
humanity. There were joys and griefs, wed- 
dings and funerals. Abraham's sister, Sarah, 
to whom he was tenderly attached, was mar- 
ried when a child of but fourteen years of age, 
and soon died. The family was gradually 
scattered. Thomas Lincoln sold out his 
squatter's claim in 1830, and emigrated to 
Macon county. 111. Abraham Lincoln was 
then twenty-one years of age. With vigorous 
hands he aided his father in rearing another 
log cabin. Abraham worked diligently at this 
until he saw the family comfortably settled, 
and their small lot of inclosed prairie planted 
with corn, when he announced to his father 
his intention to leave home, and to go out into 
the world and seek his fortune. Little did he 
or his friends imagine how brilliant tha^ 
fortune was to be. He saw the value of educa- 
tion and was intensely earnest to improve his 
mind to the utmost of his power. He saw the 
ruin which ardent spirits were causing, and 
became strictly temperate; refusing to allow a 
drop of intoxicating liquor to pass his lips. 
And he had read in God's word, "Thou shalt 
not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
vain;" and a profane expression he was never 
heard to utter. Religion he revered. His 
morals were pure, and he was uncontaminated 
by a single vice. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



97 



Young Abraham worked for a time as a 
hired laborer among the farmers. Then he 
went to Springfield, where he was employed in 
building a large flat-boat. In this he took a 
herd of swine, floated them down the Sanga- 
mon to the Illinois, and thence by the Missis- 
sippi to New Orleans. In this adventure his 
employers were so well pleased, that upon his 
return they placed a store and mill under his 
care. In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black 
Hawk war, he enlisted and was chosen captain 
of a company. He returned to Sangamon 
county, and although only twenty-three years 
of age, was a candidate for the legislature, but 
was defeated. He soon afterward received 
from Andrew Jackson the appointment of post- 
master of New Salem. His only postoffice 
was his hat. All the letters he received he 
carried there ready to deliver to those he 
chanced to meet. He studied surveying and 
soon made this his business. In 1834 he again 
became a candidate for the legislature, and 
was elected. Mr. Stuart, of Springfield, ad- 
vised him to study law. He walked from New 
Salem to Springfield, borrowed of Mr. Stuart 
a load of books, carried them back and began 
his legal studies. When the legislature assem- 
bled he trudged on foot with his pack on his 
back 100 miles to Vandalia, then the capital. 
In 1836 he was re-elected to the legislature. 
Here it was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. 
In 1839 he removed to Springfield and began 
the practice of law. His success with the jury 
was so great that he was soon engaged in al- 
most every noted case in the circuit. 

In 1854 the great discussion began between 
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, on the slavery 
question. In the organization of the republi- 
can party in Illinois, in 1856, he took an active 
part, and at once became one of the leaders in 
that party. Mr. Lincoln's speeches in opposi- 
tion to Senator Douglas in the contest in 1858 
for a seat in the senate, form a most notable 



part of his history. The issue was en the 
slavery question, and he took the broad ground 
of the Declaration of Independence, that all 
men are created equal. Mr. Lincoln was de- 
feated in this contest, but won a far higher 
prize — the presidency. 

The great republican convention met at 
Chicago on the i6th of June, i860. The del- 
egates and strangers who crowded the city 
amounted to 25,000. An immense building, 
called "The Wigwam," was reared to accom- 
modate the convention. There were eleven 
candidates for whom votes were cast. William 
H. Seward, a man whose fame as a statesman 
had long filled the land, was the most prom- 
inent. It was generally supposed he would be 
the nominee. Abraham Lincoln, however, 
received the nomination on the third ballot. 
Little did he then dream of the weary years of 
toil and care, and the bloody death, to which 
that nomination doomed him; and as little did 
he dream that he was to render services to his 
country which would fix upon him the eyes of 
the whole civilized world, and which would 
give him a place in the affections of his coun- 
trymen, second only, if second, to that of 
Washington. 

Election day came and Mr. Lincoln re- 
ceived 180 electoral votes out of 203 cast, and 
was, therefore, constitutionally elected presi- 
dent of the United States. The tirade of 
abuse that was poured upon this good and 
merciful man, especially by the slaveholders, 
was greater than upon any other man ever 
elected to this high position. In February, 
1 86 1, Mr. Lincoln started for Washington, 
stopping in all the large cities on his way, 
making speeches. The whole journey was 
fraught with much danger. Many of the 
southern states had already seceded, and sev- 
eral attempts at assassination were afterward 
brought to light. A gang in Baltimore had 
arranged, upon his arrival, to " get up a row," 



98 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and in the confusion to make sure of his death 
with revolvers and hand grenades. A detect- 
ive unraveled the plot. A secret and special 
train was provided to take him from Harris- 
burg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected 
hour of the night. The train started at half- 
past ten; and to prevent any possible com- 
munication on the part of the secessionists 
with their confederate gang in Baltimore, as 
soon as the train had started the telegraph 
wires were cut. Mr. Lincoln reached Wash- 
ington in safety and was inaugurated, although 
great anxiety was felt by all loyal people. 

In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln 
gave to Mr. Seward the department of state, 
and to other prominent opponents before the 
convention he gave important positions. 

During no other administration have the 
duties devolving upon the president been so 
manifold, and the responsibilities so great, as 
those which fell to the lot of President Lincoln. 
Knowing this, and feeling his own weakness 
and inability to meet, and in his own strength 
to cope with the difficulties, he early learned 
to seek Divine wisdom and guidance in deter- 
mining his plans, and Divine comfort in all his 
trials, both personal and national. Contrary 
to his own estimate of himself, Mr. Lincoln 
was one of the most courageous of men. He 
went directly into the rebel capital just as the 
retreating foe was leaving, with no guard but 
a few sailors. From the time he had left 
Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had been 
made for his assassination, and he at last fell 
a victim to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, 
with General Grant, was urgently invited to 
attend Ford's theater. It was announced that 
they would be present. Gen. Grant, however, 
left the city. Pres. Lincoln, feeling, with his 
characteristic kindliness of heart, that it would 
be a disappointment if he should fail them, 
very reluctantly consented to go. While 
listening to the play an actor by the name of 



John Wilkes Booth entered. the box where the 
president and family were seated, and fired a 
bullet into .his brains. He died the next morn- 
ing at seven o'clock, and now, if never before, 
the nation was plunged into the deepest 
mourning, and truly mourned the "country's 
loss." 



HNDREW JOHNSON, the seventeenth 
president of the United States, was 
born December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, 
N. C. When Andrew was five years 
of age, his father accidentally lost his life 
while heroically endeavoring to save a friend 
from drowning. Until ten years of age, An- 
drew was a ragged boy about the streets, sup- 
ported by the labor of his mother, who ob- 
tained her living with her own hands. He 
then, having never attended a school one day, 
and being unable either to read or write, was 
apprenticed to a tailor in his native town. A 
gentleman was in the habit of going to the 
tailor's shop occasionally and reading to the 
boys at work there. He often read from the 
speeches of distinguished British statesmen. 
Andrew, who was endowed with a mind of 
more than ordinary native ability, became 
much interested in these speeches; his ambi- 
tion was roused, and he was inspired with a 
strong desire to learn to read. He according- 
ly applied himself to the alphabet, and, with 
the assistance of some of his fellow-workmen, 
learned his letters. He then called upon the 
gentleman to borrow the book of speeches. 
The owner, pleased with his zeal, not only 
gave him the book, but assisted him in learn- 
ing to combine the letters into words. Under 
such difficulties he pressed onward laboriously, 
spending usually ten or twelve hours at work 
in the shop, and then robbing himself of rest 
and recreation to devote such time as he could 
to reading. 




ANDREW JOHNSON. 



L.ofC. 



P-R4ESIDENTS QF THE -UNITED STATES. 



-101 



He went to Tennessee in 1826 and located 
at Greenville, where he married a young lady 
who possessed some education. Under her 
instructions he learned to write and cipher. 
He became prominent in the village debating 
society, and a favorite with the students of 
Greenville college. In 1828 he organized a 
workingman's party, which elected him alder- 
man, and in 1830 elected him mayor, which 
position he held three years. He now began 
to take a lively interest in political affai'^s, 
identifying himself with the working classes to 
which he belonged. In 1835 he was elected 
a member of the house of representatives of 
Tennessee. He was then just twenty-seven 
years of age. He became a very active ^mem- 
ber of the legislature, gave his adhesion to the 
democratic party, and in 1840 "stumped the 
state, " advocating Martin Van Buren's claims 
to the presidency in opposition to those of 
Gen. Harrison. In this campaign he ac- 
quired much readiness as a speaker, and ex- 
tended and increased his reputation. 

In 1 84 1 he was elected state senator; in 
1843 he was elected a member of congress, 
and by successive elections held that important 
post for ten years. In 1S53 he was elected 
governor of Tennessee, and was re-elected in 
1855. In all these responsible positions he 
discharged his duties with distinguished ability 
and proved himself the friend of the working 
classes. In 1857 Mr. Johnson was elected a 
United States senator. 

Years before, in 1845, he had warmly ad- 
vocated the annexation of Texas, stating 
however, as his reason, that he thought 
this annexation would probably prove "to be 
the gateway out of which the sable sons of Africa 
are to pass from bondage to freedom, and be- 
come merged in a population congenial to 
themselves." In 1850 he also supported the 
compromise measures, the two essential fea- 



tures of which were, that the white peopie 
of the territories should be permitted to de- 
cide for themselves whether they would en- 
slave the colored people or not, and that the 
free states of the north should return to the 
south persons who attempted to escape from 
slavery. 

Mr. Johnson was never ashamed of his 
lowly origin; on the contrary he often took 
pride in avowing that he owed his distinction 
to his own exertions. "Sir," said he on the 
floor of the senate, "I do not forget that I 
am a mechanic; neither do I forget that Adam 
was a tailor and sewed fig leaves, and that our 
Savior was the son of a carpenter." 

In the Charleston-Baltimore convention of 
i860, he was the choice of the Tennessee 
democrats for the presidency. In 1861, when 
the purpose of the southern democracy became 
apparent, he took a decided stand in favor of 
the Union, and held "slavery must be held 
subordinate to the Union at whatever cost. " 
He returned to Tennessee, and repeatedly im- 
periled his own life to protect the Unionists of 
Tennessee. Tennessee having seceded from 
the Union, President Lincoln, on March 4, 
1862, appointed him military governor of the 
state, and he established the most stringent 
military rule. His numerous proclamations 
attracted wide attention. In 1864 he was 
elected vice president of the United States, and 
upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 1865, 
became president. In a speech two days later 
he said: "The American people must be 
taught, if they do not already feel, that trea- 
son is a crime and must be punished; that the 
government will not always bear with its ene- 
mies; that it is strong not only to protect, but 
to punish. * * The people must under- 
stand that it (treason) is the blackest of crime.= 
and will surely be punished." Yet his whole 
administration, the history of which is so well 



102 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



known, was in utter inconsistency with, and 
the most violent opposition to, the principles 
laid down in that speech. 

In his loose policy of reconstruction and 
general amnesty he was opposed by congress; 
and he characterized congress as a new rebel- 
hon, and lawlessly defied it in everything pos- 
sible to the utmost. In the beginning of iS68, 
on account of "high crimes and misdemean- 
ors," the principal of which was the removal 
of Secretary Stanton, in violation of the Ten- 
ure of Office act, articles of impeachment 
were preferred against him, and the trial began 
March 23. 

It was very tedious, continuing for nearly 
three months. A test article of the impeach- 
ment was at length submitted to the court for 
its action. It was certain that as the court 
voted upon that article, so would it vote upon 
all. Thirty-four voices pronounced the presi- 
dent guilty. As a two-thirds vote was neces- 
sary to his condemnation, he was pronounced 
acquitted, notwithstanding the great majority 
against him. The change of one vote from 
the not guilty side would have sustained the 
impeachment. 

The president for the remainder of his 
term was but little regarded. He continued, 
though impotently, his conflict with congress. 
His own party did not think it expedient to 
renominate him (or the presidency. The bul- 
let of the assassin introduced him to the presi- 
dent's chair. Notwithstanding this, never 
was there presented to a man a better oppor- 
tunity to immortalize his name and win the 
gratitude of a nation. He failed utterly. He 
retired to his home in Greenville, Tenn., tak- 
ing no very active part in politics until 1875. 
On January 26, after' an exciting struggle, he 
was chosed by the legislature of Tennessee 
United States senator in the forty-fourth con- 
gress; and took his seat in that body at the 
special session convened by President Grant 



on the 5th of March. On the 27th of July, 
1875, the ex-president made a visit to Ins 
daughter's home, near Carter Station, Tenn. 
When he started on his journey he was appar- 
ently in his usual vigorous health, but on 
reaching the residence ol his child the follow- 
ing day was stricken with paralysis, rendering 
him unconscious. He rallied occasionally, but 
finally passed away at 2 a. m. , July 31, aged 
sixty-seven years. He was buried at Green- 
ville, on the 3d of August, 1875. 




LYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth 
president of the United States, was 
born on the 29th of April, 1822, of 
christian parents, in a humble home, 
at Point P'easant,Va.,on the banks of the Ohio. 
Shortly afier his father moved to Georgetown, 
Brown county, Ohio. In this remote frontier 
hamlet, Ulysses received a common school 
education. At the age of seventeen, in the 
year 1839, he entered the Military academy at 
West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid, 
sensible young man of fair abilities, and of 
sturdy, honest character. He took respect- 
able rank as a scholar. In June, 1843, he 
graduated, about the middle in his class, and 
was sent as lieutenant of infantry to one of 
the distant military posts in the Missouri terri- 
tory. Two years he passed in these dreary 
solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasper- 
ating Indians. 

The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant 
was sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. 
His first battle was at Palo Alto. There was 
no chance here for the exhibition of either 
skill or heroism, nor at Resaca de la Palma, 
his second battle. At the battle of Monterey, 
his third engagement, it is said that he per- 
formed a signal service of daring and skillful 
horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its 
ammunition. A messenger must be sent for 




ULYSSES S GRANT. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



105 



more, along a route exposed to the bullets of 
the foe. Lieut. Grant, adopting an expedient 
learned of the Indians, grasped the mane of 
his horse, and hanging upon one side of the 
animal, ran the gauntlet in entire safety. 
From Monterey he was sent, with the Fourth 
infantry, to aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of 
Vera Cruz. In preparation for the march to 
the city of Mexico, he was appointed quarter- 
master of his regiment. At the battle of 
Molino del Rey, he was promoted to a first 
lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at 
Chapultepec. 

At the close of the Mexican war, Capt. 
Grant returned with his regiment to New 
York, and was again sent to one of the mili- 
tary posts on the frontier. The discovery of 
gold in California causing an immense tide of 
emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. 
Grant was sent, with a battalion, to Fort 
Dallas, in Oregon, for the protection of the 
interests of the emigrants. Life was weari- 
some in those wilds. Capt. Grant resigned 
his commission and returned to the states; 
and having married, entered upon the cultiva- 
tion of a small farm near St. Louis, Mo. He 
had but little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil 
not remunerative, he turned to mercantile 
life, entering into the leather business, with a 
younger brother at Galena, 111. This was in 
the year i860. As the tidings of the rebels 
firing on Fort Sumter reached the ears of 
Capt. Grant in his counting room, he said — 
"Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; 
though I have served him through one war, I 
do not feel that I have yet repaid the debt. 
I am still ready to discharge my obligations. I 
shall therefore buckle on my sword and see 
Uncle Sam through this war, too." 

He went into the streets, raised a company 
of volunteers, and led them, as their captain, 
to Springfield, the capital of the state, where 
their services were offered to Gov. Yates. The 



governor, impressed by the zeal and straight- 
forward executive ability of Capt. Grant, gave 
him a desk in his office, to assist in the volun- 
teer organization that was being formed in the 
state in behalf of the government. On the 
15th of June, 1 86 1, Capt. Grant received a 
commission as colonel of the Twenty-first 
regiment of Illinois volunteers. His merits as 
a West Point graduate, who had served for 
fifteen years in the regular army, were such 
that he was soon promoted to the rank of 
brigadier general and was placed in command 
at Cairo. The rebels raised their flag at Pa- 
ducah, near the mouth of the Tennessee river. 
Scarcely had its folds appeared ere Gen. Grant 
was there. The rebels fled. Their banner 
fell, and the stars and stripes were unfurled in 
its stead. 

At Belmont, a few days later, he sur- 
prised and routed the rebels, then at Fort 
Henry won another victory. Then came the 
brilliant fight at Fort Donelson. The nation 
was electrified by the victory, and the brave 
leader of the boys in blue was immediately 
made a major general, and the military district 
of Tennessee was assigned to him. 

Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew 
well how to secure the results of a victory. He 
immediately pushed on to the enemy's lines. 
Then came the terrible battles of Pittsburg 
Landing, Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, 
where Gen. Pemberton made an unconditional 
surrender of the city with over 30,000 men 
and 172 cannon. The fall of Vicksburg was 
by far the most severe blow which the rebels 
had thus far encountered, and opened up the 
Mississippi from Carlo to the gulf. 

Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate 
with Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, 
and proceeded to New Orleans, where he was 
thrown from his horse and received severe in- 
juries, from which he was laid up for months. 
He then rushed to the aid of Gens. Rosecrans 



106 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and Thomas at Chattanooga, and by a won- 
derful series of strategtic and technical measures 
put the Union army in fighting condition. 
Then followed the bloody battles of Chatta- 
nooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary 
Ridge, in which the rebels weie routed with 
great loss. This won ' for him unbounded 
praise in the north. On the 4th of February, 
1864, congress revived the grade of lieutenant 
general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. 
Grant. He repaired to Washington to receive 
his credentials and enter upon the duties of his 
new office. 

Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took 
charge of the army to concentrate the widely 
dispersed national troops for an attack on 
Richmond, the nominal capital of the rebel- 
lion, and endeavor there to destroy the rebel 
armies which would be promptly assembled 
from all quarters for its defense. The whole 
continent seemed to tremble under the tramp 
of these majestic armies, rushing to the deci- 
sive battle-field. Steamers were crowded with 
troops; railway trains were burdened with 
closely packed thousands. His plans were 
comprehensive and involved a series of cam- 
paigns, which were executed with remarkable 
energy and ability, and were consummated at 
the surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865. 

The war was ended. The Union was saved. 
The almost unanimous voice of the nation de- 
clared Gen. Grant to be the most prominent 
instrument in its salvation. The eminent 
services he had thus rendered the country 
brought him conspicuously forward as the re- 
publican candidate for the presidential chair. 
At the republican convention held at Chicago, 
May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated 
for the presidency, and at .the autumn elec- 
tion received a majority of the popular 
vote, and 214 out of 294 electoral votes. The 
national convention of the republican party 
which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of June, 



1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a 
second term by a unanimous vote. The selec- 
tion was emphatically endorsed by the people 
five months later, 292 electoral votes being 
cast for him. 

Soon after the close of his second term, 
Gen. Grant started upon his famous trip 
around the world. He visited almost every 
country of the civilized world, and was every- 
where received with such ovations and demon- 
strations of respect and honor, private, as well 
as public and official, as were never before 
bestowed upon any citizen of the United States. 

He was the most prominent candidate 
before the republican national convention in 
1 880 for a renomination for president. But he 
went to New York and embarked in the 
brokerage business under the firm name of 
Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villain, 
wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was 
sent to the penitentiary. The general was 
attacked with cancer in the throat, but suffered 
in his stoic-like manner, never complaining. 
He was re-instated general of the army and 
retired by congress. The cancer soon finished 
its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, the nation 
went in mourning over the death of the illus- 
trious general. 



^>^ UTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nine- 
I /^T teenth president of the United States, 
I^P was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 
4. 1852, almost three months after 
the death of his father, Rutherford Hayes. 
His ancestry, an both the paternal and mater- 
nal sides, was of the most honorable character. 
It can be traced, it is said, as far back as 
1280, when Hayes and Rutherford were two 
Scottish chieftains, fighting side by side with 
Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. 
Both families belonged to the nobility, owned 
e.xtensive estates, and had a large following. 




RUTH ERFORD B HAYES. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



109 



Misfortune overtaking the family, George 
Hayes left Scotland in 1680, and settled in 
Windsor, Conn. His son George was born 
in Windsor, and remained there during his 
life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, married 
Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of his 
marriage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. 
Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and 
was a manufacturer of scythes at Bradford, 
Conn. Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel and 
grandfather of President Hayes, was born in 
New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a 
farmer, blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He 
emigrated to Vermont at an unknown date, 
settling in Brattleboro, where he established a 
hotel. Here his son, Rutherford Hayes, the 
father of President Hayes, was born. He was 
married, in September, 181 3, to Sophia Bir- 
chard, of Wilmington, Yt-, whose ancestors 
emigrated thither from Connecticut, they hav- 
ing been among the wealthiest and best fami- 
lies of Norwich. Her ancestry on the male 
side are traced back to 1635, to John Bir- 
chard, one of the principal founders of Nor- 
wich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers 
in the Revolutionary war. 

The father of President Hayes was an in- 
dustrious, frugal and open-hearted man. He 
was of a mechanical turn, and could mend a 
plow, knit a stocking, or do almost any- 
thing else that he chose to undertake. He 
was a member of the church, active in all the 
benevolent enterprises of the town, and con- 
ducted his business on christian principles. 
After the close of the war of 181 2, for reasons 
inexplicable to his neighbors, he resolved to 
emigrate to Ohio. 

The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that 
day, when there were no canals, steamers, nor 
railways, was a very serious affair. A tour of 
inspection was first made, occupying four 
months. Mr. Hayes determined to move to 
Delaware, where the family arrived in 18 17. 



He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial 
fever, less than three months .before the birth 
of the son, of whom we now write. Mrs. 
Hayes, in her sore bereavement, found the 
support she so much needed in her brother 
Sardis, who had been a member of the house- 
hold from the day of its departure from Ver- 
mont, and in an orphan girl whom she had 
adopted some time before as an act of charity. 

Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, 
and the subject of this sketch was so feeble at 
birth that he was not expected to live beyond 
a month or two at most. As the months went 
by he grew weaker and weaker, so that the 
neighbors were in the habit of inquiring from 
time to time "if Mrs. Hayes' baby died last 
night." On one occasion a neighbor, who 
was on familiar terms with the family, after 
alluding to the boy's big head, and the moth- 
er's assiduous care of him, said in a bantering 
way, "That's right! Stick to him. You have 
got him along so far, and I shouldn't wonder 
if he would really come to something yet. " 

"You need not laugh, " said Mrs. Hayes. 
"You wait and see. You can't tell but I 
shall make him president of the United States 
yet." The boy lived in spite of the universal 
predictions of his speedy death; and when, in 
1825, his older brother was drowned, he be- 
camfe, if possible, still dearer to his mother. 

The boy was seven years old before he 
went to school. His education, however, was 
not neglected. He probably learned as much 
from his mother and sister as he would have 
done at school. His sports were almost wholly 
within doors, his playmates being his sister 
and her associates. His uncle Sardis Birchard 
took the deepest interest in his education; and 
as the boy's health had improved, and he was 
making good progress in his studies, he pro- 
posed to send him to college. His preparation 
commenced with a tutor at home; but he was 
afterward sent for one year to a professor in 



no 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



the WeSleyan university, in Middletown, Conn. 
He entered Kenyon college in 1838, at the 
age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head 
of his class in 1842. 

Immediately after his graduation he began 
the study of iaw in the office of Thomas Spar- 
row, Esq., in Columbus. Finding his oppor- 
tunities for study in Columbus somewhat 
limited, he determined to enter the law school 
at Cambridge, Mass., where he remained two 
years. In 1845, after graduating at the law 
school, he was admitted to the bar at Marietta, 
Ohio, and shortly afterward went into practice 
as an attorney-at-law with Ralph P. Buck- 
land, of Fremont. Here he remained three 
years, acquiring but a limited practice, and 
apparently unambitious of distinction in his 
profession. 

In 1849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his 
ambition found a new stimulus. Two events, 
occurring at this period, had a powerful influ- 
ence upon his subsequent life. One of these 
was his marriage with Miss Lucy Ware Webb, 
daughter of Dr. James Webb, of Chillicothe; 
the other was his introduction to the Cincin- 
nati Literary club, a body embracing among 
its members such men as Chief Justice Salmon 
P. Chase, Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. 
Noyes, and many others hardly less distin- 
guished in after life. The marriage was a 
fortunate one in every respect, as everybody 
knows. Not one of all the wives of our presi- 
dents was more universally admired, rever- 
enced and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and 
no one did more than she to reflect honor 
upon American womanhood. The Literary 
club brought Mr. Hayes into constant associa- 
tion with young men of high character and 
noble aims, and lured hina to display the 
qualities so long hidden by his bashfulness and 
extreme modesty. 

In 1856 he v/as nominated to the office of 
judge of the court of common pleas; but he 



declined to accept the nomination. Two 
years later, the office of city solicitor becoming 
vacant, the city council elected him for the un- 
expired term. 

In 1 86 1, when the rebellion broke out, he 
was at the zenith of his professional life. His 
rank at the bar was among the first. But the 
news of the attack on Fort Sumter found him 
eager to take up arms for the defense of his 
beloved country. 

His military record was bright and illus- 
trious. In October, 1861, he was made 
lieutenant-colonel, and August, 1862, promoted 
colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio regiment, 
but he refused to leave his old comrades and 
go among strangers. Subsequently, however, 
he was made colonel of his old regiment. At 
the battle of South Mountain he received a 
wound, and while faint and bleeding displayed 
courage and fortitude that won admiration 
from all. 

Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, 
after his recovery, to act as brigadier-general, 
and placed in command of the celebrated Kana- 
wha division, and for gallant and meritorious 
services in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's 
Hill and Cedar Creek, he was promoted briga- 
dier-general. He was also brevetted major- 
general "for gallant and distinguished services 
during the campaigns of 1864 in West Vir- 
ginia." In the course of his arduous services 
four horses were shot from under him, and he 
was wounded four times. 

In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to con- 
gress, from the Second Ohio district, which 
had long been democratic. He was not pres- 
ent during the campaign, and after his election 
was importuned to resign his commission in 
the army; but he finally declared: " I shall 
never come to Washington until I can come by 
the way of Richmond." He was re-elected 
in 1866. 

In 1867, Gen. Hayes was elected governor 




JAMES A. GARFIELD 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



113 



of Ohio over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popu- 
lar democrat. In 1869 was re-elected over 
George H. Pendleton. He was elected gov- 
ernor for the third term in 1875. 

In 1876 he was the standard-bearer of the 
republican party in the presidential contest, 
and, after a hard, long contest, was chosen 
president, and was inaugurated Monday, March 
5. 1875. 

He served one full term of four years, then 
retired to his peaceful home, where he expired 
January 17, 1893. 



>^AMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth pres- 
M ident of the United States, was born 
A ■ November 19, 1831, in the woods of 
Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. His 
parents were Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Gar- 
field, both of New England ancestry, and from 
families well known in the early history of that 
section of our country, but had moved to the 
Western Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settle- 
ment. 

The house in which James A. was born 
was about 20x30 feet, built of logs, with the 
spaces between the logs filled with clay. His 
father was a hard-working farmer, and he soon 
had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, and 
a log barn built. The household comprised 
the father and mother and their four children — 
Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In 
May, 1823, the father, from a cold contracted 
in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At 
this time James was about eighteen months 
old, and Thomas about ten years old. He 
now lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live 
in Solon, Ohio, near their birth-place. 

The early educational advantages young 
Garfield enjoyed were very limited, yet he 
made the most of them. He labored at farm 
work for others, did carpenter work, chopped 



wood, or did anything that would bring in a 
few dollars. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever 
ashamed of his origin, and he never forgot the 
friends of his struggling childhood, youth and 
manhood, neither did they ever forget hmi. 
When in the highest seats of honor, the 
humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly 
greeted as ever. 

The highest ambition of young Garfield 
until he was about sixteen years old- was to be 
a captain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was 
anxious to go aboard a vessel, which his 
mother strongly opposed. She finally con- 
sented to his going to Cleveland, with the 
understanding, however, that he should try to 
obtain some other kind of employment. He 
walked all the way to Cleveland. After 
making many applications for work, and try- 
ing to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meet- 
ing with success, he engaged as a driver for his 
cousin, Amos Letcher, on the Ohio & Penn- 
sylvania canal. He remained at this work 
but a short time when he went home, and 
attended the seminary at Chester for about 
three years, when he entered Hiram and the 
Eclectic institute, teaching a few terms of 
school in the meantime, and doing other work. 
This school was started by the Disciples of 
Christ in 1850, of which church he was then 
a member. He became janitor and bell-ringer 
in order to help pay his way. He then be- 
came both teacher and pupil. In the fall of 
1854, he entered Williams college, from which 
he graduated in 1856, taking one of the high- 
est honors of his class. He afterward re- 
turned to Hiram college as its president. Dr. 
Noah Porter, president of Yale college, says oi 
him in reference to his religion: 

"President Garfield was more than a man 
of strong moral and religious convictions. Hit 
whole history, from boyhood to the lasV 
shows that duty to man and to God, and de 
votion to Christ and life and faith and spiritua 



114 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



commission were controlling springs of his 
being, and to a more than usual degree." 

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with 
Miss Lucretia Rudolph, November ii, 1858, 
who proved herself worthy as the wife of one 
whom all the world loved and mourned. To 
them were born seven children, five of whom 
axe still living, four boys and one girl. 

Mr. Garfield made his first political 
speeches in 1856, in Hiram and the neighbor- 
ing villages, and three years later he began to 
speak at county mass meetings, and became 
the favorite speaker wherever he was. Dur- 
ing this year he was elected to the Ohio 
senate. He also began to study law at Cleve- 
land, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar. 
The great rebellion broke out in the early part 
of this year, and Mr. Garfield at once resolved 
to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to de- 
fend the old flag. He received his commission 
as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-second reg- 
iment of Ohio volunteer infantry, August 14, 
1 861. He was immediately put into active 
service, and before he had ever seen a gun 
fired in action, was placed in command of four 
regiments of infantry and eight companies of 
cavalry, charged with the work of driving out 
of his native state the officer (Humphrey Mar- 
shall) reputed to be the ablest of those, not 
educated to war, whom Kentucky had given to 
the rebellion. This work was bravely and 
speedily accomplished, although against great 
odds. President Lincoln, on his success, com- 
missioned him brigadier general, January 10, 
1 862 ; and as ' 'he had been the youngest man 
in the Ohio senate two years before, so now 
he was the youngest general in the army." 
He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, in 
its operations around Corinth and its march 
through Alabama. He was then detailed as a 
member of the general court-martial for the 
trial of Fitz-John Porter. He was then or- i 
dered to report to Gen. Rosecruns, and was I 



assigned to the chief of staff. The military 
history of Gen. Garfield closed with his brill- 
iant services at Chickamauga, where he won 
the stars of the major-general. 

Without an effort on his part Gen. Garfield 
was elected to congress in the fall of 1862 
from the Nineteenth district of Ohio. This 
section of Ohio had been represented in con- 
gress for si.xty years mainly by two men — 
Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua R. Giddings. It 
was not without a struggle that he resigned 
his place in the army. At the time he entered 
congress he was the youngest member in that 
body. Here he remained by successive re- 
elections until he was elected president in 1880. 
Of his labors in congress Senator Hoar says: 
"Since the year 1864 you cannot think of a 
question which has been debated in congress, 
or discussed before a tribunal of the American 
people, in regard to which you will not find, 
if you wish instruction, the argument on one 
side stated, in almost every instance, better 
than by anybod}' else, in some speech made in 
the house of representatives or on the hustings 
by Mr. Garfield." 

Upon January 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was 
elected to the United States senate, and on 
the 8th of June, of the same year, was nom- 
inated as the candidate of his party for presi- 
dent at the great Chicago convention. He was 
elected in the following November, and on 
March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably 
no administration ever opened its existence 
under brighter auspices than that of President 
Garfield, and every day it grew in favor with 
the people, and by the first of July he had 
completed all the initiatory and preliminary 
work of his administration and was preparing 
to leave the city to meet his friends at Will- 
iams college. While on his way and at the 
depot, in company with Secretary Blaine, a 
man stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and 
fired directly at his back. The president 




CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



117 



tottered and fell, and as he did so the assassin 
fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the left 
coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no 
further injury. For eighty days all during 
the hot months of July and August, he lingered 
and suffered. He, however, remained master 
of himself till the last, and by his magnificent 
bearing was teaching the country and the 
world the noblest of human lessons — how to 
live grandly in the very clutch of death. He 
passed serenely away September 19, 1881, at 
Elberon, N. J., on the seashore, where he had 
been taken shortly previous. The murderer 
was tried, found guilty and executed, in one 
year after he committed the foul deed. 



a HESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first 
president of the United States, was 
born in Franklin county, Vermont, 
on the fifth of October, 1830, and is 
the eldest of a family of two sons and five 
daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. 
William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who 
emigrated to this country from the county 
Antrim, Ireland, in his eighteenth year, and 
died in 1875, in Newtonville, near Albany, N. 
Y. , after a long and successful ministry. 

Young Arthur was educated at Union col- 
lege, Schenectady, N. Y. , where he excelled 
in all his studies. After his graduation, he 
taught school in Vermont for two years, and 
at the expiration of that time went to New 
York, with $500 in his pocket, and entered 
the office of ex-Judge E. D. Culver, as student. 
After being admited to the bar he formed a 
partnership with his intimate friend and room- 
mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention 
of practicing in the west, and for three months 
they roamed about in the western states in 
search of an eligible site, but in the end re- 
turned to New York, where they entered upon 
a successful career almost from the start. 



Gen. Arthur soon afterward married the daugh- 
ter of Lieut. Herndon, of the United States 
navy, who was lost at sea. Congress voted a 
gold medal to his widow in recognition of the 
bravery he displayed on that occasion. Mrs. 
Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's nomi- 
nation to the vice presidency, leaving two 
children. 

Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal 
celebrity in his first great case, the famous 
Lemmon suit, brought to recover possession of 
eight slaves who had been declared free by 
Judge Paine, of the superior court of New 
York city. It was in 1852 that Jonathan 
Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with 
his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, 
when they were discovered and freed. T'le 
judge decided that they could not be held by 
the owner under the Fugitive Slave law. A 
howl of rage went up from the south, and the 
Virginia legislature authorized the attorney 
general of that state to assist in an appeal. 
William M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur 
were employed to represent the people, and 
they won their case, which then went to the 
supreme court of the United States. Charles 
O'Conor here espoused the cause of the slave- 
holders, but he too, was beaten by Messrs. 
Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken 
toward the emanicipation of the black race. 

Another great service was rendered by 
Gen. Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Liz- 
zie Jenning-, a respectable colored woman, 
was put oft a Focrth avenue car with violence 
after she had paid her fare. Gen. Arthur sued 
on her behalf, and secured a verdict of $500 
damages. The next day the company issued 
an order to admit colored persons to ride on 
their cars, and the other car companies quickly 
followed their exarnple. Before that the Sixth 
avenue company ran a few special cars for col- 
ored persons and the other lines refused to lot 
them ride at all. 



118 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Gen. Arthur was a delegate to the conven- 
tion at Saratoga that founded the republican 
party. Previous to the war he was judge-ad- 
vocate of the Second brigade of the state of 
New York, and Governor Morgan, of that 
state, appointed him engineer-in-chief of his 
staff. In 1861, he was made inspector gen- 
eral, and soon afterward became quartermas- 
ter general. In each of these offices he ren- 
dered great service to the government during 
the war. At the end of Gov. Morgan's term 
he resumed the practice of the law, forming a 
partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then Mr. 
Phelps, the district attorney of New York, 
was added to the firm. The legal practice of 
this well known firm was very large and lucra- 
tive; each of the gentlemen composing it was 
an able lawyer, and possessed a splendid local 
reputation, if not indeed one of national 
extent. 

Arthur was appointed collector of the port 
of New York by President Grant, November 
21, 1872, to succeed Thomas Murphy, and 
held the office until July 20, 1878, when he 
was succeeded by Collector Merritt. Mr. 
Arthur was nominated on the presidential 
ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the 
famous national republican convention held at 
Chicago in June, 1880. This was perhaps the 
greatest political convention that ever assem- 
bled on the continent. It was composed of 
the leading politicians of the republican party, 
all able men, and all stood firm and fought 
vigorously and with signal tenacity for their 
respective candidates that were before the con- 
vention for the nomination. Fiaaliy Gen. 
Garfield received the nomination for president 
and Gen. Arthur for vice president. 1 he cam- 
paign which followed wai one of the most 
animated known in the history of our country. 
Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of the 
democratic party, was a popular man, and his 
party made a valiant fight for his election. 



Finally the election came and the country's 
choice was Garfield and Arthur. They were 
inaugurated March 4, 1 881, as president and 
vice-president. A few months only had passed 
ere the newly chosen president was the 
victim of the assassin's bullet. The remarka- 
ble patience that Garfield manifested during 
those hours and weeks, and even months, of 
the most terrible suffering man has often been 
called upon to endure, was seemingly more 
than human. It was certainly God-like. 
During all this period of deepest an.xiety Mr. 
Arthur's every move was watched, and be it 
said to his credit, that his every action dis- 
played only an earnest desire that the suffer- 
ing Garfield might recover, to serve the re- 
mainder of the term he had so auspiciously 
begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested 
in deed or look of this man, even though the 
most honored position in the world was at any 
moment likely to fall to him. 

At last God in his mercy relieved President 
Garfield from further suffermg. Then it be- 
came the duty of the vice president to assume 
the responsibilities of the high office, and he 
took the oath in New York, September 20, 
1 88 1. The position was an embarrassing one 
to him, made doubly so from the facts that all 
eyes were on him, anxious to know what he 
would do, what pohcy he would pursue, and 
whom he would select as advisers. The duties 
of the office had been greatly neglected during 
the president's long illness, and many import- 
ant measures were to be immediately decided 
by him; and still farther to embarrass him he 
did not fail to realize under what circumstances 
he became president, and knevv the feelings oi 
many on this point. Under these trying cir- 
cumstances President Arthur took the reins of 
the government in his own hands; and as em- 
barrassing as was the condition of afiairs, he 
happily surprised the nation, actign so wisely 
that but few criticised his administration. Hu 




STEPHEN CROVER CLEVELAND. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



121 



served until the close of his administration, 
March 4, 1885, and was a popular candidate 
before his party for a second term. His name 
was ably presented before the convention at 
Chica^^o, ^:>^ was received with great favor, 
and doubtless but for the personal popularity 
of one of the opposing candidates, he would 
have been selected as the standard-bearer of 
his party for another campaign. He retired 
to private life carrying with him the best 
wishes of the American people, whom he had 
served in a manner satisfactory to them and 
with credit to himself. Although not a man 
of the transcendent ability possessed by the 
lamented Garfield, Mr. Arthur was able for 
the emergency he was so unexpectedly called 
to fill, and was a worthy successor to his chief. 



^">^TEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND, 
•^^^* the twenty-second and twenty-fourth 

^ ^ J president of the United States, was 
born in 1837, in the town of Cald- 
well, Essex county, N. J., and in a little two- 
and-a-half story white house which is still 
standing, characteristically to mark the hum- 
ble birth-place of one of America's great men 
in striking contrast with the old world, where 
all men high in office must be high in origin, 
and born in the cradle of wealth. When three 
years of age, his father, who was a Presbyte- 
rian minister with a large family, and a small 
salary, moved by the way of the Hudson river 
and Erie canal to Fayetteville in search of an 
increased income and a larger field of work. 
Fayetteville was then the most straggling of 
country villages, about five miles from Pompey 
Hill, where Gov. Seymour was born. At the 
last mentioned place young Grover commenced 
going to school in the "good old-fashioned 
way," and presumably distinguished himself 
after the manner of all village boys in doing 



the things he ought not to do. Such is the 
distinguishing trait of all village geniuses and 
independent thinkers. When he arrived at 
the age of fourteen years he had outgrown the 
capacity of the village school and expressed a 
most emphatic desire to be sent to an acad- 
emy. To this his father decidedly objected. 
Academies in those days cost money; besides, 
his father wanted him to become self-support- 
ing by the quickest possible means, and this 
at that time in Fayetteville seemed to be a 
position in a country store, where his father, 
with the large family on his hands, had con- 
siderable influence. Grover was to be paid 
$50 for his services the first year, and if he 
proved trustworthy he was to receive $100 the 
second year. Here the lad commenced his 
career as a salesman, and in two years he had 
earned so good a reputation for trustworthi- 
ness that his employers desired to retain him 
longer. 

But instead of remaining with this firm in 
Fayetteville, he went with the family in their 
removal to Clinton, where he had an oppor- 
tunity of attending a high school. Here he 
industriously pursued his studies until the 
family removed with him to a point on Black 
river known as the Holland Patent, a village 
of 500 or 600 people, fifteen miles north of 
Utica, N. Y. At this place his father died, 
after preaching but three Sundays. This event 
broke up the family, and Grover set out for 
New York city to accept, at a small salary, 
the position of "under-teacher" in an asylum 
for the blind. He taught faithfully for two 
years, and although he obtained a good repu- 
tation in this capacity, he concluded that 
teaching was not his calling for life, and, re- 
versing the traditional order, he left the city to 
seek his fortune, instead of going to a city. 
He first thought of going to Cleveland, Ohio, 
as there was some charm in that name for him; 
but before proceeding to that place he went to 



122 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Buffalo to ask advice of his uncle, Lewis 
F. Allan, a noted stock breeder of that place. 
After a long consultation, his uncle offered 
him a place temporarily as assistant herdkeeper 
at $50 a year, while he could "look around." 
One day afterward he boldly walked into the 
office of Rogers, Bowers & Rogers, of Buffalo, 
and told them what he wanted. A number of 
young men were already engaged in the office, 
but Grover's persistency won, and he was fin- 
ally permitted to come as an office boy and 
have the use of the law library for the nomi- 
nal sum of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he 
had to pay for his board and washing. The 
walk to and from his uncle's was a long and 
rugged one; and, although the first winter was 
a memorably severe one, yet he was neverthe- 
less prompt and regular. On the first day of 
his service there, his senior employer threw 
down a copy of Blackstone before him with a 
bang that made the dust fly, saying, "That's 
where they all begin." A titter ran around 
the little circle of clerks and students, as they 
thought that was enough to scare young 
Grover out of his plans; but in due time he 
mastered that cumbersome volume. Then, as 
ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland exhib- 
ited a talent for executiveness rather than for 
chasing principles through all their metaphys- 
ical possibilities. "Let us quit talking and go 
and do it," was practically his motto. 

The first public office to which Mr. Cleve- 
land was elected was that of sheriff of Erie 
county, N. Y., in which Buffalo is situated; 
and in such capacity it fell to his duty to in- 
flict capital punishment upon two criminals. 
In 1 88 1 he ^vas elected mayor of the city of 
Buffalo on the democratic ticket, with especial 
reference to the bringing about certain reforms 
in the administration of the municipal affairs 
of that city. In this office, as well as that of 
sheriff, his performance of duty has generally 
been considered fair, with possibly a few ex- 



ceptions, which were ferreted out and magni- 
fied during his last presidential campaign. 
The editorial manager or the New York Sun 
afterward very highly commended Mr. Ck ve 
land's administration as mayor of Buffalo, and 
thereupon recommended him for governor ol 
the Empire state. To the latter office he was 
elected in 1882, and his administration of the 
affairs of state was generally satisfactory. The 
mistakes he made, if any, were made very 
public throughout the nation after he was nom- 
inated for president of the United States. For 
this high office he was nominated July 11, 
1S84, by the national democratic convention 
at Chicago, when other competitors were 
Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas 
A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. 
Thurman, etc. ; and he was elected b^' the 
people by a majority of about a thousand over 
the brilliant and long-tried James G. Blaine. 
President Cleveland resigned his office as gov- 
erner of New York in January, 1885, in order 
to prepare for his duties as the chief executive 
of the United States, in which capacity his tcM-m 
commenced at noon on the 4th of March, 1885. 
In November, 1892, Mr. Cleveland was re- 
elected to the presidency by the democratic 
party, the candidate of the republican ]iarty 
being their ex-chief, Benjamin Harrison, a 
sketch of whom follows this. The popular 
vote on this occasion stood: Cleveland, 5, 556- 
562; Harrison, 5,162,874; the electoral vote 
was 277 for Cleveland, and 145 for Harrison. 
During the early part of his first administra- 
tion, Mr. Cleveland was married to Miss 
Frances Folsom, of Buffalo, N. Y. , and in Oc- 
tober, 1 89 1, a daughter, Ruth, came to bless 
the union, and a second daughter, Esther, was 
born in July, 1893. The first act of Mr. 
Cleveland, on taking his seat for his second 
term, was to convene congress in extra session 
for the purpose of repealing the Sherman sil- 
ver bill, and accordingly that body met Sep- 




BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



125 



teinber 4, 1893, ^"d both houses being demo- 
cratic, the bill, in accordance with the recom- 
mendation oi the president, was uncondition- 
ally repealed. The special feature, liowever, 
ot the second administration of Grover Cleve- 
land was the repeal of the McKinley tariff bill 
by congress and the substitution of the bill re- 
ported by William L. Wilson, of West Vir- 
ginia, as chairman ot the ways and means com- 
mittee of the house ot representatives, which 
bill, being concurred in, with sundry amend- 
ments, by the senate, was finally passed and 
went into effect in the latter part of 1894, 
materially reducing the duties on imports. 



tV^ ENJAMIN HARRISON, the twenty- 
[('^ third president, is the descendant of 
J^^M one of the historical families of this 
country. The head of the family 
was a Major General Harrison, one of Oliver 
Cromwell's trusted followers and fighters. In 
the zenith of Cromwell's power it became the 
duty of this Harrison to participate in the 
trial of Charles I, and afterward to sign the 
death warrant of the king. He subsequently 
paid for this with his life, being hung October 
13, 1660. His descendants came to America, 
and the ne.xt of the family that appears in his- 
tory is Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and 
after whom he was named. Benjamin Har- 
rison was a member of the continental con- 
gress during the years 1774-5-6, and was one 
of the original signers of the Declaration of 
Independence. He was three times elected 
governor of Virginia. 

Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of 
the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, 
after a successsul career as a soldier during the 
war of 181 2, and with a clean record as gov- 
ernor of the Northwestern territory, was 
elected president of the United States in 1840. 



His career was cut short by death in one 
month after his inauguration. 

President Benjamin Harrison was born at 
North Bend, Hamilton county, Ohio, August 
20, 1833. His life up to the time of his grad- 
uation by the Miami university, at O.xford, 
Ohio, was the uneventful one of a country lad 
of a family of small means. His father was 
able to give him a good education, and nothing 
more. He became engaged while at college 
to the daughter of Dr. Scott, principal of a 
female school at O.xford. After graduating, 
he determined to enter upon the study of the 
law. He went to Cincinnati and there read 
law for two years. At the e.xpiration of that 
time young Harrison received the only inher- 
itance of his life; his aunt, dying, left him a 
lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy 
as a fortune, and decided to get married at 
once, take this money and go to some eastern 
town and begin the practice of law. He sold 
his lot, and with the money in his pocket, he 
started out with his young wife to fight for a 
place in the world. He decided to go to 
Indianapolis, which was even at that time a 
town of promise. He met with slight encour- 
agement at first, making scarcely anything the 
first year. He worked diligently, applying 
himself closely to his calling, built up an ex- 
tensive practice and took a leading rank in the 
legal profession. He is the father of two 
children. 

In i860 Mr. Harrison was nominated for 
the position of supreme court reporter, and 
then began his experience a? a stump speaker. 
He canvassed the state thoroughly, and was 
elected by a handsome majority. In 1862 he 
raised the Seventeenth Indiana infantry, and 
was chosen its colonel. His regiment was 
composed of the rawest of material, but Col. 
Harrison employed all his time at first master- 
ing military tactics and drilling his men; when 
he therefore came to move toward the east 



126 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



with Sherman his regiment was one of the 
best drilled and organized in the army. At 
Resaca he especially distinguished himself, 
and for his bravery at Peachtree Creek he was 
made a brigadier general, Gen. Hooker speak- 
ing of him in the most complimentary terms. 

During the absence of Gen. Harrison in 
the field the supreme court declared the office 
of the supreme court reporter vacant, and 
another person was elected to the position. 
From the time of leaving Indiana with his 
regiment until the fall of 1864 he had taken 
no leave of absence, but having been nomi- 
nated that year for the same office, he got a 
thirty-day leave of absence, and during that 
time made a brilliant canvass of the state, and 
was elected for another term. He then started 
to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was 
stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a 
most trying siege made his way to the front in 
time to participate in the closing incidents of 
the war. 

In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-elec- 
tion as reporter, and resumed the practice of 
law. In 1 876 he was a candidate for governor. 
Although defeated, the brilliant campaign he 
made won for him a national reputation, and 
he was much sought, especially in the east, to 
make speeches. In 1880, as usual, he took 
an active part in the campaign, and was elected 
to the United States senate. Here he served 
six years, and was known as one of the ablest 
men, best lawyers and strongest debaters in 
that body. With the expiration of his sena- 
torial term he returned to the practice of his 
profession, becoming the head of one of the 
strongest firms in the state of Indiana. 

The political campaign of 1888 was one of 
the most memorable in the history of our coun- 
try. The convention, which assembled in 
Chicago in June and named Mr. Harrison as 
the chief standard bearer of the republican 
party, was great in every particular, and on 



this account, and the attitude it assumed upon 
the vital questions of the day, chief among 
which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest in 
the campaign throughout the nation. Shortly 
after the nomination delegations began to visit 
Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This 
movement became popular, and from all sec- 
tions of the country societies, clubs and dele- 
gations journeyed thither to pay their respects 
to the distinguished statesman. The popu- 
larity of these was greatly increased on ac- 
count of the remarkable speeches made by Mr. 
Harrison. He spoke daily all through the 
summer and autumn to these visiting delega- 
tions, and so varied, masterly and eloquent 
were his speeches that they at once placed 
him in the foremost rank of American orators 
and statesmen. On account of his eloquence 
as a speaker and his power as a debater, he 
was called upon at an uncommonly early age 
to take part in the discussion of the great 
questions that then began to agitate the coun- 
try. He was an uncompromising anti-slavery 
man, and was matched against some of the 
most eminent democratic speakers of his state. 
No man who felt the touch of his blade de- 
sired to be pitted with him again. With all 
his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for 
oratorical effect, but his words always went 
like bullets to the mark. He is purely Ameri- 
can in his ideas and is a splendid type of the 
American statesman. Gifted with quick per- 
ception, a logical mind and a ready tongue, he 
is one of the most distinguished impromptu 
speakers in the nation. Original in thought, 
precise in logic, terse in statement, yet withal 
faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the 
sound statesman and brilliant orator of the 
day. His term of office as president of the 
United States expired on March 4, 1893, when 
he surrendered the high position to Stephen 
Grover Cleveland, allusion to which fact is 
made on a preceding page. 




WILLIAM Mckinley 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



127 




•ILLIAM Mckinley, the twenty- 
fourth president, and twice governor 
of Ohio, is one of the most distin- 
guished poUticians of his state and 
nation. His ancestry lived in western Penn- 
sylvania, his father, William Mclvinley, who 
died recently at the age of eighty-five years, 
having been born on a farm in Pine township, 
Mercer county, that state — a farm which was 
recently and may be to-day in the possession 
of the Rose family, which is related to Mr. Mc- 
Kinley, and of which ex-Mayor W. G. Rose, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, is a member. William Mc- 
Kinley, Sr. , was in the iron business all his 
life, as was also his father before him. 

William McKinley, Jr., was born at Niles, 
Trumbull county, Ohio, January 29, 1843. ^^ 
was educated in the common schools, in the 
academy at Poland, Ohio, and in the fall of 
i860 he entered Allegheny college at Mead- 
ville. Pa., with the view of taking a full college 
course; but o\^'ing to sickness he was obliged 
to return home before the winter came on. 
During the winter of 1860-61 he taught a dis- 
trict school, and intended to return to Alle- 
gheny college, but in April, 1861, Fort Sumter 
was fired upon by the rebels, and the spirit 
of patriotism in young McKinley's heart was 
so strong that he enlisted in company E, 
Twenty-third Ohio volunteer infantry, with 
which he marched and fought in the ranks for 
fourteen months. His regiment was with 
Rosecrans and McClellan in Virginia and 
West Virginia. His first battle was that of 
Carnifax Ferry. After this he joined the army 
of the Potomac and fought with McClellan. 
Subsequently Private McKinley was promoted, 
first to second lieutenant, September, 24, 1862; 
then to first lieutenant, February 7, 1863, and 
then to captain, July 25, 1864. Then he 
served on the staff of Gen. R. B. Hayes and 
was afterward detailed to act as assistant 
adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. George 



Crook. He was with Sheridan in the Shenan- 
doah valley, in the battles of Winchester, 
Cedar Creek, Fisher's Hill, Opequan, Kerns- 
town, Cloyd Mountain and Berryville. For 
meritorious conduct he was brevetted major 
by President Lincoln, and after Gen. Crook's 
capture, in Maryland, he served on the staff 
of Maj.-Gen. Hancock, and later on that of 
Gen. S. S. Carroll, commander of the veteran 
reserve corps at Washington, D. C. He was 
present at the surrender of Gen. Lee, April 9, 
1865, was with his regiment all through its 
campaigns and battles, and was mustered out 
of service July 26, 1865, having been in the 
army four years and one month. 

Returning to Ohio, Maj. McKinley studied 
law with Hon. Charles S. Glidden and David 
Wilson, of Mahoning county, and then at- 
tended the law school at Albany, N. Y. In 
1S67 he was admitted to the bar, and in May 
of that year located in Canton, Ohio, where he 
formed a law partnership with Judge Belden, 
practicing in that relationship for two years. 
In 1869 he was elected on the republican 
ticket prosecuting attorney of Stark county, 
notwithstanding that county was democratic 
usually by a reliable majority, but in 1871 
he was defeated for re-election by an ad- 
verse majority of forty-five. In 1876 he 
ran for congress, and, to the surprise of the 
older politicians, was elected and was then 
continuously in congress from his district (not- 
withstanding several gerrymanders made for 
the sake of defeating him) for fourteen con- 
secutive years, with the exception of a part of 
his fourth term, when he was unseated by a 
democratic majorify in congress and his place 
given to his competitor. He was a candidate for 
re-election to congress in 1890, but on account 
of fictitious alarm awakened by his political en- 
emies as to the result, or the probable result, of 
the ' ' McKinley tariff bill, " which went into ef- 
fect about October i, 1890, a little more than 



128 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



one month before the election, he was defeated, 
the majority against him and in favor of his 
competitor, Lieut. -Gov. Warwick, being 303 
votes. The year before the counties compos- 
ing this district, which had been most out- 
rageously gerrymandered for the sake of ac- 
complishing his defeat, gave a majority to 
James E. Campbell for governor of 2,900. 
But while this defeat retired him from con- 
gress it at the same time made him governor 
in 1 89 1, when he was elected over his opponent 
by a plurality of 21,511. In 1893 he was 
again elected governor by the phenomenal 
plurality of 80,995, his opponent this time be- 
ing the Hon. Lawrence T. Neal. 

While in congress Maj. McKinley was a 
member of the committee on revision of laws, 
the judiciary committee, the committee on ex- 
penditures in the post office department, and 
the committee on rules. Upon the nomina- 
tion of Gen. Garfield for the presidency, Mr. 
McKinley took his place on the committee on 
ways and means, with which he served for the 
rest of his time in congress. It was while he 
was chairman of this committee that he framed 
the "McKinle}' Bill" which still bears its name, 
and provided for a high rate of duty on an im- 
mense number of articles imported from for- 
eign countries, but made sugar free. Its pur- 
pose was to reduce the national revenue and 
to increase protection. 

The work involved in the preparation of 
this bill is almost inconceivable. It contained 
thousands of items and covered nearly every 
interest in the country. For four weeks, while 
the house was in session, Mr. McKinley was 
almost constantly upon his feet answering num- 
berless questions, meeting objections and giving 
information. With the exception of two minor 
amendments the bill passed exactly as it came 
from the hands of the committee, and its pas- 
sage was the signal for a conflict which few 
Statesmen in the history of free government 



could have withstood. It was assaulted as no 
other law has ever been assaulted in this gen- 
eration and for a time even republican leaders 
had misgivings. 

The indomitable courage and unbounded 
faith of Mr. McKinley during this trying period 
alone seemed to hold the republican party to- 
gether. He never wavered for an instant. 
With a fervor born of conviction, he had thrown 
his ambitions, his hopes, almost his very life, 
into the cause he represented. Its defeat was 
his defeat; its triumph his triumph. From 
the apparent defeat of his cause in 1S90, and 
again in 1892, he arose courageous, steadfast, 
hopeful. Others might change, others might 
doubt, others might modifj' their views, but he 
stood firm for a protective tariff — for the Ameri- 
can producer against the foreign producer. 
He accepted with true American spirit the 
popular verdict and challenged the interpreta- 
tion put upon it by political opponents. He 
took an appeal to the people and in two years 
from the crushing defeat of 1892 he led the 
republican hosts to the greatest victory and the 
most stupendous change in the popular vote of 
a country ever recorded. The tide turned; 
the result of the free trade policy was apparent, 
the object lesson was received, noted and the 
decision reversed. 

In 18S4 Maj. McKinley was a delegate at 
large to the republican national convention 
which nominated Hon. James G. Blaine. In 
1888 he was again a delegate at large to the 
republican national convention, and this time 
was in favor of the Hon. John Sherman for 
the party's candidate, but the complications 
then were numerous and difficult of solution, 
because of Mr. Blaine's refusal to be again the 
nominee. Many thought the nomination of 
Maj. McKinley would solve all problems and 
harmonize all factions, but in spite of all argu- 
ments and all persuasions he remained true to 
his state and to himself by steadfastly refusing 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



129 



to permit his name to be used as a presidential 
candidate. Again, in 1892, Maj. McKinley 
was a delegate at large to the Minneapolis con- 
vention which renominated President Harrison, 
and in this convention, in spite of all remon- 
strances that he could make, he received within 
a fraction of as many votes as were given to 
the idol of the republican party, James G. 
Blaine, the latter receiving 182 5-6 votes, 
while McKinley received 182 1-6 votes. Pres- 
dent Harrison was, however, renominated, only 
to be defeated by Grover Cleveland. 

In his political campaigns he has mani- 
fested brilliant qualities as an orator. It is 
probably true that more people have heard 
him discuss political questions than have ever 
listened to any other campaign speaker in the 
United States. Thousands of people assemble 
to hear him ; he alwa}S commands the rapt 
attention of his hearers, and he frequently 
elicits at least hearty applause. 

His great tour in the fall of 1S94 is prob- 
ably without a parallel in the history of the 
United States. Everywhere thousands greeted 
him. For more than eight weeks he averaged 
seven speeches a day, and it is estimated that 
during that time 2,000,000 people listened to 
him. It is altogether likely that the secret of 
his power over an audience lies in his sincerity, 
as he employs no adventitious methods and is 
not amusing, his simple and single aim being 
apparently to convince by argument fairly 
and squarely. 

The preliminary canvass or campaign of 
1896, which resulted in the nomination of Mr. 
McKinley for the presidency, was remarkable 
in many ways, but in no respect more so than 
in the unanimity of public sentiment which 
made it possible to predict with almost abso- 
lute certainty weeks before the convention the 
selection of the champion of protection and a 
sound financial policy as the candidate. His 
choice as the representative of the party best 



fitted to be entrusted with the administration of 
national affairs was a natural sequence — the re- 
suit of sentiment that had been engendered 
during the four years previous, and yet it had 
every characteristic of spontaneity. The increas- 
ing favor with which he was regarded by the 
voters of the country was, until a few months 
before the convention, a steady, rapid, but 
withal a natural growth, and the almost uni- 
versal endorsement of his candidacy, which 
came a short time before the St. Louis con- 
vention, must be attributed in a great measure 
to the desire of the American people to return 
to an idea and a policy which a majority of the 
citizens of the United States came to regard as 
absolutely indispensable to individual and na- 
tional prosperity of which the distinguished 
Ohioan stood as the recognized exponent. The 
national republican convention convened in the 
city of St. Louis, Mo., June 16, 1896, and 
upon the first ballot Mr. McKinley was nomi- 
nated with the greatest enthusiasm, receiving 
66 1 1 of the 700 ballots cast. 

In many respects the campaign of 1 896 
was one of the most remarkable presidential 
contests in the history of the nation, but the 
outcome, as foreshadowed for weeks before the 
election, resulted in the triumph of Mr. Mc- 
Kinley over the brilliant and popular young 
Nebraskian, William J. Bryan, a man of dis- 
tinguished ability, whose uncompromising ad- 
vocacy of the free and unlimited coinage of sil- 
ver and hostility to the American idea of 
protection made him a formidable opponent. 
Mr. McKinley entered upon the discharge of 
his high official functions on the 4th day of 
March, 1897, with the unbounded confidence 
of his political party and the American people, 
and thus far he has steadily and courageously 
followed the lines mapped out by the platform 
upon which he was nominated. And his ad- 
ministration in ability and wisdom gives every 
promise of comparing favorably with those of 



130 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



the distinguished men who have preceded him 
in tile high office of the presidency-. 

President McKinley was married January 
25, iS/i, to Miss Ida Saxton.who is an ac- 
comphshed lady and daughter of James A. Sax- 
ton, of Canton, Ohio. They have had born to 
them two children, both of whom died in 
infancy. In religion President McKinley and 
his wife are Methodists, as were his father 
and mother. His grandfather, however, was 
a Presbyterian, and was a member of the Lis- 
bon Presbyterian church from 1822 to 1836, 
during the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Vallan- 



digham, father of Clement L. Vallandigham. 
As already stated President McKinley's father 
died recently at the age of eighty-five, but his 
mother is still living. 

"There is probably not a more stalwart 
and sturdy figure to-day before the American 
people than William McKinley. The story of 
his Tife is not only instructive but interesting; 
it is the history of an American for Americans; 
its activity is so interwoven in the life of the 
republic during his career of the past thirty 
years that political friends and foes may read 
it with profit and learn an important lesson." 




%^ 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO 




GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



HRTHUR ST. CLAIR, one of the most 
noted characters of our early colonial 
days, was a native of Scotland, being 
born at Edinburg in 1735. Becom- 
ing a surgeon in the British army, he subse- 
quently crossed the Atlantic with his regiment 
and thenceforward was identified with the 
history of this country until the day of his 
death. Serving as a lieutenant with Wolfe in 
the memorable campaign against Quebec, St. 
Clair won sufficient reputation to obtain ap- 
pomtment as commander of Fort Ligonier, Pa., 
where a large tract of land was granted to him. 
During the Revolutionary war he espoused the 
colonial cause, and before its close had risen 
to the rank of major-general. In 1875 he was 
elected a delegate to the Continental congress 
and afterward became its president. After the 
passage of the ordinance of 1787, St. Clair 
was appointed first military governor of the 
Northwest territory, which then embraced the 
territory now comprised within the boundaries 
of the present state of Ohio, with headquarters 
at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. In 1791 
he undertook an expedition against the north- 
western Indians, which resulted in the great 
disaster known in western history^ as "St 
Clair's defeat. " On November 4 the Indians 
surprised and routed his whole force of about 
1,400 regulars and militia, in what is now 



Darke county, Ohio, killing over 900 men and 
capturing his artillery and camp equipage. 
Gen. St. Clair held the office of territorial 
governor until 1802, when he was removed by 
President Jefferson. He returned to Ligonier, 
Pa., poor, aged and infirm. The state granted 
him an annuity which enabled him to pass the 
last years of his life in comfort. He died near 
Greensburgh, Pa., August 31, 18 18, leaving a 
family of one son and three daughters. 



a 



HARLES WILLING BYRD, who was 

secretary of the Northwest territory, 
and who succeeded Gov. St. Clair as 
governor, on the removal of the latter 
from office, was born in Virginia, received a 
liberal education and settled in Ohio. While 
it is not practicable to find fully authentic 
material for a full biography of Gov. Byrd, 
it may be of interest to recite briefly the rea- 
sons for the removal of Gov. St. Clair, which 
are of course the reasons for Mr. Byrd becom- 
ing governor of the territory. St. Clair's gov- 
ernment was very unpopular, and when the 
people became desirous of forming a state gov- 
ernment in 1 80 1, and found themselves unable 
to secure a majority of the legislature, they 
sent Thomas Worthington to congress to ob- 
tain if possible a law under which a conven- 



132 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



tion could be called to consider the expediency 
of forming a state, and framing a constitution 
therefor. This convention met in Chillicothe 
in November, 1802, voted to form a state gov- 
ernment and adopted a constitution, all this 
notwithstanding the fact that the territory did 
not then contain the 60,000 inhabitants re- 
quired at that time. 

But this was a small difficulty compared 
with the prohibition m the ordinance of 1787 
against slavery in the territory of the north- 
west. This clause tended to prevent immigra- 
tion to Ohio from Virginia and other southern 
states; and the attempt was made to so frame 
a constitution for the new state that slavery in 
a somewhat modified form could be established. 
When this clause was proposed it was discov- 
ered by the opponents of slavery that on the 
morrow there would be a majority of one in its 
favor, and thus, if it were adopted, the curse 
of slavery would be fixed upon the state. 
Judge Ephraim Cutler, of Washington county, 
a delegate to the convention, and a son of 
one of the principal framers of the ordinance 
of 1787, was lying sick in bed, when this situ- 
ation was revealed, and Gen. Putnam, hasten- 
ing to his bedside, urged him to reach the con- 
vention hall at the earliest practicable moment 
the next morning. Judge Cutler having next 
day reached the hall, made an impassioned 
appeal to the delegates in opposition to the 
proposed action of the convention, and won 
over the one delegate necessary to save the 
state from the blighting curse of slavery. 

Gov. St. Clair and his friends looked upon 
the convention as little short of revolutionary, 
the governor taking strong grounds against the 
formation of a state government, before the 
convention began the labors of the day. Their 
utter disregard of this advice filled him with 
irritation, and in the bitterness of his heart he 
declared, in the hearing of unfriendly listeners, 
that he no longer had confidence in republican 



institutions, and that in his opinion, without 
some stronger form of government, anarchy 
seemed inevitable. These remarks were quickly 
reported to President Thomas Jefferson, who 
immediately removed St. Clair from his office, 
and the secretary of the territory, Charles W. 
Byrd, became acting governor, serving until 
the state government was formed under the 
constitution, which, as framed by the conven- 
tion, was declared by that convention, without 
having been submitted to the people for their 
ratification, to be the fundamental law of the 
land. After the expiration of his brief term as 
governor of the Northwest territory. Gov. 
Byrd was appointed by President Jefferson 
United States judge for the district of Ohio. 



eDWARD TIFFIN, first governor of 
Ohio upon the organization of the 
state, in 1803, was a native of Eng- 
land, born in the city of Carlisle on 
the 19th day of June, 1766. After coming to 
the United States he studied medicine, located 
at Charlestown, W. Va., in 1784, and in 1789 
received his degree from the university of Penn- 
sylvania. In the year last named he was 
united in marriage with Mary Worthington, 
sister of Gov. Thomas Worthington, and in 
1790 united with the Methodist church, of 
which he soon afterward became a local 
preacher. In 1796 Mr. Tiffin settled at Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio, where he preached and practiced 
medicine, and was instrumental in organizing 
a number'of local congregations in that part of 
the state. The same year he was elected to the 
legislature of the Northwest territory', became 
speaker of that body, and in 1 802 was chosen 
president of the convention that formed the 
state constitution. He proved to be a potential 
factor in political affairs, and in 1803 was 
elected first governor of the state under the 
constitution. He was re-elected in 1805, and 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



133 



proved a most capable chief executive, but re- 
sig;ned in 1807 to become United States sena- 
tor, having been elected to the latter body as 
successor to his brother-in-law, Hon. Thomas 
Worthington. Gov. Tiffin's senatorial career 
was cut short on account of the death of his 
wife, by reason of which he resigned in March, 
1809, and for a time lived a retired life. Sub- 
sequently he married again, and afterward was 
elected to the lower house of the state legis- 
lature, in which he served two terms as speaker. 
At the expiration of his legislative experi- 
ence. Gov. Tiffin resumed the practice of medi- 
cine at Chillicothe, and in 18 12 was appointed 
by President Madison commissioner of the 
general land office, having been the first person 
to fill that position. On assuming his official 
functions he removed to the national capital 
and organized the system that has obtained 
in the land office until the present time; in 
18 14 he was instrumental in having the papers 
of his office removed to Virginia, thus saving 
them from destruction when the public build- 
ings in Washington were burned by the British. 
Becoming dissatisfied with residing in Wash- 
ington and wishing to return west. Gov. Tiffin 
succeeded in exchanging his position for that of 
surveyor of public lands northwest of the Ohio 
river, held by Josiah Meigs, the change being 
sanctioned by the president and senate, and he 
discharged the duties of the latter position 
until July, 1829, receiving while on his death- 
bed an order from President Jackson to deliver 
the office to a successor. During his long 
period of public service. Gov. Tiffin maintained 
most scrupulously his ministerial relations, and 
preached the gospel whenever occasion would 
admit. He was on familiar terms with Gen. 
Washington, who always spoke of him in terms 
of praise, and he will always be remembered 
as one of the leading spirits in the formative 
period of Ohio's history. His death occurred 
at Chillicothe on the 9th day of August, i 829. 




HO MAS KIRKER, who succeeded 
Edward Tiffin as governor of Ohio, is 
one of the few governors of the state 
of whom but little can be learned. 
In 1807 there was a remarkable contest for 
the governorship of the state. The two oppos- 
ing candidates were Return Jonathan Meigs 
and Nathaniel Massie. The former received a 
majority of the votes, and therefore, so far as 
the people were concerned, was elected gov- 
ernor of the state. The general assembly, how- 
ever, declared him to be ineligible to the 
office, on the ground that he was not a resi- 
dent of the state, and as Mr. Massie had not 
received a sufficient number of votes, he had 
not been elected governor, and the election 
was therefore entirely void. Hon. Thomas 
Kirker bing then speaker of the state senate, 
became acting governor by virtue of his office 
as speaker, when Gov. Edward Tiffin resigned 
his office in order to take his seat in the United 
States senate. Gov. Kirker remained in the 
office of governor until after the election, in 
1 80S, of Samuel Huntington, who had been 
elected by the people. At the time of serving 
as governor he was a resident of Adams county, 
and he served in the general assembly of the 
state for twenty-five years. 



^"V'AMUEL HUNTINGTON, the second 
•^^^h? governor elected by the people of 

h\,^y Ohio, was born at Norwich, Conn., 
in 1765, and graduated at Yale col- 
lege in 1785. He adopted the profession of 
law, in 1795 married a lady of his own name, 
and attended strictly to the duties of his pro-' 
fession in the town of his birth until the year 
1800, when he resolved to visit that western 
country which was then attracting to it so 
many residents of the New England states. 
First stopping at Youngstown, Ohio, he from 
there went to Marietta, where he spent the 



134 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



summer, and in the fall of that year returned 
to Norwich. The following spring, taking his 
wife and children in an Ohio wagon (then so 
called), they arrived, after weeks of toilsome 
travel, at Cleveland, then a settlement of 
doubtful name as a healthy abode, as they 
found that many who had preceded them had 
vacated the cabins they had first built and 
had removed to the higher ground back of the 
town to escape the sickness so prevalent near 
the lake. He erected a strongly-built house, 
as attacks by drunken and riotous Indians were 
not uncommon. Mr. Huntington soon entered 
upon public life. Gen. Saint Clair appointed 
him second in command of a regiment of 
Trumbull county militia, and he was shortly 
afterward elevated to the position of presiding 
judge in the first court in that part of the ter- 
ritory. In 1 802 he was a member of the con- 
stitutional convention, and by that body ap- 
pointed state senator from Trumbull county, 
the name then borne by the territory now 
known as the northeastern portion of the state 
and which at present is divided into six coun- 
ties. For some time he was speaker or presi- 
dent of the state senate, and by the legislature 
elected to a seat on the supreme bench. When 
Michigan was organized as a territory Judge 
Huntington was offered the position of judge 
of the district court of that territory, but this 
he declined, as well as other important offices 
which were pressed upon him. The prevailing 
unhealthiness of Cleveland finally induced him 
to remove his residence to Newburg, where he 
erected a grist-milU, then a very important 
construction and advantageous to the settlers. 
In 1809 he purchased a mill, located on the 
eastern shore of Grand river, between Paines- 
ville and the lake, and erected a mansion — 
commodious, and, for those days, rather im- 
posing in its style of architecture. This house 
remains to attest by its position the good taste 
of him who built it. A conflict of authority 



arose between the legislative and judicial de- 
partments of the state while Judge Huntington 
was on the supreme bench. The legislature 
passed a law conferring certain rights upon 
justices of the peace which the judges of the 
supreme court declared to be unconstitutional. 
Thereupon the whole house filed articles of 
impeachment against the judges, but in the 
midst of this confusion the people of Ohio had 
elected Judge Huntington governor of the state. 
He, having resigned, was therefore not brought 
to trial, and it being impossible to obtain two- 
thirds of the legislative vote against the other 
two judges, they consequently escaped convic- 
tion. Nothing of particular moment occurred 
the term he held office, but his prominence 
prevented his retiring to private life. In iSi3 
he was, during the second war with Great 
Britain, a member of the Ohio legislature. 
The destruction of life and property by the 
Indians during that year was such that Gov. 
Huntington, having with Gen. Cass visited 
Washington to represent to the authorities 
there the condition of affairs in Ohio, was ap- 

• 

pointed district paymaster, with the rank of 
colonel, and returned to the camp of Gen. 
Harrison with a supply of funds in the shape 
of government drafts. He remained for man}' 
months in the arm}' and until peace was de- 
clared, when he returned to his home, where 
he subsequently lived peacefully until 18 17, 
during which year he died a comparatively 
young man, being but fifty -two years old. His 
character for strict integrity, great executive 
ability and accomplished scholarship was sec- 
ond to that of no other governor. 



ETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, who 



succeeded Samuel Huntington in the 



I P gubernatorial chair, was born in Mid- 

dletown. Conn., in March, 1765, the 

son of Return J. Meigs, a distinguished Ameri- 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



135 



can soldier, whose name is inseparably con- 
nected with the war of American independence. 
Gov. Meigs was graduated from Yale college 
in 1785, after which he studied law and began 
the practice of the same at Marietta, Ohio, at 
which place his father had previously settled. 
He entered the army at the breaking out of 
the Indian war, and was sent on a commission 
to the British commander at Detroit, by Gen. 
St. Clair, in 1790, and later took part in a 
number of battles with the savages. He rose 
rapidly in his profession . and in 1 803-4 was 
chief justice of the Ohio supreme court; later 
he had charge of the Saint Charles circuit in 
Louisiana until 1806, with the brevet rank of 
lieutenant-colonel in the United States army, 
being also judge of the supreme court of said 
district during the years of 1805 and 1806. 
Mr. Meigs was further honored, in 1807, by 
being appointed judge of the United States 
district court of Michigan, in which capacity 
he continued until 1808, when he was elected 
to the United States senate from Ohio. The 
honorable distinction acquired by Mr. Meigs 
as a jurist was not dimmed by his senatorial 
experience, and his record in the national legis- 
lature is replete with duty ably and conscien- 
tiously performed. He served in the senate 
from January, 1809, till May, 1810. 

In October, 1807, Mr. Meigs was the dem- 
ocratic candidate for governor of Ohio, and 
after the election, which went in his fa\'or by 
a decided majority, his competitor, Nathaniel 
Massie, contested the same on the ground that 
Meigs had not been a resident of the state for 
the four years next preceding the election, as 
provided by the constitution. The general 
assembly, in joint convention, decided that 
Meigs was not entitled to the office, but it does 
not appear that his competitor was allowed to 
assume the same; Thomas Kirker, acting gov- 
ernor, continued to discharge the duties of the 
office until December, 1808, when Samuel 



Huntington was inaugurated as his immediate 
successor. 

In 1 8 10 Mr. Meigs was again a candidate 
for governor, and at the ensuing election was 
victorious, defeating his competitor by a 
large majority. He was triumphantly re- 
elected in 18 1 2 and filled the office with dis- 
tinguished ability during the tr\'ing years of 
the last war with England, his services in be- 
half of the national government throughout' 
that struggle being far greater than those of 
any other governor, and of such a patriotic 
character as to elicit the warmest praise from 
the president and others high in authority. 
He assisted in the organization of the state 
militia, garrisoned the forts on the border, 
thus securing safety to the exposed settlements, 
and did much toward strengthening the army 
under Gen. Harrison. Near the expiration of 
his gubernatorial term, in 18 14, Gov. Meigs 
resigned to accept the appointment of post- 
master-general in the cabinet of President 
Madison, to fill the place made vacant bv the 
death of Gideon Granger; he continued in 
office under President Monroe until 1S23, in 
December of which year he retired from active 
life and spent the remainder of his days at his 
home in Marietta, dying March 29, 1825. 



OTHNIEL LOOKER, the fourth gov- 
ernor of Ohio, was born in the state of 
New York in 1757. He was a private 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, go- 
ing into the army from his native state, and serv- 
ing through the war. He was a man of humble 
origin and a farmer most of his life. In 1784, 
having received a land warrant for his services 
during the war of the Revolution, he crossed the 
Alleghany mountains, and located his land in 
what was then the wilderness of the territory 
northwest of the Ohio river, within the limits of 
t!ie future state of the same name. Upon this 



136 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



grant he erected his cabin and began the labor 
of clearing his farm, as did other pioneers of 
his day. Upon the organization of the state 
he was elected a member of the lower house of 
the general assembly, and by increasing his 
knowledge and acquaintanceship with the peo- 
ple of the new state, he so rose in popular favor 
and esteem as to be elected to the senate. Of 
this body he eventually became president, and 
by virtue of holding this office, when Gov. 
Return J. Meigs resigned, in 1814, to accept 
the position of postmaster-general in the cabi- 
net of President Madison, became governor of 
Ohio. He served eight months, and afterward 
was a candidate before the people for election 
to the office of govenor, but was defeated by 
his opponent, Thomas Worthington. Mr. 
Looker afterward returned to his farm, where 
he lived respected by all for his unusual intelli- 
gence, his clear logical mind, and his pleasing 
disposition. But little else is known of Gov. 
Looker, except that he died unmarried. 




IHOMAS WORTHINGTON, fourth 
elected governor of Ohio, was born 
near Charlestown, \'a., July 16, 1773. 
He received a liberal education, but 
when a young man went to sea and continued 
before the mast for three years — from 1790 to 
1793. In 1797 he became a resident of Ross 
count}', Ohio, served as a member of the ter- 
ritorial legislature in 1 799-1 801, and was 
chosen delegate to the state constitutional 
convention in the year 1802. He was elected 
to the United States senate as a democrat 
immediately after the adoption of the state 
constitution and served in that body from 
October 17, 1803, till March 7, 1807; was 
again chosen to fill the unexpired term caused 
by the resignation of Return J. Meigs, Jr., and 
served from January 8, 181 1, until his resigna- 
tion in 1 814. Mr. Worthington was elected 



governor of Ohio in 18 14 and served till 18 18 
— having been chosen his own successor in 
1 8 16. After the expiration of his second 
gubernatorial term Gov. Worthington became 
canal commissioner, which position he held 
till his death. He was a public -spirited man 
and to him is the great commonwealth not a 
little indebted for much of its development 
and prosperity. 

To Gov. Worthington belongs the unique 
distinction of being the only Ohio governor 
ever arrested and started to jail for debt. In 
181 5 or 1 8 16, Gov. Worthington contracted 
with Judge Jarvis Pike to grub and chop the 
timber off the present state-house square. The 
governor was a non-resident of Franklin 
county, residing at Chillicothe. Some mis- 
understanding arose as to the payment of 
Judge Pike for his labors, whereupon he sued 
a capias from the court of Squire King, and 
had the governor arrested and marched off to 
jail. He was not locked up, however, the 
matter having been amicably adjusted. Gov. 
Worthington departed this life in the city of 
New York, June 20, 1827. 



eTHAN ALLEN BROWN, seventh 
governor and the fifth elected by the 
people of Ohio, was born on the 
shores of Long Island Sound in Fair- 
field county, Conn., July 4, 1766, and died at 
Indianapolis, Ind., February 24, 1852. His 
father, Roger Brown, was an intelligent 
farmer of wealth, who, to secure the advan- 
tages of a liberal education for his children, 
employed a teacher of good ability to instruct 
them at home. Under such tuition Ethan's 
quickness of apprehension and extraordinary 
memory enabled him to acquire a knowledge 
of the Latin, Greek and French languages not 
inferior to that of most college graduates of 
the present day. Having determined to adopt 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



137 



the profession of a lawyer, he then procured 
the necessary books and began the study of 
law at home, at the same time assisting in the 
labors of his father's farm. After thus ac- 
quiring some legal knowledge he went to New 
York city and entered the law office of Alex- 
ander Hamilton, who, as a lawyer and states- 
man, had achieved at that time a national 
reputation. Here he soon won the esteem 
and friendship of Mr. Hamilton, while also he 
was brought into contact with others of the 
ablest men of the day, and, mingling with the 
most refined and cultivated society of the city, 
his mind was developed and stimulated and he 
acquired the elegance and polish of manners 
for which he was remarkable in after-life. 
Diverted from the study of law at this time, 
he engaged in business, by which he obtained 
very considerable property, but subsequently 
he again entered upon his neglected study, and 
in 1 802 he was admitted to practice. Then, 
urged by love of adventure and a desire to see 
the principal portion of that state which, in 
that year, had qualified for admission into the 
Union, he, with a cousin, Capt. John Brown, 
started on horseback and followed the Indian 
trails from east to west through middle and 
western Pennsylvania until they reached 
Brownsville on the Monongahela river. Hav- 
ing brought a considerable sum of money with 
them they here purchased two flat-bottomed 
boats, loaded them with flour, and placing 
crews upon them started for New Orleans, 
which city they reached in safety, but not be- 
ing able to sell their cargoes to advantage they 
shipped the flour to Liverpool, England, and 
took passage themselves in the same vessel. 
Having disposed of their flour at good prices, 
they returned to America, landing at Baltimore 
the same year. Then his father, wishing to 
secure a large tract of western land, eventually 
to make it his home, he empowered his son to 
select and purchase the same, which he pro- 



ceeded to do, locating it near the present town 
of Rising Sun, Ind., that locality having 
attracted his attention on his flat-boat trip to 
New Orleans. Hither his father removed 
from Connecticut, in 18 14, when that part of 
the Northwest territory which subsequently 
became Indiana was canvassing delegates to 
hold a territorial convention. 

Ten years subsequently, however, and aiter 
securing the land mentioned, Ethan Allen 
Brown began the practice of law in Cincinnati, 
where he soon took a prominent position in the 
profession and secured a large income for his 
professional services. In 18 10 he was chosen 
by the Ohio legislature a judge of the supreme 
court of the state, a position he held with dis- 
tinguished ability during the eight following 
years, and in 1818 was elected governor of the 
state. His administration is marked for the 
prosecution and completion of important inter- 
nal improvements, among the chief of which 
may be mentioned that important work, the 
"Ohio canal," and which was nicknamed 
"Brown's Folly." In 1820 he was re-elected, 
and in 1821 elected to the United States senate 
and served one term with distinction. In 1830 
he was appointed minister to Brazil, remaining 
in that country four years and giving general 
satisfaction, when he resigned and came home. 
A few months later, at the urgent request of 
President Andrew Jackson, he accepted the 
position of commissioner of public lands, held 
the office two years, and then retired finally 
from public life. Gov. Brown never married, 
and the close of his life was spent among his 
relatives at Rising Sun. After reaching the age 
of eighty -two years, with not more than a week's 
sickness during all the years of his long life, 
he died suddenly while attending a democratic 
convention at Indianapolis, and was buried at 
Rising Sun, near the grave of his venerated 
father, leaving an enduring record of a useful 
and well-spent life. 



138 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



HLLEN TRIMBLE, who filled out the 
unexpired term of Ethan Allen Brown 
as governor of Ohio, and also served 
as governor by election from 1827 to 
1830, was born in Augusta county, Va., March 
24, 1783. He was the son of Capt. James 
Trimble, who removed in 178410 Lexington, 
Ky., and who died in that state about the year 
1804. Later Allen Trimble came to Ohio, 
settling in the county of Highland, where he 
served in various official positions, including 
those of clerk of the courts and recording sec- 
retary, filling the last two offices for a period 
of about seven years. He took part in the 
war of 1 812 as commander of a regiment of 
mounted troops under Gen. William Henry 
Harrison, and in 18 16 was chosen a member 
of the state legislature. Subsequently, from 
181 7 to 1826, he served as state senator, and 
was also speaker of the house for several terms. 
In 1 82 1 he was appointed governor, and, as 
already stated, was elected to the office in 1826, 
and discharged the duties of the position in 
an eminently satisfactory manner until 1830. 
In 1846, Gov. Trimble was chosen president 
of the state board of agriculture, being the 
first man honored with that office, and served 
as such until 1848. While governor he was 
untiring in promoting the cause of education 
in Ohio, and the present excellent public 
school system is indebted to him for much of 
its efficiency; he also encouraged manufactur- 
ing and did much toward improving the penal 
institutions of the state. Politically Gov. 
Trimble was a federalist; his death occurred at 
Hillsborough, Ohio, February 2, 1870. 



'^j'EREMIAH MORROW, sixth governor 

M elected under the state constitution, 

ft f was born in Gettysburg, Pa. , October 

6, 1 77 1. In early manhood he removed 

to the Northwest territory and in 1802 was 



chosen delegate to the convention that framed 
the constitution of Ohio. Politically he was 
an ardent democrat, and in 1803 was elected 
a representative in the congress of the United 
States, in which body he served for a period 
of ten years. He did much toward promoting 
legislation in behalf of the western section of 
the United States, and for some time was 
chairman of the committee on public lands. 
In 1 8 14 he was commissioner to treat with the 
Indians west of the Miami river, and from 1813 
till 1819 served with distinction in the United 
States senate. In 1822 Mr. Morrow was elected 
governor of Ohio and served as such until 1 826, 
having been re-elected in 1824. From 1826 
to 1828 he was state senator, later became 
canal commissioner, and for some time served 
as president of the Little Miami Railroad com- 
pany. In 1 84 1 he was again elected to repre- 
sent his district in the national house of repre- 
sentatives, in which capacity he served a single 
term. Gov. Morrow left the impress of his 
character on the commonwealth and his is 
among the many illustrious names which have 
given Ohio so prominent a position among her 
sister states; his death occurred in the county 
of Warren, on the 22nd day of March, 1852. 



^y^^ UNCAN McARTHUR, distinguished 
I ■ as a soldier and statesman, and gov- 
/^^^ ernor of Ohio from 1831 to 1832, was 
a native of the state of New York, 
born in the county of Dutchess, on the 14th 
day of June, 1772. When he was a mere lad 
his parents emigrated to the western part of 
Pennsylvania, and at the age of eighteen 
he volunteered in Gen. Harmar's expedition 
against the Miami Indians, in which he dis- 
tinguished himself by many acts of bravery. 
Subsequently he acted as scout in the warfare 
with the Indians in Ohio and Kentucky, and 
after the cessation of hostilities, in 1794, set- 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



139 



tied near Chillicothe, Ohio, where he became 
the possessor of large tracts of real estate. 
For some years after settling in Ohio Gov. 
McArthur followed the profession of civil engi- 
neer, later he became interested in political 
matters and in 1805 was elected to the lower 
house of the Ohio legislature. In 1808 he was 
appointed major-general of the territorial mili- 
tia, and at the beginning of the war of 1 8 i 2 
was commissioned colonel of the First Ohio 
volunteers. He was second in command at 
Detroit, when that ill-fated post was surren- 
dered to the British by Gen. Hull, and it is 
stated that so great was his chagrin and anger 
at the capitulation that he tore off his epau- 
lettes and broke his sword in a fit of indigna- 
tion. Gov. McArthur was commissioned brig- 
adier-general in 1S13, and upon the resigna- 
tion of Gen. William Henry Harrison the year 
following, he succeeded to the command of 
the western army. He planned the conquest 
of Canada, crossed the Saint Clair river in 
1814 with a strong force, and after consider- 
able manuvering returned to Detroit by way of 
Saint Thomas, and discharged his force at 
Sandwich the latter part of the aforesaid year. 
In the meantime, 18 13, he had been elected 
by the democrats to a seat in the congress of 
the United States, but declined to leave the 
army, remaining with the command until hon- 
orably discharged June 15, 1815. On leaving 
the army Gov. McArthur was returned to the 
state legislature, and during the years 1 816-17 
served as commissioner to negotiate treaties 
with the Indians, by which their lands in Ohio 
were ceded to the general government in 1818. 
F"rom 18 17 to 18 19 he was again a member of 
the lower house of the legislature, of which he 
was made speaker, and in 1822 was elected 
to congress on the democratic ticket and served 
as a member of that body from December i, 
1823, till March, 1825. In 1830 he was 
elected governor of Ohio, which position he 



filled very acceptably for one term, and in 
1832 was again a candidate for congress, but 
lost the election by a single ballot. 

The record of Gov. McArthur, both mili- 
tary and civil, is without a blemish, and he 
v.ill ever be remembered as one of the leading 
soldiers and officers of the great commonwealth 
of Ohio. While governor he suffered severe 
injuries from an accident, and never entirely 
recovered from the effects of the same. He 
died near Chillicothe, on the 28th day of 
April, 1839. 




OBERT LUCAS, the immediate suc- 
cessor of Duncan McArthur, was born 
in Shepherdstown, Va., April 1,1781, 
and was a direct descendant of Will- 
iam Penn, the founder of the commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania. His father bore a distin- 
guished part in the war of the Revolution, 
serving thoughout that struggle as captain in 
the American army, and was a trusted friend 
of Gen. Washington. Robert Lucas spent his 
youthful years in his native state, and about 
the beginning of the present century removed 
to Ohio, where in due time he became major- 
general of the state militia. Subsequently he 
was commissioned captain in the Ninteenth 
United States infantry, and in February, 181 3, 
became lieutenant-colonel of the same, serving 
as such until June of the same year, when he 
resigned. Immediately after leaving the gov- 
ernment service Mr. Lucas was made brigadier- 
general of Ohio militia, and as such served from 
July, 1 81 3, till the following September, in 
defense of the frontier. In 1 8 1 4 he was elected 
to the Ohio legislature, in the deliberations of 
which he took a prominent part, and in 1832 
presided over the democratic national conven- 
tion which nominated Andrew Jackson for a 
second term. In 1832 General Lucas was 
elected governor of Ohio, was re-elected in 



140 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



1834, and in 1838 was made first territorial 
governor of Iowa, at which time the now state 
of that name was erected into a territory, in- 
cluding Minnesota and the Dakotas, and De- 
cember 28, 1846, as a state. He was a man 
of marked ability, possessing great energy, and 
was noted as a man of strong impulses and 
strict integrity. He died February 7, 1853, in 
Iowa City, at the advanced age of nearly sev- 
enty-two years. 



Vt*OSEPH VANCE, governor of Ohio for 
M one term, 1837-38, was a native of 
A J Pennsylvania, born March 21, 1 781, in 
the county of Washington, of Scotch- 
Irish descent. While quite young he was taken 
by his parents to Kentucky, where he grew to 
manhood, after which he removed to Ohio, 
locating at Urbana, where he became a suc- 
cessful merchant and married Miss Mary 
Lemen, of that city. Subsequently he turned 
his attention to farming and stock raising, in 
which he also met with success and financial 
profit, in the meantime becoming conversant 
with public affairs. Gov. Vance, becoming 
quite popular, was elected to and served in the 
legislature in 1812-16, and in 1822 was elected 
to the congress of the United States, in which 
be served by successive re-elections until 
March, 1835. Originally Gov. Vance was a 
democrat, and as such was elected to the 
aforesaid offices, but later he became a whig, 
■A-hich party sent him to congress in 1842. He 
served through two terms, during one of them 
as chairman of the committee on claims. In 
the meantime, 1836, he was elected governor, 
and as chief executive of the commonwealth 
his record will compare favorably with those of 
his illustrious predecessors and successors. He 
was a delegate to the whig national conven- 
tion of 1848, and while attending the consti- 
tutional convention of 1850 was stricken with 



paralysis, from which he suffered extreinely 
until his death, August 24, 1852, near the city 
of Urbana. 



at 



ILSON SHANNON, the eleventh 
governor of Ohio whom the people 
elected, was born February 24, 1 803, 
in Belmont county, and was the first 
white child born in Mount Olivet township, 
that county. He was also the first governor 
of Ohio who was a native of the state. His 
parents crossed the Alleghany mountains from 
Pennsylvania and settled in Belmont county, 
Ohio, in 1802. In January of the next year 
the father of the future governor, whose name 
was George Shannon, and who had settled on 
a farm, upon his arrival in that county went 
out hunting. Late in the da}', while returning 
home, he lost his way, became bewildered and 
wandered round and round, finally sitting down 
by a large maple tree and freezing to death. 
His tracks were plainly visible next morning 
in the deep snow that had fallen during 
the night. 

Upon the farm his father had selected 
young Wilson Shannon was reared. When 
fifteen years old he attended the Ohio univer- 
sity at Athens, remaining one year, and for 
two years afterward was a student at the 
Transylvania university at Lexington, Ky. 
Returning home, he began the study of law in 
the office of Charles Hammond and David 
Jennings, completing his studies with them in 
Saint Clairsville, which town became the 
county seat. There he practiced for eight 
years. In 1832 he was the democratic nomi- 
nee for congress, but was defeated by a small 
majority. In 1834 he was elected prosecuting 
attorney, and was so assiduous in the perform- 
ance of his duties that his party elected him 
governor of the state in 1838 by a majority of 
3,600. At the close of his first term he was 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



141 



again a candidate, but was defeated by his 
opponent, Thomas Corwin, the whig candi- 
date, who was opposed to slavery, while Gov. 
Shannon, together with the entire democratic 
party, favored it. The most remarkable thing 
about this election was that the democratic 
candidate for president carried the state by 
about 25,000 majority. Gov. Shannon then 
returned to Belmont county to the practice of 
the law. In 1842 he was again elected gov- 
ernor of the state over Gov. Corwin, both of 
whom during the campaign had thoroughly 
canvassed the entire state, as they had done 
in 1840. 

In the spring of 1843 President Tyler 
offered Gov. Shannon the appointment of 
minister to Mexico, which he accepted, resign- 
ing his governorship and going to the city of 
Mexico, where he remained two years, when 
he was compelled to return home, because 
Mexico, on account of difficulties between the 
two countries over the annexation of Texas to 
the Union, severed all diplomatic relations 
with the United States. After being then en- 
gaged for several years in the practice of the 
law. Gov. Shannon was elected to congress by 
a majority of 1,300. In congress, by the man- 
ner in which he performed his duties, he 
attracted the attention of President Pierce, 
and was appointed territorial governor of 
Kansas, the most difficult position he had tried 
to fill. The contest on the soil of Kansas was 
more bitter and persistent than anywhere in 
the country, both pro-slavery and anti-slavery 
partisans being determined to carry out their 
own views in that state. It was therefore 
impossible for any man to preserve peace 
within her borders, especially as the weight of 
the administration at Washington was in favor 
of the pro-slavery party. Shannon, therefore, 
after fourteen months as governor in Kansas, 
was superseded by John W. Geary, who gave 
but little better satisfaction than had Gov. 



Shannon. The following year Gov. Shannon 
removed his family to Lecompton, Kans., the 
capital, and began the practice of the law in 
that turbulent state. His reputation soon 
gained for him a very large and profitable 
practice, as there was much litigation under 
the pre-emption laws of the United States. 

When Kansas was admitted to the Union, 
Topeka became the capital, Lecompton rap- 
idly declined, and Gov. Shannon removed his 
office and residence to Lawrence, whce he 
resided until his death, highly regarded by all 
who knew him as having been a faithful public 
servant, and as a most conscientious man. 
His death occurred in September, 1877. 




HOMAS CORWIN, the twelfth gov- 
ernor of Ohio elected by the people, 
was born in Bourbon county, Ky., 
July 29, 1794. In 1798 his father, 
Matthias Corwin, who subsequently became a 
judge, removed to what afterward became 
Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, and there, in 
a log school-house, taught by a school teacher 
named Dunlevy, }oung Corwin obtained what 
was then considered a thorough English edu- 
cation. When he was seventeen years old he 
drove a wagon-load of provisions for the army 
to the headquarters of Gen. Harrison, and this 
event had a potential influence upon his sub- 
sequent career. In 181 7, after having studied 
law one year, he was admitted to practice, and 
in March, 18 18, was elected prosecuting attor- 
ney of his county. In 1822 he was elected to 
the legislature, having become by this time a 
well-read lawyer and a fluent speaker. Re- 
turning to his law practice he was again elected 
prosecuting attorney. In 1829 he was again 
elected to the Ohio legislature, and the follow- 
ing year to congress on the whig ticket. By 
subsequent re-elections he was kept in congress 
for ten years. In 1840 he was elected gov- 



142 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



ernor of Ohio, serving one term. In 1845 he 
was elected to the United States senate, and 
discharged his duties there with great abihty and 
faithfulness until 1850. It is on his attitude 
while in this body that his memory will be per- 
petuated to posterity, for he showed the great- 
est courage imaginable, and took the true 
ground in reference to the war with Mexico, 
which is now generally recognized as a wholly 
unnecessary and unwarranted war, begun with- 
out proper authority from congress, and solely 
for the purpose of conquest, in order that 
slavery might be extended into free territory. 
His speech against that war was bold, pa- 
triotic and high-toned, and it is probable that 
had he subsequently been consistent in the 
attitude he then assumed his party would have 
made him its candidate for the presidency in 
1852, but he became an advocate of the Wil- 
mot proviso, which by many is believed to 
have sealed his political career, so far as 
national promotion is concerned. For his ac- 
tion, however, in connection with this proviso, 
he was appointed, by President Fillmore, sec- 
retary of the United States treasury, a position 
which he held until 1852, when he resigned, 
and returned to private life among the hills of 
Warren county. 

Not long afterward he opened a law office 
in Cincinnati, and was again elected to con- 
gress in 1858 and i860. By President Lincoln 
he was appointed minister to Mexico, and on 
April II, 1 86 1, he embarked for Vera Cruz, 
whence he went to the city of Mexico, where 
he served his country efficiently until the close 
of the war, returning to the United States in 
April, 1865, opening a lawoflice in Washington, 
D. C, but had no more than settled doun to 
practice there than he was stricken with apo- 
plexy, and died after an illness of three days. 

While he was in congress he never rose to 
speak unless he had something to say; hence 
he always commanded the attention of that 



branch in which he was serving. His great- 
ness in oratory is beyond question, his patriot- 
ism no one ever doubted, and in his private 
life, from boyhood until his death, every one 
recognized the integrity and purity of his char- 
acter, which, during his whole public career, 
took on the form of the highest sense of honor, 
and through which he always maintained his 
reputation among his countrymen. 

November 13, 1822, he married Miss Sarah 
Ross, a sister of Hon. Thomas R. Ross, who 
served three terms in congress. By his mar- 
riage he had no children, so that he left noth- 
ing to his country but his labor therefor and 
his great and his everlasting fame. 




HOMAS WELLES BARTLEY, who 
succeeded Gov. Wilson Shannon as 
governor of Ohio, upon that gentle- 
man's resignation, as mentioned in his 
life above inserted, was born February 11, 
18 1 2, at the home of his parents, in Jefferson 
county, Ohio. His ancestry emigrated from 
Northumberland county, England, in 1724, 
and settled in Londoun county, Va., but sub- 
sequently removed to Fayette county. Pa., 
where his father, Mordecai Bartley, was born. 
His mother was Elizabeth Welles, and Gov. 
Bartley was named Thomas Welles, from her 
father, Thomas Welles, of Browns\ille, Pa. 
Having received a liberal education under his 
father's care and guidance, and having grad- 
uated with the degree of bachelor of arts 
from Washington & Jefferson college, a Pres- 
byterian institution of learning located at 
\\'ashington Pa., and founded in 1802, Mr. 
Bartley studied law in Washington, D. C, 
and was licensed to practice at Mansfield, 
Ohio, in 1834. The following year he had 
conferred upon him by his alma mater the 
he norary degree of master of arts. Ha\ing 
taken a high position at the bar he was elected 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



143 



attorney-general of Ohio and served as such 
four years; being afterward appointed United 
States district attorney, he served in that po- 
sition also four years. Subsequently he was 
elected to the lower house of the general as- 
sembly of the state, served therein one term, 
and was then elected to the state senate, in 
which he served four years. While president 
of the senate of Ohio, in 1844, he became 
governor of the state, through the resignation 
of Gov. Shannon, who had been appointed, 
by President Tyler, minister to Mexico, and 
he administered the affairs of the office until 
he was succeeded therein by his father, Mor- 
decai Hartley, in December of that year. 

In 1 85 1 he was elected judge of the su- 
preme court of the state, served two terms in 
this high position, and then resumed the prac- 
tice of the law, in Cincinnati, continuing there, 
thus engaged, for several years, when, owing 
to the ill health of his family, he removed, m 
1869, to Washington, D. C., where he followed 
his profession until his death. 

Gov. Hartley was a sound attorney, a faith- 
ful public official, a wise judge and a most 
courteous gentleman, and his removal to the 
capital of the nation placed him in a field 
where he enjoyed full scope for the exercise of 
his powers, untrammeled by local politics, for 
in that city, where the people have no vote, 
politics does not enter into their business and 
their profession as it does elsewhere in the 
United States. Gov. Hartley is well remem- 
bered by many of the leading men of the state. 



(D 



ORDECAI HARTLEY, who suc- 
ceeded his son Thomas W. Hartley 
as governor, was born in Fayette 
county. Pa., December 16, 1783. 
He was reared to manhood on his father's 
farm, attended school at intervals during his 
minority, and in 1 809 moved to Ohio. He 



tendered his services to the government in the 
war of 1 8 12, served as captain and adjutant 
under Gen. William Henry Harrison, and on 
leaving the army settled, in 18 14, in Richland 
county, where he remained until his removal 
to the city of Mansfield in 1834. For some 
years Mr. Hartley was engaged in mercantile 
pursuits in Mansfield, but previous to locating 
there, had served as a member of the Ohio 
state senate, to which he was elected in 1817. 
In 18 18 he was chosen, by the legislature, 
registrar of the land office of Virginia Mili- 
tary school-lands, which position he held until 
1823, when he resigned in order to take his 
seat in the congress of the United States, to 
which he had been elected in the meantime. 
He served in congress until March, 1831, and 
in 1844 was elected, on the whig ticket, gov- 
ernor of the state, the functions of which office 
he discharged in a very creditable manner 
until" 1 846, declining a renomination and retir- 
ing to private life. After the nomination by 
the whigs for governor of Mordecai Hartley, the 
democrats m their convention, in the same 
year, came within one or two votes of placing 
his son Thomas once again in the field as his 
opponent. Gov. Hartley was very decided in 
his opposition to the Mexican war, but when 
the president issued a call for troops, he 
promptly responded and superintended the 
organization of the Ohio forces in person. 
Politically Gov. Hartley affiliated with the 
whigs until the disruption of that party, after 
which he espoused the cause of the republican 
party. He died in the city of Mansfield Oc- 
tober 10, 1770. 



^■ ^ y ^ ILLIAM HEBB, lawyer and judge, 
MM I the fourteenth governor elected by 
mj^jl the people of Ohio, was born in 
Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1804, and 
died at his home in Rock River countv, 111., 



144 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



October 23, 1873. His father emigrated from 
Wales, Great Britian, in 1795, and first located 
in the Keystone state. Traveling across the 
mountains to the valley of the Miami on foot, 
he purchased in the neighborhood of North 
Bend an extensive tract of land, returned to 
Pennsylvania and married Miss Robert, to whom 
he had been engaged in Wales, and, with his 
bride, riding in a suitable conveyance, again 
crossed the mountains and settled on his land 
in what was then but a wilderness. He was a 
man of sound judgment, and, in common with 
many of his countrymen, of a joyous and ever 
hopeful disposition. His wife was a lady of 
culture and refinement, and her home in the 
valley of the Miami, with few neighbors except 
the wild, unshorn, and half-naked savages, 
was a great change from her previous life. 
There were of course no schools there to send 
her children to, and this was a matter of grave 
concern to the parents of our subject, who. was 
in consequence taught to read at home. In 
those years the Western Spy, then published 
in Cincinnati, and distributed by a private post- 
rider, was taken by his father, and William 
read with avidity its contents, especially the 
achievements of Napolebn Bonaparte. His 
education advanced no further until a peripa- 
tetic schoolmaster, passing that way, stopped 
and opened a school in the neighborhood, and 
under him our subject studied English, Latin 
and mathematics, working in vacation on his 
father's farm When twenty years old he him- 
self opened a school at North Bend and resided 
in the home of Gen. Harrison. In this em- 
ployment he remained a year, during which he 
married Miss Shuck, the daughter of a wealthy 
German resident of the \illage. Soon after- 
ward he began the study of law while continu- 
ing his school, and as a teacher was eminently 
successful, and his school attracted pupils from 
the most distinguished families of Cincinnati. 
In 1 83 1 he rode to Columbus on horseback. 



where the supreme court judges examined him 
and placed him in the practice of the state. He 
then removed to Hamilton, Butler county, and 
opened a law office, where he continued quietly 
and in successful practice fourteen years. Dur- 
ing this period he took an active interest in 
political affairs, and advocated during his first 
(called the " Hard Cider ") campaign, the claims 
of Gen. Harrison, and no less distinguished 
himself during that ' ' Tippecanoe and Tyler, 
too, " campaign, in which the persons indicated 
were successful, and the whigs in 1840, for the 
first time, succeeded in electing their candi- 
dates. Six years afterward he was elected 
governor of the state, and the war with Mexico 
placed him, as the governor of Ohio, in a very 
tr3ing position. As a whig he did not person- 
ally favor that war, and this feeling was greatly 
entertained by the party who made him their 
leader in the state, but he felt that the ques- 
tion was not one of party but of cordial support 
of the general government, and his earnest 
recognition of this fact eventually overcame 
the danger that had followed President Polk's 
proclamation of war. His term of office 
(1846-48) was distinguished by good money, 
free schools, great activity in the construction 
of railroads and turnpikes; the arts and in- 
dustry generally were well revived, and high 
prosperity characterized the whole state. 

In 1844 Gov. Bebb purchased 5,000 acres 
of land in Rock River county. 111., of which 
the location was delightful and the soil rich; 
500 acres were wooded and constituted a 
natural park, while the remainder was pasture 
of the best quality, with a stream of water fed 
by perpetual springs. No man of moderate 
ambition could desire the possession of a more 
magnificent portion of the earth's surface. 
Three years after making this purchase he re- 
moved to it, taking with him fine horses, and 
a number of the choicest breeds of cattle, and 
entered upon the cultivation of this fine prop- 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



145 



erty. Five years afterward he visited Great 
Britain and the continent of Europe. In the 
birth-place of his father he found many de- 
sirous to immiorate to America, and encourag- 
ing the enterprise a company was formed and 
a tract of 100,000 acres purchased for them in 
east Tennessee, where he agreed to preside 
over their arrangements in the settlement of 
this land. In 1856 a party of the colonists 
arrived on the land and Gov. Bebb resided 
with them until the war of the Rebellion began, 
when he left the state with his family. The 
emigrants, discouraged by the strong pro- 
slavery sentiment, scattered and settled in va- 
rious parts of the northern states. 

On the inauguration of President Lincoln 
Gov. Bebb was appointed examiner in the pen- 
sion department at Washington, and held this 
position until 1 866, when he returned to his 
farm in Illinois and the peaceful pursuits of 
agriculture. His scale of farming was the cul- 
tivation of 2,000 acres in a season, while an- 
other 1,000 formed his cattle pasture. He 
took an active part in the election of Gen. 
Grant, and the first sickness of any conse- 
quence he ever experienced was an attack of 
pneumonia following an exposed ride to his 
home from Pecatonica, where he had addressed 
the electors. From this he never recovered, 
and although he spent the following winter in 
Washington, occupied mainly as a listener to 
the debates in the senate, he felt his vital forces 
declining. Returning home the next summer, 
and feeling that he was no longer able to su- 
perintend his farm operations, he resided at 
Rockford until his death. 



^"V'EABURY FORD, the fifteenth gov- 
>^^^* ernor of Ohio elected by the people, 

K^T was born in Cheshire, Conn., in 1802. 

John Ford, his father, was a native 

of New England, but of Scotch descent, while 



his mother, Esther Cook, was of English 
Puritan ancestry. She was a sister of Nabbie 
Cook, the wife of Peter Hitchcock, the first 
chief justice of Ohio. In 1805, John Ford 
explored the Western Reserve in search of 
lands and a home in the west, purchasing 
2,000 acres in what is now the township of 
Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, and removing to 
this land in the fall of 1807. Seabury was 
then but five years old, but even then gave in- 
dications of superior intelligence. He pre- 
pared for college at the academy in Burton, 
entering Yale college in 182 i, in company with 
another young Ohioan, named D. Witter, they 
two being the first young men from Ohio to 
enter Yale. Graduating from Yale in 1825, 
he then began the study of the law in the 
office of Simon W. Phelps, of Painesville, 
completing his course in the office of his uncle. 
Judge Peter Hitchcock, in 1827. Being ad- 
mitted to practice he opened an office in Bur- 
ton, and grew rapidly in popular favor. He 
was always interested in military affairs, in ag- 
ricultural pursuits and in politics, and was in 
1835 elected by the whigs to the legislature 
from Geauga county. Being twice re-elected, 
he served three terms, during the latter term 
acting as speaker of the lower house. In 1841 
he was elected to the state senate from Cuya- 
hoga and Geauga counties, and remained a 
member of that body until 1844, when he was 
again elected to the lower house. In 1846 he 
was again elected to the senate and was chosen 
speaker of that body. In 1S48 he was elected 
governor by a small majority, retiring at the 
close of his term to his home in Burton, much 
broken in health. On the Sunday after reach- 
ing his home he was stricken with paralysis, 
from which he never recovered. 

During twenty years of his life he was an 
honored member of the Congregational church, 
and was always a highly respected citizen. As 
a representative of the people he was faithful 



146 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



to their interests, and was possessed of the 
most rigid integrity. A private letter, pub- 
lished in a Cleveland, Ohio, paper, said of him, 
in 1839, that he was one of the most useful 
men in the legislature and that in a few years 
he had saved the state millions of dollars. 

September 10, 1828, he married Miss Har- 
riet E. Cook, a daughter of John Cook, of 
Burton, by whom he had five children, three 
of whom reached mature age, as follows: 
Seabury C, George H., and Robert N. Gov. 
Ford died May 8. 1855. 



BEUBEN \VOOD, the successor of 
Seabury Ford, was born in Rutland 
county, Vt., in the year 1792. He 
was reared to manhood in his native 
state, served with distinction in the war of 1 8 1 2 
as captain of a company of Vermont volun- 
teers, and afterward studied law and began the 
practice of his profession in Cleveland, Ohio. 
From 1825 till 1828 Mr. Wood served in the 
state senate; in 1830 was appointed president- 
judge of the Third district, and in 1833 was 
elected associate judge of the state supreme 
court, which office he held until 1S45. 

In 1848 Mr. Wood was the democratic 
nominee for the governorship, to which office 
he was elected by a handsome majority, and 
with such ability and satisfaction did he dis- 
charge his official functions that in 1850 he 
was chosen his own successor, being the first 
governor under the new constitution. Gov. 
Wood was prominently spoken of in 1852 as 
an available presidential candidate, but the 
party, while admitting his fitness for the 
high position, finally united upon Franklin 
Pierce. In addition to the honorable positions 
above mentioned. Gov. Wood served eighteen 
months as United States consul at Valpa- 
raiso, Chili, resigning at the end of that time and 
retiring to private life. The death of this 



eminent jurist and statesman occurred in Rock- 
port, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, October 2nd, 
1 864, in his seventy-second year. 



m 



TLLIAM MEDILL, the seventeenth 
governor of Ohio elected by the 
people, was born in New Castle 
county, Del., in 1801. He gradu- 
ated from Delaware college in 1825, and stud- 
ied law with Judge Black, of New Castle city. 
Removing to Lancaster, Ohio, in 1830, he 
began there the practice of the law, being regu- 
larly admitted to the bar by the supreme court 
in 1832. In 1835 he was elected to the lower 
house of the general assembly from Fairfield 
county, and served several years with great 
ability. In 1S38 he was elected to congress 
from the counties of Fairfield, Perry, Morgan 
and Hocking, and was re-elected in 1840, 
serving to the satisfaction of his constituents. 
In 1841; he was appointed by President Polk 
second assistant postmaster-general, perform- 
ing his duties with marked ability. The same 
year he was appointed commissioner of Indian 
affairs, and as such commissioner introduced 
many needed reforms. Indeed, he was one 
of the few men holding office under the gov- 
ernment of the United States who have treated 
the unfortunate sons of the forest with any 
semblance of justice. Both these offices he 
held during President Polk's administration, at 
its close returning to Ohio and resuming the 
practice of the law. In 1 849 he was elected 
a member of the constitutional convention that 
gave us the present constitution of the state of 
Ohio, serving with impartial ability as presid- 
ing officer of that body. In 1851 he was 
elected lieutenant-governor, and in 1853 as 
the second governor under the new constitution. 
In 1857 he was appointed by President Bu- 
chanan first controller of the United States 
treasury, holding that office until March 4, 1861, 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



147 



when he retired to private life in Lancaster, 
Ohio, holding no office afterward. 

Gov. Medill was a man of great ability, a 
true patriot, of spotless character, a faithful 
friend and an incorruptible public servant. He 
never married, and died at his residence in 
Lancaster, Ohio, September 2, 1865. 



£^^ALMON P. CHASE, the eighteenth 
r^^KT governor of Ohio elected by the peo- 

h^^^y pie, was born at Cornish, N. H., Jan- 
uary 13, 1808. His father, Ithaman 
Chase, was descended from English ancestry, 
while his mother was of Scotch e.xtraction. 
Ithaman Chase was a farmer, was a brother of 
the celebrated Bishop Philander Chase, and 
died when his son, Salmon P., was yet a lad. 
In 181 5 his father removed his family to 
Keene, Cheshire count}', N. H., where young 
Salmon received a good common-school edu- 
cation. Bishop Chase, having removed to 
Ohio, invited his young nephew to the state, 
and in \^'orthington, Franklin county, he pur- 
sued his studies preparatory to entering col- 
lege, becoming a student at Dartmouth in 
1825, and graduating in 1826. He then went 
to Washington, D. C, where for some time he 
taught a classical school, which did not prove 
successful. For this reason he made applica- 
tion to an uncle of his, in the United States 
senate, to secure for him a position in one of 
the government offices, but was met with the 
reply from that uncle that he had alrcadv 
ruined two young men in that way, and did 
not intend to ruin another. Young Chase then 
secured the patronage of Henry Clay, Samuel 
L. Southard and William W'irt, who placed 
their sons under his tuition, and he in the 
meantime studied law with William Wirt. 

In 1830, having been admitted to the bar, 
he settled down in Cincinnati to the practice 
of the law, but meeting for some years with 



indifferent success, he spent his leisure time in 
revising the statutes of Ohio, and introduced 
his compilation with a brief historical sketch 
of the state. This work, known as Chase's 
Statutes, in three octavo volumes, proved of 
great service to the profession, and its sale was 
so great a success that his reputation as a 
lawyer of ability was at once established. 

In 1834 he became solicitor of the branch 
bank of the United States in the city of Cin- 
cinnati, and soon afterward of one of the city 
banks, and in 1837 he distinguished himself 
by defending a negro woman who had been 
brought by her master to Ohio, and who had 
escaped from his possession. This gave him 
considerable prominence as an abolitionist, and 
by some it was thought he had ruined his pros- 
pects, especially when he enhanced that repu- 
tation in the defense of James G. Birney, whose 
newspaper, the Philanthropist, had been de- 
stroyed by the friends of slavery. Mr. Chase 
had always looked upon things from the moral 
standpoint, believed ever in freedom, and that 
if Christ died for any man he died for all men, 
and hence Mr. Chase was always the fr.end of 
man. The position he took in the defense of 
slaves who had escaped to or were brought to 
free soil, was that by that act alone, even 
under the constitution of the United States, 
they obtained their freedom. 

In 1846 Mr. Chase, in the supreme court 
of the United States, defended Van Zandt 
(who was the original of John Van Trompe, in 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin "), wlio was prosecuted 
for harboring fugitive slaves, taking the ground, 
as before, that, even though the constitution 
contained a provision for the return of such 
fugitives, no legislative power on the subject 
had been granted to congress, and that there- 
fore the power to de\'ise legislation thereon 
was left to the states themselves. The bold 
statements and forcible arguments of Mr. 
Chase in his management of such cases. 



148 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



alarmed the southern states, and ultimately 
led to the enactment of the fugitive slave law 
in 1850, as a portion of the compromise meas- 
ures of that period. 

In 1 84 1 Mr. Chase united with others op- 
posed to the further extension of slavery, in a 
convention for which he was the principal 
writer of the address to the people on that 
subject. He also wrote the platform for the 
liberty party when it nominated James G. 
Birney as its candidate for the presidency. In 
1842 he projected a convention of the same 
party in Cincinnati, the result of which was 
the passage of a resolution declaring the ur- 
gent necessity for the organization of a party 
committed to the denationalization of slavery. 
In 1S48 Mr. Chase presided over the Buffalo 
free soil convention, which nominated Martin 
Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams for 
president and vice-president. On the 22d of 
February, 1849. Mr. Chase was elected to 
the United States senate by a coalition of 
democrats and free soilers, who had declared 
slavery to be an evil, but when the Baltimore 
convention in 1852 approved of the compro- 
mise measures of 1850 he withdrew from 
their ranks, and advocated the formation of an 
independent democratic party, which should 
oppose the extension of slavery. In 1855 Mr. 
Chase was elected governor of Ohio by the 
newly organized republican party by a ma- 
jority of 15,651 over Gov. Medill, and in 1857 
he was elected governor, the second time, over 
Henry B. Payne. 

At the national republican convention in 
i860 Mr. Chase received on the first ballot 
forty-nine votes, in a total of 375, and im- 
mediately withdrew his name. By President 
Lincoln he was appointed secretary of the 
treasury of the United States, holding this 
position until July, 1864, when he resigned. 
His management of the nation's finance was 
marked with consummate ability, and con- 



tributed largely to the success of the govern- 
ment in its efforts to suppress the Rebellion. , 
In November, 1864, he was nominated by I 
President Lincoln as chief justice of the 
United States, to succeed Chief Justice Taney, ' 
who had then recently died, and he filled this 
great office until his death. 

In 1868 he permitted his name to go be- 
fore the democratic national convention as a 
candidate for the presidency, but received only 
four votes out of 663, Horatio Seymour of 
New York securing the nomination. The most 
valuabe public service rendered the nation by 
Mr. Chase, .as secretary of the treasury, was 
the origination by him of the bill under which, 
in 1863, state and private banks became na- 
tional banks, and under which the govern- 
ment of the United States became responsible 
for the circulation of national bank notes, 
the government being secured by a de- 
posit of bonds equal in amount to the pro- 
posed circulation, plus ten per cent, \\hile 
this law was at first opposed by many public 
men, yet in time it won its way into their 
judgment long before Mr. Chase's death, and 
he had the satisfaction of realizing that its ad- 
vantages were such that the people of the 
United States were more greatly benefited 
by this than by any previous monetary meas- 
ure, as under it the money of the banks was 
made equally valuble in all parts of the United 
States. 

Mr. Chase was married three times, and of 
six children born to him, two accomplished 
daughters survived him at his death, which 
occurred of paralysis. May 7, 1873. 



^ILLIAM DENNISON, Jr., nine- 
teenth governor of Ohio, was born 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 23, 
1815. His father and mother emi- 
grated from New Jersey to Ohio, settled in the 



m. 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



149 



Miami valley about 1805, gave their son a 
liberal education, and he graduated from 
Miami university in 1835 with high honors in 
political science, belles lettres and history. 
After his graduation he became a law student 
in the office of Nathaniel C. Pendleton, father 
of Hon. George H. Pendleton, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1840. The same year he 
married a daughter of William Neil, of Co- 
lumbus, to which city he removed and applied 
himself with energy and diligence to the prac- 
tice of the law. In 1848 he was elected to 
the Ohio senate as a whig for the district com- 
posed of Franklin and Delaware counties. At 
that time the slavery question was a promi- 
nent one in politics, men taking positive posi- 
tions on one side or the other, and a desperate 
struggle was made throughout the state for the 
control of the general assembly. After failing 
by a small adverse majority to be elected 
president of the senate he was appointed to a 
leading position on a committe having in charge 
the revisal of the statutes, which had become 
in the opinion of most of the people a disgrace 
to the state, especially those laws which pro- 
hibited black men and mulattoes from gaining 
a permanent residence within the state, and 
from testifying in courts against white persons. 
Mr. Dennison warmly advocated the repeal of 
these laws, and with complete success. He 
was equally opposed to the extension of slavery, 
with its blighting effects, into new territory. 
From 1850 to 1852 he was engaged in the 
practice of the law, and in the latter year, as 
a presidential elector, he cast his vote for 
Gen. Winfield Scott. From this time on for 
some years he took great interest in the sub- 
ject of railroads in the west, and was electiad 
president of the Columbus & Xenia RailiToad 
company, and was very active as a director of 
all railroads entering Columbus. In 1856 he 
was a delegate to the republican national con- 
vention at Pittsburg, and voted for Gen. John 



C. Fremont for president. In 1859 he was 
elected governor of Ohio by the republican 
party, and in his first message to the general 
assembly took the position that "The federal 
Union exists by solemn compact voluntarily 
entered into • by the people of each state and 
thus they became the United States of Amer- 
ica, e pluribus unuin, and this being so, no 
state can claim the right to secede from or 
violate that compact." 

When the war was begun he exerted all the 
authority of his office to aid the general govern- 
ment to suppress the Rebellion, and as the first 
war governor of Ohio his name will go down 
to posterity as one of the most patriotic of men. 
When Gov. Magoffin, of Kentucky, telegraphed 
to President Lincoln that Kentucky would fur- 
nish no troops for such a wicked purpose as 
the subduing of the sister southern states. 
Gov. Dennison telegraphed that if Kentucky 
would not fill her quota, Ohio would fill it for 
her, and in less than two weeks, under the in- 
fluence of her patriotic governor, Ohio raised 
enough soldiers to fill the quota of three states, 
and it was not long before the attention of the 
entire country was directed to Ohio as the 
leading state in the suppression of the Rebel- 
lion, a position which she proudly maintained 
all through the war. The people of West 
Virginia owe to Gov. Dennison the fact of their 
separate existence as a state, the story of 
which is well known and too long for publica- 
tion here. 

At first Gov. Dennison opposed Sec. Chase's 
national banking system, but as its beneficial 
effects became apparent he gave it his unquali- 
fied support, and it is well known that Ohio 
took the lead in the establishment of national 
banks, a system of banking which, among its 
other features, has done much to cement the 
union of the states since the war. After his 
term of office as governor had expired he be- 
came a favorite speaker in defense of the Union. 



150 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



As a delegate to the national republican con- 
vention, in 1864, he did much to secure the 
renomination of Abraham Lincoln, and suc- 
ceeded Montgomery Blair as postmaster-gen- 
eral, but resigned his office when President 
Johnson had defined his ' ' polic}'. " For several 
years after this Gov. Dennison lived in retire- 
ment, but was called on by President Grant, 
in 1875, to act as one of the commissioners of 
the District of Columbia, a position which he 
filled until 1878. 

By his marriage to Miss Neil he became the 
father of three children, the first-born dying in 
infancy, and the others being named Neil and 
Elizabeth. He died June 15, 1882, respected 
by all people as an able, patriotic and good man. 



K.y^^ AVID TOD, Ohio's twentieth elect- 
■ ■ ed governor, was born in Youngs- 
J^^^ town, Mahoning county, February 21, 
1805, received a good literary educa- 
tion, and after studying for the legal profession 
was admitted to the bar in the year 1827. He 
practiced about fifteen years at Warren, where 
his talents soon won him recognition among 
the leading lawyers of the northeastern part of 
the state, and while a resident of Warren was 
elected, in 1838, a member of the state senate. 
Gov. Tod soon took high rank as a successful 
politician, made a brilliant canvass for Martin 
Van Buren in 1840, and in 1 844 was nominated 
for governor, but was defeated by a small ma- 
jority. One of the issues of the gubernatorial 
campaign of 1844 was "hard" and "soft" 
money, the democrats representing the former 
and the whigs the latter. In a speech David 
Tod, the democratic candidate, said that 
sooner than adopt "soft " or paper money, it 
would be better to go back to the Spartan idea 
of finance and coin money from pot-metal. 
His opponents seized upon this expression, 
dubbed him "pot-metal" Tod, and insisted 



that he was really in favor of coining pot-metal 
into currency. Medallions of Mr. Tod about 
the size of a silver dollar were struck off by his 
opponents by the thousands, being composed 
of pot-metal and circulated throughout the 
state. The "pot-metal" cry doubtless had 
much to do in bringing about his defeat by a 
slender margin, showing that small things are 
often effective in political campaigns, if the 
people happen to be in the humor to be influ- 
enced by them, which not infrequently hap- 
pens to be the case. In 1847 he was ap- 
pointed, by President Polk, minister to Brazil, 
and represented his government until 1852, 
when he returned to the United States and 
took an active part in the campaign which re- 
sulted in the election of Franklin Pierce to the 
presidency. In i860 he was chosen delegate 
to the Charleston convention, of which he was 
made vice-president, and after the withdrawal 
of the southern wing of the democratic party, 
presided over that body until its adjournment. 
Upon the breaking out of the Civil war. Gov. 
Tod was earnest in his advocacy of a compro- 
mise between the north and south, but with 
the commencement of hostilities he became a 
firm supporter of the Union and did much to 
arouse enthusiasm in the prosecution of the 
struggle. In 1861 he was the republican nom- 
inee for governor, and at the ensuing election 
defeated his competitor by an overwhelming 
majority of 55,000 votes. He proved a very 
popular and capable executive, and during his 
term of two years, greatly aided the national 
administration. 



>^OHN BROUGH, the twenty-first gov- 
m ernor of Ohio elected by the people 
OtJ of the state, was born at Marietta, 
Ohio, September 17, 181 1. His father, 
John Brough, was a companion and friend of 
Blennerhassett, both coming to the United 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



151 



States in the same ship in 1 806. They re- 
mained in close friendship for many years, but 
Mr. Brough was not connected with the unfor- 
tunate complications between Blennerhassett 
and Aaron Burr. John Brough died in 1822, 
leaving his wife with five children, and with 
but small means of support. 

John Brough, who became governor of Ohio, 
was sent to learn the trade of printer in the 
office of the Athens Mirror before he was four- 
teen. After a few months he entered the Ohio 
university at Athens, reciting with his class in 
the day time, and setting type mornings and 
evenings to support himself. He was a good 
compositor and also a good student, and was 
distinguished for his skill in athletic games. 
Having completed his education at the univer- 
sity he began the study of law, but soon after- 
ward went to Petersburg, Va., to edit a news- 
paper. Returning to Marietta, Ohio, in 1831, 
he became proprietor of the Washington county 
Republican, a democratic paper, which he con- 
ducted until 1833, when he sold out, and in 
partnership with his brother, Charles H., pur- 
chased the Ohio Eagle, published at Lancas- 
ter, Ohio, and while he was a strong partisan, 
yet he had no patience for anj' kind of under- 
hand work in either party. In 1835 he was 
elected clerk of the Ohio senate, and retained 
this position until 1838. He was chosen rep- 
resentative from Fairfield and Hocking coun- 
ties in 1S38, and the next year he was chosen 
by the legislature to fill the office of auditor 
of state. To this latter office he was again 
elected and served si.x years. ' Many evils then 
existed in the finances of the state, but, not- 
withstanding much opposition and many em- 
barrassments, he succeeded in finding remedies 
therefor, and the pecuniary affairs of the state 
were placed on a solid foundation. The re 
ports he made upon the state's financial sys- 
tem are among the ablest and most valuable of 
our state papers. 



During his second term as auditor of state 
he purchased the Phoenix, a newspaper in Cin- 
cinnati, changed its name to the Enquirer and 
placed it in charge of his brother, Charles H., 
and at the close of that term removed to Cin- 
cinnati, opened a law office and wrote edi- 
torials for his paper. He also became a power- 
ful and effective public speaker, and while he 
was becoming a distinguished leader in the 
democratic party he was also becoming with 
equal rapidity thoroughly disgusted with party 
politics. In 1848 he retired from partisan 
strife, sold one-half interest in the Enquirer, 
and devoted his attention to railroads. Being 
elected president of the Madison & Indiana 
Railroad compan}', he removed to Madison, 
Ind., but later, at the invitation of one of his 
friends, Stillman Witt, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
he accepted the presidency of the Bellefon- 
taine Railroad company, which, under his man- 
agement, became one of the leading railroads 
of the country. In 1861 he removed to Cleve- 
land, and during the first two years of the war 
was untiring in his efforts to serve the govern- 
ment by the prompt transportation of troops to 
the front. 

In 1863, that portion of the democrats of 
Ohio that was opposed to the further prose- 
cution of the war nominated C. L. Vallandig- 
ham for governor of the state, and Stillman 
Witt, having urged Mr. Brough to take an ac- 
tive part in politics, generously offering to per- 
form the duties of the president of the railroad, 
and permit Mr. Brough to draw the salary, 
Mr. Brough was at length nominated by the 
republican party as its candidate in opposition 
to Vallandigham. The result of the election 
was that Mr. Brough was elected by a majority 
of 101,099, the total vote being 471,643. It 
was at the suggestion of Gov. Brough that an 
extra force of 100,000 men was raised to aid 
Gen. Grant in his arduous campaign of 1864, 
Ohio's quota of this 100,000 being 30,000. 



152 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



Within ten days Ohio raised 38,000 men, the 
result being due largely to Gov. Brough's ener- 
getic action, which called out the warmest 
commendation from both President Lincoln 
and Gen. Grant. 

"While Gov. Brough lived to see the war 
brought to a successful close, yet he died be- 
fore the close of his term, on August 29, 1865. 
He was of the honest men in politics, just in 
all his motives and acts. Though not a 
member of any church, yet he took a deep in- 
terest in religion and died in the hope of an 
eternal life. Gov. Brough was twice married — 
first to Miss Acsah P. Pruden, of Athens, 
Ohio, who died in 1838 at the age of twenty- 
five years, and second, to Miss Caroline A. 
Nelson, of Columbus, Ohio, whom he married 
in 1843 at Lewiston, Pa. By this latter mar- 
riage he had two sons and two daughters. 



aHARLES ANDERSON was put in 
nomination as lieutenant-governor of 
Ohio on the ticket in 1863, with John 
Brough for governor and elected. The 
death of the latter transferred Col. Anderson 
to the office of governor in August of the same 
year. •.• 1 .( " 

Charles Anderson was born June i, 18 14, 
at the residence of his father, called Soldiers' 
Retreat, or Fort Nelson, near the falls of the 
Ohio, and which locality is about nine miles 
from the city of Louisville, Ivy. His father. 
Col. Richard Clough Anderson, a gentleman 
of high character, who was an aid-de-camp to 
Lafayette, removed to Soldiers' Retreat from 
Virginia in 1793, and there, in the capacity 
of surveyor-general of the Virginia military 
land grant, made his residence three years be- 
fore Kentucky was recognized as a territory. 
His mother was a relative of Chief-Justice 
Marshall, and his eldest brother, Richard 
Clough Anderson, represented his district in 



congress, \v^.s the first United States minister 
to the republic of Columbia and commissioner 
in congress at Panama. Robert Anderson, 
another brother of Gov. Anderson, was the 
Major Anderson commanding Fort Sumter in 
April, 1 86 1. 

Charles Anderson graduated from Miami 
university at Oxford, Ohio, in 1833, began the 
study of law in Louisville in his twentieth year 
in the office of Pirtle & Anderson, and in 1835 
was admitted to practice. He then went to 
Dayton, Ohio, and September i6th married 
Miss Eliza J. Brown, a young lady of that 
place. He remained a resident of Dayton, 
Ohio, varying his professional engagement by 
working the farm during the following ten 
years, having in that time been elected prose- 
cuting attorney of the county, and in 1 844 was 
elected to the state senate. His vote in this 
body in favor of bills to give to the colored men 
the privilege of testifying in court caused him 
the enmity of all the pro-slavery element among 
his constituency, but of this he took no notice. 
He resolved that at the close of his term he 
would recuperate his health by a protracted 
sea voyage, and, descending to New Orleans, 
he took a vessel for Havana, and there took 
passage on a vessel bound for Europe, and 
with much advantage to his health returned 
by the way of Paris and Liverpool. Arriving 
in Cincinnati, he entered into a law partner- 
ship with Rufus King, Esq., and for eleven 
\'ears practiced his profession. Then his 
original love of farming still influencing his 
life, he went to Texas in 1859, and found the 
people greatly excited on account of the polit- 
ical condition of the country. Demagogues 
had advocated dissolution of the Union there 
as elsewhere, and the establishment of a new 
southern states' government of a monarchical 
form, its foundation-stone human slavery, and 
under the protectorate of Great Britain, to 
which people their cotton would be exchanged 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



153 



for goods of British manufacture exclusively. 
He soon saw that this treasonable project had 
taken deep root among the ignorant masses of 
the south. There was no term that had been 
uttered that could be more opprobrious than 
abolitionist, and his well-known love of free- 
dom prompting him to boldly address the 
people, he did so at a great gathering at San 
Antonio November 20, i860, advocating, in 
the most stirring and patriotic language, the 
perpetuity of the national Union. Though the 
recipient subsequently of letters threatening his 
life, he continued to reside in San Antonio in 
spite of the fort\'-day resident act passed by 
the Confederate congress at Montgomery, Ala., 
and was therefore confined as a political pris- 
oner in the guard-tent of Madia's battery of 
artillery. By the assistance of two persons, 
who subsequently were maltreated for so assist- 
ing; him, he escaped to the north. It was not 
reasonable to suppose that Mr. Anderson, born 
in Kentucky, and from infancy surrounded by 
and breathing the atmosphere of slavery, could 
have regarded that institution as it was looked 
upon by the millions who had not been simi- 
larly situated. Hence the original idea of the 
war, restoring the Union as it was, caused him 
to offer his services to Gov. Tod, and he was 
appointed colonel of the Ninety-third Ohio 
regiment, in command of which brave body of 
men he was seriously wounded in the battle of 
Stone River. After his term of service as 
lieutenant-governor and governor of Ohio he 
removed to a large iron estate on the Cumber- 
land river, in Lyon count}', Ky., where he 
spent the remainder of his life. 



ACOB DOLSON COX, the twenty-sec- 
ond governor of Ohio elected by the 
people, was born in Montreal, Canada, 
October 27, 1828, to which city his 
parents, who were natives of the United States, 




and who were then resid>jnts of New York, had 
gone for a temporary purpo.se, Mr. Cox being 
a master builder, and having in charge in Mon- 
treal the erection ot t!ie frame work, roofing, 
etc., of the church of Notre Dame. The fol- 
lowing year they returned to New York, where 
were spent the childhood days of the subject 
of this sketch. In 1846 he entered Oberlin 
college, from which he graduated in 1S51, and 
in 1852 he removed to Warren, Ohio, where 
for three years he was superintendent of the 
high school. In the meantime he studied lavr 
and was admitted to the bar, and in 1859 he 
he was elected, from the Trumbull and Mahon- 
ing district, to the legislature, where throughout 
his term he was regarded as a "radical," not 
only on account of the section of the state from 
which he came, but also on account of his hav- 
ing married the daughter of President Finney 
of Oblerlin college. He took his seat in the 
sena"te on the first Monday in January, i860. 
After the enactment of the fugitive slave 
law of 1850 the state of Ohio passed a law 
providing penalties for carrying free blacks out 
of the state without first having recourse to 
judical proceedings. The democrats in the 
legislature earnestly desired to repeal this law, 
and Mr. Cox, as chairman of the judiciary com- 
mittee, made a minority report against its re- 
peal, to which report the support of the entire 
republican party was given. While Mr. Cox 
was not in favor of any unnecessarily harsh 
measures to grieve the southern states, yet he 
was always uncomprisingly in favor of support- 
ing the government in its efforts to suppress 
the Rebellion. Ten da3'S after President Lin- 
coln's first call for troops, Mr. Cox was com- 
missioned, by Gov. Dennison, a brigadier-gen- 
eral of Ohio volunteers for the three months' 
service, and placed in command of Camp 
Jackson, which was established for the re- 
ception of troops. A larger camp being nec- 
essary, President Lincoln commissioned hini 



154 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



brigadier-general 



of volunteers, and with 
the assistance of Gen. Rosecrans he laid out 
Camp Dennison. On the 6th of July, 1861, he 
was ordered by Gen. McClellan to take a posi- 
tion at the south of the Great Kanawha, whence 
he drove the rebels under Gen. Wise out of the 
valley of that river, and took and repaired the 
bridge at Gauley, and other bridges; and it is 
owing to the success of these early military 
maneuvers that West Virginia became an inde- 
pendent state. In August, 1862, he was as- 
signed to the army of Virginia under Gen. 
Pope, and when Gen. Reno fell succeeded to 
his command, that of the Ninth corps, which 
he commanded at the battle of Antietam, in 
which battle his troops so distinguished them- 
selves that he was appointed to a full major- 
generalship. On April 16, 1863, Gen. Cox 
was in command of the district of Ohio, and 
also of a division of the Twenty-third army 
corps, with headquarters at Knoxville, Tenn. 
In the Atlanta campaign he led the Third di- 
vision of the Twenty-third army corps, and in 
the engagement at Columbus had entire com- 
mand, as he had also at Franklin, November 
30, where he felt the full force of Hood's at- 
tack. On reaching Nashville Gen. Thomas 
assumed command of the army, Gen. Scho- 
field of the Twenty-third corps, and Gen. Cox 
of his division — his division in this battle cap- 
turing an important rebel position and eight 
pieces of cannon. In January, 1865, Gen. 
Cox, with his division, performed important 
service in North Carolina, aiding in the cap- 
ture of Kingston, and then he united his forces 
with Sherman's army. Gen. Cox had charge 
of the details connected with the surrender of 
Gen. Johnston's soldiers. In July, 1865, he 
was placed in command of the district of Ohio, 
and while in charge of the discharge of Ohio 
soldiers was elected governor of the state, and 
was inaugurated January I 5, 1S66. Through- 
out the war Gen. Cox was steadily pro- 



moted, and won golden opinions from all pa- 
triots, but after the close of the struggle he 
supported President Johnson's "policy," which 
gave great dissatisfaction to loyal people. In 
1869 President Grant appointed him secretary 
of the interior, which position he resigned 
after a few months, and returned to Cincin- 
nati, where he was appointed receiver of the 
Toledo, Wabash & Western railroad, and re- 
sided temporarily at Toledo, where, in 1875, 
he was elected to congress from the Sixth dis- 
trict. He was appointed a member of the 
Potter committee, which investigated the man- 
ner in which the presidential election of 1876 
had been conducted in the " disputed states," 
South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. Sub- 
sequently he removed to Cincinnati, where 
he died. 



<>^ UTHERFORD B. HAYES.— For a 

jj/^ sketch of the life of Rutherford B. 

I P Hayes, the twenty-third governor of 

Ohio elected by the people and elec- 

ed to succeed himself, and also elected to 

succeed William Allen, the reader is referred 

to that portion of this work which is devoted 

to the lives of the presidents of the United 

States. 



eDWARD FOLLANSBEE NOYES, 
twenty-fourth governor of Ohio elect- 
ed by the people, was born in Hav- 
erhill, Mass., October 3, 1832. His 
parents, Theodore and Hannah Noyes, both 
died before he was three years old, and he was 
reared by his grandparents, Edward and Han- 
nah Stevens, who resided at East Kingston, 
Rockingham county, N. H. His grandfather 
Stevens having died, he was taken when 
twelve years of age by his guardian, Joseph 
Hoyt, of Newton, N. H. For two years he 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



155 



worked on his guardian's farm in summer and 
attended schools in winter, and at fourteen he 
was apprenticed to the printer's trade in the 
office of the Morning Star at Do\er, N. H., 
the organ of the Free \\'ill Baptist church. 
In this office he remained four years. Though 
his apprenticeship required him to remain un- 
til he was twenty-one, yet his employer 
relea.^cd him at eighteen, in order that he 
might secure an education. He prepared 
himself for college at the academy at Kingston, 
N. H., and entered Dartmouth college in 1853, 
graduating at that institution in 1857. In the 
winter of his senior year he began to read law 
in the office of Stickney & Tuck at Exeter, 
N. H., and before leaving Dartmouth he had 
become really an abolitionist. Being a good 
speaker, he was appointed by the republican 
state executive committee of New Hampshire to 
traverse the state in the interest of Gen. John 
C. Fremont for the presidency. The next win- 
ter he entered the law office of Tilden, Raridan 
& Curwen, and attended lectures on law at the 
Cincinnati Law school during the winter of 
1857-58, being admitted to the bar during the 
latter year, and not long afterward established 
himself in a profitable practice. Giving atten- 
tion to the political crises then impending, he 
became convinced that secession, if accom- 
plished, would finally disrupt the Union, and 
on the 8th of July, 1861, converted his law 
office into a recruiting station, and was com- 
missioned major of the Thirty-ninth regiment 
Ohio volunteer infantry. On August 20, 1861, 
the Twenty-seventh and the Thirty-ninth regi- 
ments were transferred from the eastern to 
the western army, the latter being officered 
as follows: John Groesbeck, colonel; A. W. 
Gilbert, lieut. -colonel, and, as stated above, 
Edward F. Noyes, major. Early in 1862 this 
latter regiment joined the army of the Mis- 
sissippi, then commanded by Gen. Pope, and 
took part in the capture of New Madrid and 



Island No. 10. From that time until Gen. 
Pope was assigned to the command of the 
Potomac, Maj. Noyes was on that general's 
staff, and when the colonel and lieutenant-col- 
onel of the Thirty-ninth, as named above, re- 
signed, Maj. Noyes was comuiissioned colonel, 
and took command uf his regiment in October, 
1862. In 1864 his regiment was one of those 
composing the First division of the Seven- 
teenth army corps, and on July 4, of that year, 
took part in the assault on Ruff's Mill, in which 
he was shot in the leg, which had to be am- 
putated on the field of battle. The operation 
not proving successful, the colonel was taken 
to Cincinnati, and operated on by Dr. ^^^ H. 
Mussey, and in the following October he re- 
ported for duty to Gen. Hooker, who assigned 
him to the command of Camp Dennison. Upon 
the recommendation of Gen. Sherman he was 
promoted to the full rank of brigadier. 

He was soon afterward elected city solicitor 
of Cincinnati, and in 1871 was elected gov- 
ernor of Ohio by a majority of 20,000, while at 
the election of 1873, when he was again a can- 
didate, he was defeated by an adverse majority 
of 800. In the presidential campaign of 1876 
he was an active participant, and was later 
appointed by his old friend. President Ha\es, 
minister to France. He remained in Paris 
four years, in the meantime, however, making 
an extensive tour through the countries along 
the Mediterranean sea for the purpose of inves- 
tigating the condition of the laboring classes, 
making an able report to the government. He 
resigned in 1881 and resumed his law practice 
in Cincinnati. He was very enthusiastic and 
cheerful in his disposition, and kindly in his 
manner. In February, 1863, on a leave of 
absence, he married Miss Margaret W. Proc- 
tor, at Kingston, N. H., with whom he be- 
came acquainted while in the academy in his 
youthful days. He died September 4, 1 890, 
nearly fifty-eight years of age. 



156 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 




'ILLIAM ALLEN, twenty-fifth gov- 
ernor of Ohio elected by the peo- 
ple, was born in Edenton, Chowan 
county, N. C, in 1807. His par- 
ents both died within a few months of each 
other before he was one year old, and he was 
cared for by an only sister, who soon afterward 
removed with her husband to Lynchburg, Va., 
taking young William with her. This sister 
was the wife of an itinerant Methodist minis- 
ter and the mother of Hon. Allen G. Thurman. 
She was a very superior woman, and was well 
fitted for the task of rearing two of Ohio's dis- 
tinguished statesmen, whose names are given 
above. About 1821 Mrs. Thurman, with her 
husband and family, removed to Chillicothe, 
Ohio, leaving her brother to attend an acad- 
emy at Lynchburg, Va., but he rejoined her 
two years later, and attended the academy in 
Chillicothe, and later read law in the office of 
Edward King, the most gifted son of Rufus 
King, of Revolutionary fame, and a popular 
statesman for many years. Having been ad- 
mitted to the bar in his twentieth year, he be- 
came a partner of his preceptor, and earl\- in 
his career manifested that forensic ability to 
which he was mainly indebted for his success. 
This, together with his tall, commanding fig- 
ure and powerful, penetrating voice, attracted 
people to him, the latter giving him the name 
of the "Ohio Gong," and all together secured 
his nomination to congress, he being elected 
by the democrats in 1832, in a whig district, 
by a majority of one vote. While he was the 
youngest man in the Twenty-third congress, 
yet he was recognized as a leading orator, tak- 
ing part in the most important discussions in 
that body. 

In January, 1837, on what was called 
"Saint Jackson's Day," at a supper given in 
Columbus, Ohio, he made a speech which un- 
expectedly led to his election to the United 
States senate, to succeed lion. Thomas Ewing. 



He remained in the senate twelve years, or 
until 1849, during which time he was at the 
full measure of his powers. 

In 1845 Senator Allen married Mrs. Effie 
(McArthurj Coons, a daughter of ex-Gov. Mc- 
Arthur, who had been, in 1S30, elected gov- 
ernor of Ohio. She inherited from her father 
the old homestead, "Fruit Hill" farm, upon 
which Gov. Allen resided with his only daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Scott, his wife ha\ing died in \\'ash- 
ington soon after the birth of her daughter. In 
August, 1873, Mr. Allen was elected governor 
of Ohio, being the only man on the demo- 
cratic ticket not defeated. As governor he 
recommended the reduction of taxation and 
economy in state affairs. He was the first demo- 
cratic governor of Ohio after the war, and though 
his administration gave general satisfaction, he 
was defeated with the rest of the democratic 
ticket in 1875. It has been said of him that 
he originated the political catch-word, "Fifty- 
four forty, or fight," in reference to the 
boundary question between* the United States 
and the British dominions, from which posi- 
tion the democratic party so ignominiously 
backed down. Gov. Allen died at Fruit Hill 
farm in 1879. He was a man of high charac- 
ter, cordial manners, and above all political 
chicanery of every kind, and his name will 
long be an honored one in American history. 




HOMAS L. YOUNG, ex-oflRcio gov- 
ernor of Ohio, succeeding to the 
office by the election of Gov. R. B. 
Hayes to the presidency of the United 
States, taking possession of the office in Feb- 
ruary, 1877, was born December 14, 1832, on 
the estate of Lord Dufferin in the north of 
Ireland. Of Lord Dufferin it may perhaps be 
permissible, parenthetically, to remark that as 
governor-general of Canada, in 1874, he made 
a remarkable report on the loyalty of the pec- 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



15/ 



pie of Canada to the British governinent, which 
appeared to him so "wholesome and satisfac- 
tory." This estate of Lord Dafferin was in 
Down county, Ireland. When Mr. Young was 
twelve years old his parents brought him to 
this countr}', and he was educated in the com- 
mon schools of Now York cit}'. When he was 
si.xteen years old he enlisted in the regular 
army, scr\ing in all ten _\-ears. At the expira- 
tion of his enhstment he visited the home of 
his parents, in the northern part of Pennsyl- 
vania, on one of the upper tributaries of the 
Susquehanna river, where he engaged in tlie 
business of country merchant until 1859, when 
he removed to Cincinnati, and took charge of 
the h.ouse of refuge, a j'ouths' reformatory in- 
stitution, which position he retained until the 
breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. 
Having, while in the regular army, spent sev- 
eral years among the people of the south, he 
knew that they had determined upon war, and 
in March, 1861, he wrote to Gen. Scott, whom 
he personally knew, offering to assist in organ- 
izing volunteers for the defense of the govern- 
ment. Gen. Scott thanked him for his loyalty, 
but expressed bis incredulity as to the southern 
people entertaining any such purpose. 

In August, 1 86 1, Mr. Young was commis- 
sioned a captain in Gen. Fremont's bodyguard, 
ser\'ing in that capacity until the following 
January, when that organization was disbanded 
by Gen. Halleck. For some months after- 
ward Capt. Young was engaged in editing a 
democratic paper in Sidney, Ohio, in which he 
severely condemned the indecision manifested 
in the conduct of the war. In August, 1862, 
he was appointed to raise a company for the 
One Hundred and Eighteenth regiment Ohio 
volunteer infantry, and became the first major 
of the regiment. In February, 1863, he was 
promoted to lientenant-colonel, and com- 
manded his regiment in the Tennessee cam- 
paign. In April, 1864, he was commissioned 



colonel of his regiment and served as such 
until the ^th of September following, when he 
was honorably discharged on account of phys- 
ical disability resulting from his services and 
exposures in the field. At the battle of Re- 
saca, Ga., Col. Young- led the first charge on 
the enem\-'s works, the severity of the contest 
being indicated by the fact that he lost i 16 
men out of 270 engaged. For this and other 
acts of bravery the president brevetted him 
brigadier-general of volunteers, March, 13,1 S65. 
Upon leaving the service he engaged in the 
study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 
April, 1865, being in the same m.onth appointed 
assistant city auditor of .Cincinnati. In Oc- 
tober, 1865, he was elected to the Ohio house 
of representatives for Hamilton county, and in 
December, 1868, was appointed, by President 
Johnson, supervisor of internal revenue for the 
southern district of Ohio. This position he re- 
sigfied at the end of one year. For some time 
afterward he was engaged in the purchase and 
sale of real estate, and in 1871 was the only 
republican elected to the state senate from 
Hamilton county. In 1873 he formed a law 
partnership with Gen. H. B. Banning and 
Jacob McGarry, and in 1875 he was elected 
lieutenant-governor. Upon the resignation of 
Gov. Hayes he became governor, serving tht^ 
remainder of the term. In 1878 he was elected 
to congressby the republicans of the second dis- 
trict, and died July 19, 188S, thoroughly admired 
for his integrity of character and manliness. 




ICHARD M. BISHOP, the twenty- 
sixth governor of Ohio, was born No- 
vember 4, 18 12, in Fleming county, 
Ky. His parents, who were of Ger- 
man and English lineage, removed from Vir- 
ginia in 1 80c. They were members of the 
regular Baptist church, of which he also be- 
came a member in 1828. 



158 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



At this lime the Baptist churches in Ken- 
tucky were greatly excited in consequence of 
the criticisms made by Mr. Campbell, and his 
co-laborers, upon the religious corruption of 
the age. This excitement continued to in- 
crease in the immediate neighborhood of the 
Bishop family until 1832, when they and 
others were excluded from the Baptist church 
on account of " Campbellite heresy." Since 
then Mr. Bishop has been associated with 
the church of the Disciples or Christians. 
Mr. Bishop began his business career in Flem- 
ing count}', Ky., at the age of seventeen, and 
before he was twenty-one he became a part- 
ner in the store which he had entered as a 
clerk. From 1838 to 1841 he was engaged 
with his brother in the pork business, which 
proved unfortunate in consequence of the sud- 
den depression in prices, and the failure of the 
Mississippi banks, in which state they sold 
largely. They were compelled to suspend, 
but this temporary embarrassment did not dis- 
courage him, for he soon resumed business in 
the same place, where he continued until 1847. 
He then removed to Mount Sterling, Kentucky, 
where he established a branch house, his 
brother remaining at the old stand. In 1848 
he removed to Cincinnati and commenced the 
wholesale grocery business under the style 
of Bishop, Wells & Co. This firm continued 
until 1855, when the business was reorganized 
and conducted under the firm name of R. M. 
Bishop & Co. The firm was composed of 
him.self and three sons, and at one time did 
the largest business in the city, the sales 
amounting in some years to nearly $5,000,- 
000. In April, 1857, he was nominated for 
council in the Second ward and was elected 
by a large majority. At the end of the second 
year he was elected presiding officer. In 
1859 he was elected mayor of Cincinnati b}' a 
handsome majority, holding the same office 
until 1 86 1, when he declined the renomination 



tendered him by each of the political par- 
ties. In January, i860, when the Union was 
threatened by the leaders of the Rebellion, 
the legislatures of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky 
and Tennessee visited Cincinnati to encourage 
each other to stand by the old flag. At a 
grand reception given them at Pike's opera 
house. Mayor Bishop delivered an address of 
welcome amid a storm of applause. In the 
September ensuing his Royal Highness, the 
Prince of Wales, visited Cincinnati at the in- 
vitation of the mayor and received from him 
a cordial welcome. In February, 1 861, when 
President Lincoln was passing on his way to 
his inauguration through Cincinnati, he was 
received in a speech by the mayor. During 
his administration the laws were rigidl}- en- 
forced, of which the Sundaj- ordinance, and 
those against gambling houses, were notable 
examples. Liquor selling and various other 
forms of Sabbath desecration were in the main 
suppressed. He inaugurated, amid much op- 
position, most important reforms in the man- 
agement of the city prison, work-house and 
the police. 

Mr. Bishop has become widely known for 
his liberalit)' and devotion to the Christian 
church. From 1859 to 1867 he was president 
of the Ohio State Missionary society, and was 
the successor of the late Dr. Alexander Camp- 
bell in the presidency of the general Christian 
Missionary conference, which office he held 
until 1875. He was president of the board of 
curators of Kentucky university from its or- 
ganization until 1880, when he declined a re- 
election; he was also one of the curators 01 
Bethan\- college; also for many j'ears trustee 
of the McMicken university. He was director 
of the First National bank for many years, 
and of several other business enterprises, as 
well as philanthropic institutions. He was a 
member of the Ohio state constitutional con- 
vention held in 1873 and 1874, and v.'as presi ■ 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



159 



dent of the great national commercial conven- 
tion held in Baltimore in 1871. He was one 
of the prime movers in that great enterprise, 
the Southern railway, the building of which 
he so successfully managed, having been a 
trustee from the beginning, and the laborious 
work of obtaining charters for the road is 
largely his. 

In 1877 he was elected governor of Ohio 
by a majority of nearly 23,000 over the domi- 
nant party, and served two jears with entire 
satisfaction to all parties. His first annual 
message was well received and complimented 
by the press generally. Upon his return to 
Cincinnati he was given a cordial and enthu- 
siastic reception at Lytle hall, where a large 
number of ladies and gentlemen had assembled 
to welcome him home. Since the expiration 
of his term as governor he has been urged by 
his friends to accept the nomination for various 
important offices, but always declined. 

Few men in the state can point to so many 
substantial benefits conferred upon society as 
the results of their single labors. Prompt de- 
cision, constant industry, sound judgment, and 
a desire to benefit his fellow-men, are his 
chief characteristics. 



aHARLES FOSTER, twenty-seventh 
governor of Ohio elected by the peo- 
ple, was born in Seneca county, Ohio, 
April 12, 1828. His parents, Charles 
W. Foster and wife, the latter of whom was a 
daughter of John Crocker, were from Massa- 
chusetts, reaching Seneca county, Ohio, in 1827. 
Charles Foster received only a common- 
school education, and went to Rome, now 
Fostoria, Ohio, when he was fourteen years 
old, where he was compelled to take charge of 
his father's store, and thus failed to secure a 
liberal education, which his father intended he 



should receive, and for which he had prepared 
himself at the Norwalk seminary. His success 
in the management of the store was very 
marked, and he soon became sole manager. 
The town of Fostoria, named from the Foster 
family, was the result of the consolidation of 
Rome and Risdon, which lay but a mile or two 
apart. In 1870 Mr. Foster was induced to 
accept the nomination for congress at the 
hands of the republicans of his district, and he 
was elected by a majority of 776 over Hon. 
E. F. Dickinson. In 1872 he was again elected 
to congress by a majority of 726 over Rush R. 
Sloane. In 1874 he was elected by a majority 
of 159 over Hon. George E. Seney, and in 
1876 he was elected by a majority of 271. In 
1878, the democratic party having secured a 
majority of the state legislature, in order to 
defeat Mr. Foster most outrageously gerry- 
mandered his district, and he was defeated by 
a majority of 1,255. I" 1879 he was elected 
governor of Ohio over Hon. Thomas Ewing, 
by a plurality of 17,129, and in 1881 he was 
again elected, by a plurality of 24,309, over 
John W. Buchwalter. 

Upon the death of the secretary of the 
United States treasury, William Windom, Mr. 
Foster was appointed his successor by Presi- 
dent Harrison, February 27, 1891, and served 
until the close of the Harrison administration, 
March 4, 1893. The successful adjustment of 
the four and one-half per cent, loan was one 
of the notable events of his first year's admin- 
istration of the treasury department of the 
government. Of the $50.869, 200 of the four 
and one-half per cent, bonds, Julj' i, 1 891, 
$25,364, 500 were presented for continuance at 
two per cent., the rest being called in for re- 
demption. No other financial officer of the 
general government has ever negotiated a 
public loan at so low rate of interest. Since 
retiring from the national treasury, Mr. Foster 
has been engaged in arranging his own financial 



160 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



affairs, which were thrown into confusion, 
while he was in pubhc office by those whom he 
had trusted. 



@EORGE HOADLY, who was the 
twenty-eighth governor of Ohio, was 
born in New Haven, Conn., July 31, 
1826. He is the only son of George 
and Mary Ann (Woolsey) Hoadly. Mary Ann 
Woolsey was a daughter of William Walton 
and Elizabeth (Dwight) Woolsey of New York, 
and she was a great-granddaughter of Jonathan 
Edvvanls, the famous New England theologian. 
She was a niece of President Dwight of Yale 
college, and the eldest daughter in a family 
containing among its members President Wool- 
sey of Yale college. Theodore Winthrop was 
her nephew and Sarah Woolsey, known in 
literature as "Susan Coolidge," her niece. 
George Hoadly, Sr. , was at one time mayor 
of New Haven, Conn., removed in 1830 to 
Cleveland, Ohio, and resided there the re- 
mainder of his life, serving as mayor of that 
city five terms, from 1832 to 1837, and again 
one term, 1846-47. 

George Hoadly, the subject of this sketch, 
received his preliminary education in Cleve- 
land, and when fourteen years old was sent to 
the Western Reserve college at Hudson, Ohio, 
where he was graduated in 1844. He then 
spent one year in the Harvard law school 
under the tuition of Judge Story and Prof. 
Simon Greenleaf, and after studied a year with 
Charles C. Convers, of Zanesville, Ohio, then 
removed to Cincinnati and entered the office 
of Chase & Ball as a student. He was 
admitted to practice in 1847 and in 1849 be- 
came a member of the firm of Chase, Ball & 
Hoadly, the senior member of which was Sal- 
mon P. Chase. In 185 i he was elected judge of 
the supreme court of Cincinnati, and in 1853 
formed a co-partnership with Edward Mills. 



In 1855-56 he was city solicitor of Cincinnati, 
and in 1859 succeeded Judge W. Y. Gholson 
as judge of the new superior court, holding 
this office uutil 1866, when he resigned, in 
order to form the firm of Hoadly, Jackson & 
Johnson. He was a member of the constitu- 
tional convention of 1873-74, and served as 
chairman of the committee on municipal cor- 
porations. For eighteen years he was profes- 
sor in the law school at Cincinnati, trustee 
of the university, and of the Cincinnati mu- 
seum. He was one of the counsel in behalf of 
the board of education in its famous case of 
resistance to the attempt to compel Bible 
reading in the public schools, in which the 
victory was with the board. 

Originall}' a democrat, he left that party 
and became a republican on the question of 
slavery, but during the campaign of 1876 sup- 
ported Tilden as against Hayes. In 1877 he 
appeared as counsel before the electoral com- 
mission and argued in favor of the democratic 
electors from Florida and Oregon. In 1880 
he was temporary chairman of the democratic 
national convention which nominated W. S. 
Hancock for president. In 1883 he was 
elected governor of Ohio, and in March, 1S87, 
he removed to New York city, became the 
head of a law firm there, and has resided there 
ever since. 

In 185 1 he married Mary Burnet Perry, 
third daughter of Capt. Samuel Perry, one of 
the earliest settlers of Cincinnati. He and his 
wife have had three children, viz: George, 
Laura and Edward Mills. 



>-T*OSEPH BENSON FORAKER, ex-gov- 

M ernor of Ohio and United States senator, 

A 1 elect, was born near Rainsborough, 

Highland county, Ohio, July 5, 1846. 

His parents, who are still living, represent the 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



161 



agricultural class of the population of this 
countrj', and upon their farm he spent his 
earlier 3'ears. 

When the war of the Rebellion broke out 
3oung Foraker enlisted in company A, Eighty- 
ninth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, being 
then but sixteen years of age. With this regi- 
ment he served until after the fall of Atlanta, 
at which time, by successive promotions, he 
had risen to the rank of first lieutenant. Im- 
mediately after the fall of Atlanta he was 
detailed for service in the signal corps as a sig- 
nal officer on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Slocum, 
commanding the left wing of the army of 
Georgia. After the marches through Georgia 
and the Carolinas he was promoted brevet 
captain of United States volunteers, and as- 
signed to duty as aid-de-camp on the staff of 
Gen. Slocum, holding this position until he was 
mustered out of service at the close of the war. 

Returning home and resuming his studies, 
he graduated from Cornell university, Ithaca, 
N. Y. , in 1S69. To gain time lost while in 
the service of his country in the army he read 
law while attending the university, and was 
admitted to the bar in Cincinnati, October 14, 
1869, and he at once began in that city the 
practice of his profession. He was married 
October 4, 1S70, to Miss Bulla Bundy, a 
daughter of Hon. H. S. Bundy, of Wellston, 
Ohio, and they have five children, two sons 
and three daughters. 

In April, 1S79, he was elected judge of the 
superior court of Cincinnati, Ohio, and held 
this position until May i, 1882, when he re- 
signed on account of ill health. Recovering 
his health he resumed the practice of the law 
in Cincinnati, and in 1883 was nominated for 
governor of Ohio, but was defeated by his 
opponent. Judge George Hoadly. In 1S84 he 
w;is a delegate to the national convention of 
the republicans which met in Chicago, and as 
cliairman of the Ohio delegation, placed Hon. 



John Sherman in nomination before the con- 
vention for the presidency. In 1885 he was 
again a candidate for governor of Ohio, and 
this time was elected, defeating his former 
opponent, Judge Hoadly, and in 1887 he was 
re-elected governor of the state. In 1888 he 
was again a delegate to the republican national 
convention and was again chairman of the 
Ohio delegation, placing Hon. John Sherman 
again in nomination before the convention for 
the presidency of the United States. In 1889 
he was again nominated for governor of Ohio, 
but through the persistent cry of " third term- 
ism " he was defeated by James E. Campbell. 
In January, 1892, he was a candidate for 
United States senator, receiving thirty-eight 
votes, but was defeated by Senator John Sher- 
man. That year he was a delegate at large to 
the national republican convention, which met 
at Mjnneapolis, serving in that body as chair- 
man of the committee on resolutions. The 
state convention held at Zanesville, May 28, 
1895, unanimously endorsed him as the repub- 
lican candidate for United States senator to 
succeed Hon. Calvin S. Brice, whose term 
of office expired March 4, 1897, ^"^ s-* the 
November election, 1895, a republican legisla- 
ture was chosen by a majority of nearly lOO,- 
000, which was practically instructed by the 
people to elect Mr. Foraker to the position 
named above. In obedience to these instruc- 
tions the legislature of the state on January 
14, 1896, elected Mr. Foraker United States 
senator from Ohio, for six years from March 
4, 1897, by a majority, on joint ballot, of 
eighty-five, the majority in the senate being 
twenty-three, and in the house of representa- 
tives being sixty-two, the entire legislative ma- 
jority being, as stated, eighty-five. Mr. For- 
aker is, therefore, the people's choice for this 
high position, in which it is confidently pre- 
dicted he will confer honor on his native state, 
even as he has had honor conferred upon him. 



162 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



In his speech accepting the office Mr. Foraker 
used the following language : 

" I go there (to the United States senate) 
as a republican. I belong to that party. I 
believe in that partj-. I believe in its past ; I 
believe in its present; I believe in its future. 
I believe it the most acceptable agency we can 
pommand in the administration of national 
affairs. I believe it is better calculated than 
any other political organisation to contribute 
to the strength, power, dignity, happiness and 
glory of the American people." After speak- 
ing in favor of American marine interests 
and of the construction of the Nicaragua ca- 
nal he then referred to financial questions as 
follows : "I believe in bi-metallism. I be- 
lieve the world made a mistake when it de- 
monetized silver. I sincerely hope some safe 
way may be found for the restoration of silver 
to its rightful place alongside of gold as a 
money of ultimate redemption. I shall favor 
every measure calculated in my judgment to 
bring about that result, subject always, how- 
ever, to the condition that it provides for the 
maintenance of the parity of the two metals. " 



>^AMES EDWIN CAMPBELL, e.x-gov- 
M ernor ot Ohio, was born in Middletown, 
mj Ohio, July 7, 1843. He is a son of 
Dr. Andrew and Laura P. (Reynolds) 
Campbell, the former of Scotch and the latter 
of English descent. John P. Reynolds, the 
father of Mrs. Laura P. Campbell, was at one 
time a publisher of the state of New York, but 
later a resident of Madi.son, Ohio. The Rey- 
nolds family came originally from Devonshire, 
England. Jonathan Reynolds emigrated from 
Plympton Earl, in that country, in 1645, to 
America, taking up his residence near Plymp- 
ton, in the colony of Massachusetts bay, and 
from Jonathan Reynolds Mr. Campbell is of 
the sixth generation. Bj' another branc!i of 



his family on his mother's side he is a descend- 
ant of John Parker, who commanded the 
American troops at the battle of Lexington, 
the first battle of the American Revolution. 
Both his grandfathers were in the war of 1812. 

Upon reaching his maturitj' Mr. Campbell 
began reading law. In the summer of 1 863 he 
became a master's mate on the gunboats Elk 
and Naiad, and took part in several engage- 
ments, but on account of ill health he was dis- 
charged at the end of one 3'ear's services. 
During the winter of 1864-65 he was a law 
student in the office of Doty & Gunckel at 
Middletown, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1865. Beginning practice in 1867, he was 
elected prosecuting attorney of Butler county 
in 1875 and again in 1877. In 1879 he was 
defeated for the state senate by twelve votes. 
Up to 1872 he was a republican, but then voted 
for Greeley, and has since acted with the demo- 
crats. He was elected to the Forty-eighth, 
Forty-ninth and Fiftieth congresses, and in 
1889 was elected governor of Ohio. In 1891 
he was again a candidate, but was defeated by 
Maj. McKinley. In 1895 he was the third 
time a candidate, but was defeated by the 
present incumbent of the office, Hon. Asa S. 
Bushnell, by a plurality of 92,622 votes. 

On January 4, 1870, Mr. Campbell was 
married to Miss Libbie Owens, a daughter of 
Job E. and Mary A. (Price) Owens, the former 
of whom was a native of Wales, and the latter 
of Welsh descent. 



m. 



■'ILLIAM McKINLEY, who succeed- 
ed James E. Campbell in the guber- 
natorial chair, and who served out a 
well-administered term of office, on 
retiring filled a higher position in the esteem of 
the people of Ohio than he had ever before 
enjoyed, and this measure of esteem was also 
supplemented by that of the people of the na- 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



1G3 



tion ai large, who, in November, 1896, elected 
him chief magistrate of the United States. In 
tliat portion of this volume devoted to the bi- 
ographies of our presidents, that of Mr. Mc- 
Kinley is given in full, and to it the attention 
of the reader is respectfully invited. 




'SA S. BUSHNELL, governor of Ohio 
at the present time, is, without doubt 
and without qualification, one of the 
ablest men in the state. In many 
respects his career has been an exceptional 
one. His education and training have been 
those of a practical man of affairs, and to-day, 
at the age of si.\ty-two, having been born at 
Rome, Oneida county, N. Y. , in 1834, he is 
one of tlie most clear-headed business men in 
the counlrj'. 

At the age of eleven he left his home in 
the Empire state, to begin his career in the 
Buckeye state, reaching Cincinnati in 1845, 
where he spent si.x years in the public schools, 
paying his own expenses by working out of 
school hours and in vacation seasons. At the 
end of the six years spent in Cincinnati he re- 
moved, in 1 85 I, to Springfield, Ohio, in which 
city he has since lived and in which city he has 
acquired a princely fortune. His first three 
years in the "Champion City" were spent as 
a dry-goods clerk, during which time he be- 
came a thoroughly practical bookkeeper, and 
at their expiration he was given a position as 
bookkeeper with the old and well-known 
water-wheel firm of Leffel, Cook & Blakeney, 
which was even then doing an extensive busi- 
ness. This position he retained until 1S57, 
when he formed a partnership with Dr. John 
Ludlow in the drug business, a partnership 
which lasted ten years, or until 1S67. The 
only break in the continuity 01 his labors here 
was while he was engaged as captain of com- 



pany E, One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio 
volunteer infantry, in 1864, in the Shenandoah 
valley. Here his bravery and his kindly man- 
ner won for him the admiration of and made 
him very popular among his fellow-soldiers of 
the entire regiment. While he was in the army 
he was somewhat slight in build and light in 
weight, and he was not much given to physi- 
cal exercise, while at the present time he is 
unusually active and weighs fully 200 pounds. 

In 1867 Capt. Bushnell purchased an in- 
terest in the large manufacturing firm of what 
is now known as the Warder, Bushnell & 
Glessner Co. , of which the late Benjamin F. 
Warder was then the head, and of which the 
junior member was J. J. Glessner, now a 
prominent capitalist of Chicago. And it is in 
connection with this concern, which Mr. Bush- 
nell has so long and so successfully managed, 
that he has made the fortune which he to-day 
possesses. 

Hon. Asa S. Bushnell has long been closely 
identified with the republican party in Ohio, 
though his attempt to become governor of the 
state was the first he ever made to secure pub- 
lic office. He became chairman of the repub- 
lican state executive committee in 1SS5, and 
from 1886 to 1890 he served the state as 
quartermaster-general, having been appointed 
by Gov. Foraker, who was largely instru- 
mental in securing for him the nomination for 
governor in i895,at Zanesville. In the fall of 
1888 he was assaulted in the streets of Spring- 
field by political enemies, and through that as- 
sault came near losing his life. This assault 
still remains a mystery, and no one has been 
brought to punishment. He was chosen as 
a delegate at large to the republican national 
convention which met at Minneapolis in 1892, 
and which nominated President Harrison for 
re-election, and on November 2, 1895, he was 
elected governor of Ohio by a plurality of 
92,622, over Hon. James E. Campbell, the 



164 



GOVERNORS OF OHIO. 



democratic candidate, this plurality being the 
largest ever given to a governor with the ex- 
ception of that given Gov. John Brough, dur- 
ing the progress of the Civil war, when the 
soldiers at the front voted almost unanimously 
for Brough as against Vallandigham. He was 
inaugurated governor on January 13, 1896. 

In the affairs of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, Gov. Bushnell has long been a prom- 
inent participant, being a member of Mitchell 
post, of Springfield, Ohio. He is also an ar- 
dent Free Mason. Among othei- of Gov. 
Bushnell's benefactions may be mentioned the 
Ohio Masonic Home, which was in all proba- 
bility preserved to Springfield by his unsolicited . 
contribution of $10,000, at a time, too, when 
he was not a Mason. 

Dr. John Ludlow, with whom Mr. Bushnell, 
as a young man, found employment, had at 
that time a pretty daughter named Ellen, and 
these two young people were eventually mar- 
ried. Several children blessed the union, three 
of whom survive, as follows: Mrs. J. F. Mc- 
Grew, Mrs. H. C. Dimond, and John Ludlow 
Bushnell, the latter of whom graduated with 
honors from Princeton in 1894. Mrs. Bushnell 
is an ideal woman in every relation. While 
she is a society woman, yet she is not so in the 
ordinary sense of the phrase, her principal 
strength lying in her domestic qualities. Her 
two daughters are as happily married as is she 



herself. Mrs. McGrew is the wife of one of 
Springfield's most promising young attorneys, 
and is the mother of two children, Ellen and 
Fanny, while Mrs. Dimond is the wife of a 
prominent young physician and also the mother 
of two children, Asa Bushnell and Douglas 
Marquand Dimond. 

Brief reference can be made to the inau- 
gural address of Gov. Bushnell. Among other 
things he commended was the proposition of 
home rule or local option in matters pertaining 
to taxation — which means that counties should 
provide their own systems of taxation for their 
necessary expenses; that double taxation should 
be avoided, and that such taxation as is nec- 
essary should be distributed as to lighten the 
burden of government, and so as to retain and 
attract capital to the state. He also favored 
a purchasing board for state institutions, and 
the providing of some means by which the state 
could supply employment to such of its prison- 
ers as are now compelled to remain perpetually 
idle. He also favored the limitation by statute 
of local indebtedness to ten per cent of the tax 
duplicate, and in closing said: "Time only can 
tell how much or how little I shall merit your 
commendation, but it will be my constant aim 
and purpose to serve you as faithfully and as 
wisely as there is light given me to show the 
path of right, and I shall ever remember that 
I am the servant of the people." 




PORTAGE m SOIIMIT CODITIES. 



KON. GEORGE W. GROUSE, manu- 
facturer, was born at Tallinadge, 
Ohio, November 23, 1832, the son of 
George and Margaret H. (Robinson) 
Grouse. His grandfather, who was of Ger- 
man descent, was killed in battle, fighting for 
American independence. The maternal line 
is of Irish extraction, the ancestry emigrating 
from the north of Ireland. 

George ^^''. Grouse was one of a family of 
ten children, his father being a hard-working 
farmer. His early years were spent on the 
farm, attending the common district school in 
the winter months, until he was seventeen 
years of age, when he was enabled to secure 
a position as teacher in a school, and taught 
five successive winter terms. He had become 
very proficient in mathematics, and in Novem- 
ber, 1855, Ml"- Sisler, a friendly neighbor, 
having been elected county treasurer, offered 
him a position as deputy treasurer in his office 
at Akron. His peculiar fitness and diligent, 
conscientious performance of his duties made 
him many warm friends, and in addition to his 
duties as deputy treasurer he was made deputy 
county auditor; in 1858 he was elected county 
auditor, and re-elected in i860. A short time 
prior to the expiration of his second term a 
vacancy occurred in the treasurer's office. 



whereupon the county commissioner appointed 
him treasurer. 

The A. & G. Railway (now the Erie) hav- 
ing been completed to Akron, Mr. Grouse ac- 
cepted a position as its agent at Akron, do- 
ing this work in addition to his work as treas- 
urer. In 1863 G. Aultman & Go., of Ganton, 
determined to build a branch factory at Akron, 
and Mr. Grouse was tendered the financial 
management of the enterprise, which he ac- 
cepted, and with J. R. Buchtel erected the 
large manufacturing establishment known as 
the Bucke3'e works, he wholly attending to 
the financial management. This was the 
initial manufacturing establishment of Akron, 
and to Mr. Grouse's ability as a manager of 
men, his sagacity and promptness in the dis- 
charge of his many duties, is largely due the 
success of the Buckeye Mower and Reaper 
works, one of the largest in the land. In 1865 
a stock company was forrned, he being made 
secretary and treasurer, continuing as such 
until 1885, when he became its president, con- 
tinuing as such up to the present time. The 
Buckeye Mower and Reaper works have made 
over 200,000 machines, and was one of the 
factors that contributed largely to the success 
of the Union arms in the Givil war, supplying 
the place of the young men that went out in 



166 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the defense of the flag by its labor-saving 
machinery. 

In politics Mr. Crouse has always been an 
active republican, and as chairman of the 
county central committee, and other positions 
influential in and one of the leaders in the 
party. In 1872 he was elected count}' com- 
missioner, serving one term. He was a mem-, 
ber of the city council of Akron and served as 
its president; as a member and president of 
the board of education, he has always taken a 
deep interest in educational matters, and is one 
of the trustees of Buchtel College, and the 
donor to the college of the gymnasium that bears 
his name. "Crouse Gymnasium." In 1885 he 
was elected to the state senate and served with 
honor one term. In 1886 he was elected to 
represent the Akron district in the Fiftieth 
congress. In that congress he served on the 
committee on commerce and the committee 
on war claims, that grew out of the war of the 
Rebellion. His marked business capacity and 
experience specially fitted him to this laborious 
and delicate duty, and he brought to its per- 
formance the painstaking fidelity that has 
marked his business career, making him a most 
useful member of that body. 

In 1863, and for a number of years follow- 
ing, he was secretary of what was known as 
the Akron Board of Trade, an informal organ- 
isation of the best citizens to encourage the 
location of manufacturing in this thriving, busy 
city. He has assisted directly as stockholder 
or indirectly with his influence, the Whitman 
& Barnes Manufacturing company, the Akron 
Rubber works, the Thomas Phillips Company 
Paper Mill, the Akron Iron Company, Woolen 
& Felt Company, the Diamond Match works, 
the stove works, the Selle Gear works, and 
various other successful enterprises, which 
have received an impetus from the organizing 
and clear-sighted business ability of Mr. 
Crouse. In 1870 he assisted in organizing the 



Bank of Akron, and from that time until 1889 
he was its president. 

October 18, 1859, Mr. Crouse married 
Martha K., daughter of Edward and Clemen- 
tine (Kingsley) Parsons, of Brimfield, Ohio. 
This union has brought them five children. 
Mrs. Crouse is a lady that exerts a strong home 
influence quietly and without ostentation, com- 
manding the highest regard of those with 
whom she may be thrown in contact, and de- 
voted to the happiness and best interests of 
her family, and dispensing the liberal hospital- 
ities of their home. 

It has been by no fortuitous circumstances 
that Mr. Crouse has reached his honorable po- 
sition, but the result of assiduous attention to 
duties, strict integrity in all business relations^ 
an ability to control and command the respect 
of his fellow citizens, kindness to, and consid- 
eration for, the large number of men in his 
employ, a public speaker able to command by 
his presence and familiarit}' with questions of 
public interest the respectful attention of any 
audience, generous and affable, ever having in 
view the best interests and advancement of 
mankind, he has ever been read)' to respond 
to all demands that charit}' makes upon him, 
having been a liberal contributor to the erec- 
tion of every church and charitable enterprise 
in his city, and he is held in the highest regard 
by his fellow-countrymen, and the declining 
years of his life will bear rich fruit for the ben- 
efit of mankind. 



BRANK ADAMS, one of the oldest, and 
who, for years, was one of the most 
prominent business men of Akron, 
Ohio, and one whose early connection 
with the industries of the city has aided in mak- 
ing it what it is to-day, was born in Windsor 
county, Vt. , July 5, 18 19, a son of Benjamin 
and Betsey (Crowley) Adams, who were natives 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



167 



of Massachusetts, but were taken in early child- 
hood, by their parents, to Vermont, where 
their marriage took place. Some years after 
marriage, Benjamin Adams brought his family 
to Ohio and settled in Akron, about 1838, 
where his death occurred November 22, 1849, 
and that of his widow about twenty years 
later. 

Frank Adams received a very good com- 
mon-school education and early developed a 
talent for business. He was about eighteen 
years of age when he accompanied his par- 
ents to Akron, and with them he remained until 
he had about attained his majority, when he 
entered the employ of his brother-in-law, 
Samuel Manning, who was engaged in map 
publishing, and two years later formed a part- 
nership with him in the same business, under 
the firm name of Manning & Co. A year 
later a Mr. Eggleston bought out the interest 
of Mr. Manning, and the style of the firm was 
changed to Adams & Eggleston. 

In March, 1849, Mr. Adams was appointed 
postmaster at Akron by President Zachary 
Taylor, and filled the office with great ability 
and to the satisfaction of the public until May, 
1853, when, for political reasons, he was re- 
moved, the rule with political parties at that 
day being "To the victor belong the spoils." 
Mr. Adams then engaged as a dealer in hats, 
etc. , which he profitably conducted until burned 
out, April 30, 1855. He next engaged in the 
manufacture of sewer pipe, later became presi- 
dent of the Akron Sewer Pipe company, and 
continued in this line of business until 1886, 
when he retired. Mr. Adams was a member 
of the Akron board of trade, was president 
of the Akron Water Works company, and 
was financially and officially connected with 
many of the industrial enterprises of the city. 

During the dark period of the war of the 
late Rebellion, Mr. Adams was a firm friend of 
the Union, was a member of the Middlebury 



(Summit county) Military committee, was 
treasurer of the Soldiers' Relief Fund, and 
also contributed liberally of his own means in 
assisting the government to maintain the in- 
tegrity of its flag. 

Mr. Adams was first married January 21, 
1846, to Miss Sarah Hyde Gale, but this lady 
was called away January i i, 1863, leaving two 
daughters — now Mrs. Julia Latham and Mrs. 
Mary Perkins. The second marriage of Mr. 
Adams was solemnized September 12, 1863, 
with Mrs. janetta L. Murphj', and this happy 
union has been t)lessed, also, with two chil- 
dren — Frank H., now cashier of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Akron, and Zella M. 

The long identity of Mr. Adams with the 
business, industrial and financial institutions of 
Akron has made his name a household word, 
and there is now probably no man living who 
has taken a deeper interest in the material de- 
velopment, and religious, moral and educa- 
tional progress of the city than he. His name 
stands without a blemish or reproach, his busi- 
ness integrity has never been in the slightest 
degree put to question, and "None knew him 
but to love him; none knew him but to praise," 
will be quoted in his memory when the time 
shall have come for him to join " the universal 
caravan," which, in the course of nature, it 
must, but which, it is the heartfelt prayer of 
all who know his worth, will be deferred 
for many a long year yet to come. 



at 



ILLIAM HENRY ADAMS, of 
Akron, may well be classed as 
among the leading liverymen of 
northeastern Ohio. He was born 
in Manchester, Summit county, July i.i;, 1848, 
the fifth of a family of six children who 
blessed the union of Daniel and Mary (Shook) 
Adams, natives of Pennsylvania, who settled 
in Summit county, Ohio, prior to 1830, and 



170 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was nominated for the office of county re- 
corder, was triumphantly elected in November, 
and assumed the duties of the office Septem- 
ber 7, 1897, when he relinquished his con- 
tracting and building operations. 

The marriage of Mr. Ailing took place in 
1867 to Emilie A. Carter, a native of Brim- 
field, Portage county, Ohio, and a daughter of 
Horatio L. and Julia A. (Lyon) Carter, natives 
of Massachusetts, and this marriage has been 
blessed with six children, viz: Julia M., Wal- 
ter C, Ruth W., Fannie M., Mary E. and 
Edwin L. The Ailing family stand very high 
in the social circles of Tallmadge township, 
and individually Mr. Ailing is highly esteemed 
for his personal merits. As a soldier he did 
his full duty, as a republican he has been faith- 
ful and active, and as a citizen he stands with- 
out reproach. 



@EORGE L. ALLEN, one of the old 
soldiers of the Civil war and a re- 
spected citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, 
was born in this city February 20, 
1839, a son of George and Elizabeth (Harper) 
Alien — both born in Ireland. George Allen 
was born in 1799 in Antrim, Ireland, and was 
a papermaker by trade. He married, in Ire- 
land, Elizabeth Harper. The children were 
Jane, Andrew, John (born in Ireland), Mary 
(died at sea), Robert, William, Julia, George 
L. , Mary, Alexander, born in America, the 
parents having come to this country in 1832. 
George Allen first settled in Lee, Mass., 
and worked at the papermaking business four 
years and then, in 1836, came to Cuyahoga 
Falls, Ohio, and worked in the paper mill. He 
was an industrious and hard working man, was 
careful and economical, and accumulated prop- 
erty, including eighty acres where the subject 
of this biography now lives. He lived to be 
about seventy-three years of age and died on 



his farm in 1872, an honored and upright man. 
Fraternally he was a knight templar Mason, 
having joined the order in Ireland when but 
twenty-one years of age. 

George L. Allen, was brought to the farm 
where he now lives when a child of four years, 
received a common education and was brought 
up a farmer. He enlisted at Cuyahoga Falls, 
July 28, 1862, for three years or during the 
war, in the One Hundred and l-'ourth regiment 
Ohio volunteer infantry, was transferred, at 
Massillon, Ohio, to company G, One Hun- 
dred and Fifteenth regiment Ohio volunteer 
infantry, and served until honorably discharged, 
at the close of the war, at Columbus, Ohio, 
June 22, 1865. He was in the battles of La- 
Vergne, Tenn., and was taken prisoner De- 
cember 5, 1864, by Hood's force and surren- 
dered, with thirty others, to Gen. Forrest. He 
was taken to Meridian, Miss. , and thence to 
Andersonville prison, was confined five months 
and was then sent to Vicksburg to be ex- 
changed. The prisoners, being unable to 
travel, were left at Cahaba, Ala., for about 
two or three weeks, when, the war being 
closed, the Union troops took possession. 
When Mr. Allen enlisted he was a strong and 
very hardy man, weighing about i 50 pounds, and 
did his full duty, actively and proniptl)'. His 
severe privations during his imprisonment re- 
duced him to only seventy-five pounds, and 
when released he was a mere skeleton, and 
was so sickened with chronic diarrhea that he 
could hardly walk about. Several of his com- 
rades from Cuyahoga Falls, were unable to 
undegro the strain and died. On his return to 
Cuyahoga Falls, Mr. Allen was so much re- 
duced, that his own mother did not know him, 
and it was ten years before hn even partially 
recovered. 

He settled on the home farm and married, 
October 20, 1875, in Cuyahoga Falls, Allie C. 
Blake, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, Au- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



171 



gust 8, 1854, a daughter of William O. and 
Louisa (Beach) Blake, of New England ances- 
try, fornierlj' from England, where the family 
were shipbuilders. Mr. Blake was one of the 
proprietors of a large printing establishment 
in ("olumbus, Ohio, being a member of the 
firm of Osgood & Blake. Mr. and Mrs. Blake 
were the parents of two children — Alice E. 
and William A. Mrs. Blake died when Mrs. 
Allen was but four years old ; Mr. Blake died 
in Columbus, Ohio, in September, 1865. He 
bought a farm at Copley, Summit county, 
Ohio, where Mrs. Allen lived after the death 
of her mother until seven years old, and then 
lived in Columbus. Mr. Blake was a member 
iif the Episcopal church. He had attended 
school but six months in childhood, but was a 
man of education gained by his own efforts 
and teaching himself Greek after he was fifty 
years old. He was a publisher and writer of 
books and wrote books for the old firm of 
Miller Bros., publishers, of Columbus, Ohio. 
Among his works widely sold and read was the 
•' History of the World." His nom-de-plume 
was Prescott. 

Mr. Blake descended from the famous 
naval officer — Adm ral IMake, of England. 
Gen. Blake, of Mansfield, Ohio, an English- 
man, was also of that family. 

Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Allen 
have lived on the home farm and have one 
son, Howard, who is a telephone inspector of 
Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Allen is a member of the 
G. A. R., Eadie post, at Cuyahoga Falls. 
He is a war republican and cast his first vote for 
A. Lincoln. He is an honored citizen and for 
many years was a member of the school board. 
Mis. Allen's grandmoLher, on her maternal 
side, was an Abernathy — a descendant of the 
famous Dr. Abernathy. The Aliens are 
Scotch-Irish. Mr. Allen is a member of the 
E.\-Union Prisoners' association. He was de- 
tailed orderly to general headquarters, Coving- 



ton, Ky. , in 1863, and was in Morgan's raid, 
and in September his horse fell on him, dis- 
abling his right leg, and he was in hospital at 
Covington, Ky. , and nine months in Cincin- 
nati and Cleveland. 



^ J* OHN ANDES, a prominent farmer of 

m Suffield township, was born in Ran- 

A 1 dolph township. Portage county, Ohio, 

September 8, 1S52, a son of Peter and 

Rosa (Horning) Andes. 

Peter Andes, the grandfather of subject, 
came from Germany to the United States 
in 1 83 1 and settled in Randolph township, 
where he engaged in farming. He had four 
children, viz: Peter, father of our subject; 
Mary, widow of Joseph Schrader; John, who 
died in Germany, and Elizabeth, who died in 
Randolph county, the wife of John A. Knapp, 
also deceased. Peter and his wife were mem- 
bers of the Catholic church, and passed away 
in that faith. Peter Andes, the father of 
subject, is also a native of Germany, and in 
1832 came to Portage county, settling on a 
farm on which he lived forty j'ears, and then 
bought the farm now owned by his son John, 
the subject of this sketch. To his marriage 
with Miss Horning were born eleven children, 
eight of whom are still living, viz: Nicholas, 
Margaret, Peter, Mary (wife of Joseph Wise). 
John, Adam, Joseph and Elizabeth. The 
father is a democrat in politics, has served as 
supervisor, and in religion is a true Catholic, 
having served in all the secular offices of his 
church. He now 'resides in Randolph town- 
ship, a highly respected citizen, but was be- 
reaved of his wife, who died at the early age 
thirty-six years, a devout member of the 
Catholic church. 

John Andes passed fiis boyhood da_\s on 
his father's farm, and was educated in a Cath- 
olic school. At the age of twenty-one he 



172 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



engaged in fanning on his own account, and 
June 5, 1877, he married, in Randolph town- 
ship, MissOdeha Paulus, a daughter of Joseph 
and Theresa (Gless) Paulus. Mr. Paulus was 
born in Germany March 35, 1830, a son of 
Andrew and Barbara (Hoerdt) Paulus, and in 
1846 came to Ohio and settled in Suffield 
township, Portage county, where he is still 
engaged in farming. January 16, 1857, he 
first married Miss Eva Knapp, daughter of 
John and Elizabeth (Andes) Knapp, and to 
their marriage were born twelve children, of 
whom fi\e died in infancy, the survivors being 
John, Lewis, Henry, Mary (wife of John May), 
Joseph, Frank and Julia. To his second mar- 
riage, which was to Miss Gless, was born 
Odelia, now Mrs. Andes. 

Andrew Paulus, grandfather of Mrs. Andes, 
was born February i, 1795, and his wife, Bar- 
bara Hoerdt, was born August 2, 1807. They 
were married in Germany, their native country, 
in 1829, and came to .\merica in 1846. Here 
Andrew died in February, 1S77, at the age of 
eighty-two years and eleven days, his wife hav- 
ing preceded him to the grave in 1873, at the 
age of si.xty-eight years, both dying in the faith 
of the Roman Catholic church. Of their five 
children, four lived to maturity, viz. : Joseph; 
Margaret, wife of Andrew Hart; Delia, widow 
of Frederick Wolf; Augusta, wife of Wendell 
Earhart, and Francis A., who died January 6, 
1897, at the age of si.xty-four years. Mrs. Jo- 
seph Paulus was born in Randolph township 
January 2^,, 1837, her parents having come 
from Germany in 1832. 

John Andes, our subject, has had born to 
him six children, of whom five are still living, 
viz: Cora, Frank, Augusta, Alfred and Clo- 
tilda. The deceased child bore the name of 
Leona and died March 20, 1894, at the age of 
si.N years and five months. The year of his 
marriage, 1877, Mr. Andes settled on his pres- 
ent farm, which he has placed under a high 



state of cultivation, and improved with every 
modern convenience. A democrat in politics, 
he has served as supervisor of his township 
three terms, and is still the incumbent of the 
office. Mr. Andes, now in the prime of life, is 
one of the most respected residents of Suffield 
township, and one of its most progressive and 
prosperous farmers. 



J 



OHNSON A. ARBOGAST, attorney at 
law and senior member of the well 
known firm of Arbogast& Esgate, room 
No. 3, Arcade building, Akron, Ohio, 




has been a resident of this city since 1883, hav- 
ing first come as a student of Buchtel college. 
He is a nati\e of Sidne}-, Shelby county, Ohio, 
was born June 30, 1863, and is a son of .Allen 
and Lydia (Schobey) Arbogast, the former 
family coming from \'irginia and the latter 
from *New Jersey, both ha\ing been largely' en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



173 



Cornelius Arbogast, the paternal grandfa- 
ther of our subject, was a pioneer Universalist 
preacher, and for about forty years served in 
the ministry of that church in the counties of 
Clarke, Madison, Champaign and Shelby, Ohio, 
and was an eloquent and fervent exhorter and 
profound expounder of the gospel. 

Johnson A. Arbogast was reared on his 
father's farm, received his elementary educa- 
tion in the common schools, and his literary 
education at Buchtel college. He read law 
with W. D. Davies, of Sidney, Ohio, and after 
teaching school for three years — the last year 
in Marlboro, Stark county — was admitted to 
practice in 1 888. He at once located in Akron, 
and for four years had his office with John J. 
Hall. In 1894 he formed his present partner- 
ship with Mr. Esgate, and since that time they 
have been successful in the general practice of 
their profession. Mr. Arbogast, however, has 
largely been retained in the administration of 
estates, and is now one of the assignees of the 
valuable Schumacher property. He has been 
exceptionally successful in this peculiar line, 
and in general practice has risen perhaps more 
rapidly than any other young member of the 
present bar of Summit county. In politics 
Mr. Arbogast is an ardent republican and 
takes an active part in promoting the success 
of his party. Fraternally, he is a member of 
Nemo lodge. No. 746, I. O. O. F., of Akron, 
in which he has passed all the chairs, and is 
also a member of Akron tent, K. O. T. M. 

Mr. Arbogast was united in marriage in 
Medina, Ohio, June 20, 1888, with Miss Lelia 
Badger, daughter of Joseph and Amanda Bad- 
ger, and this union has been blessed with four 
children, viz: Hazel L. , Gladys Y., Frederick 
A. and Doris. The parents are members of 
the Universalist church, and their heme is at 
No. 1 12 Adams street, where Mr. Arbogast has 
erected a modern residence. Mr. Arbogast 
has by his own talents risen to his present 



position in his profession, having come to Akron 
without any means of importance and almost 
a stranger. 




HE AKRON CHEMICAL COM- 
P.\NY, organized in 1889, was incor- 
porated by E. Ci. Kubler, president; 
j. M. Beck, vice-president; C. I^. 
Brown, secretary and treasurer; F. M. .\tter- 
holt and C. B. Raymond; the present officers 
are F. A. Wilcox, president; J. M. I^eck, vice- 
president; C. L. Brown, secretary, and K. B. 
McConem, treasurer. The company was or- 
ganized for the purpose of organizing paint 
specialties, but in 1892 it added the manufact- 
ure of printing inks, which have now become 
its main product. In the paint line graphite 
preparations for all kmds of iron painting are 
made, and in inks, superior qualities for book, 
job and bag printing are produced, and the out- 
put of the company is in demand all over the 
I'nited States and many parts of Europe, es- 
pecially for its printing inks. This is the only 
establishment of the kind in .Akron and has be- 
come one of the city's important industries. 

C. E. Brown, the secretary of the .\kron 
Chemical company, was born in Chester 
county. Pa., h-ebruary 14, 1846, a son of Isaac 
and Margaretta K. (Kinsey) ISrown, of sterling 
Quaker descent. The father was reared to 
farming, but in his advancing age retired to 
Philadelphia, where he lost his wife July 19, 
1896, when she died at the age of seventy- 
seven years, and where he still lives at the age 
of seventy-six. C. I^. Brown was educated in 
Philadelphia, and at the age of nineteen vears 
began clerking — first in a dry-goods store — 
and in 1868 came to Akron and for five or six 
\ears here followed the same vocation. In 
1873 he formed a partnership withC. G. Auble 
and \N'illiam Duer, under the firm name of 
Auble, Brown & Co., but some six years later 



174 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



fire destroyed the stock of the concern and the 
firm was dissolved. Mr. Brown then became 
a traveling salesman for Herrick & Cannon, in 
the wholesale crockery line, meeting with ex- 
cellent success for seven years, his route cov- 
ering a radius of about i 50 miles around Ak- 
ron. He next became a stockholder and di- 
rector in the Selle Gear company of Akron. 
and for four years traveled through eighteen 
states, introducing and selling the products of 
that concern, and is still one of its directors. 
In 1889 he assisted in organizing the Akron 
Chemical company, and has since been one of 
the chief factors in its success. 

The marriage of Mr. Brown took place in 
1867 with Miss Emma E. Yeamans, daughter 
of Robert Yeamans, of Philadelphia, born 
November 11, 1845, in Philadelphia, Pa., and 
this union has been blessed with seven chil- 
dren, viz; Annie E., Harry J., Frank M. 
and Maggie K. , all deceased, and Edwin E., 
Bertha and Ella F. Mrs. Brown was educated 
in the schools of Philadelphia, Pa. She was 
originally a member of the Baptist church, but 
on removing to Akron she joined the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, in which she has been 
a most active worker since. She is also a 
member of the Home and Foreign missionary 
societies of the M. E. church and has en- 
deared to her a large circle of friends. She is 
a woman of gracious, christian devotion, and 
her every day life is made up of living and 
working for the right. For thirty years Mr. 
Brown has been almost constantly on its 
official board. He is an Odd Fellow and 
charter member of Akron lodge, No. 547, and 
in politics is a republican. The Chemical 
company has its place of business on State 
street, near Main, while the residence of Mr. 
Brown is at No. 106 Franklin street. He de- 
votes all his business hours strictly to the in- 
terests of the Chemical company, and the re- 
mainder of his time is devoted to his interest- 



ing family and his church work. He is ex- 
ceedingly domestic in his habits, and finds 
unequaled happiness in the family circle. His 
eldest living son, Edwin E. , is a graduate of 
the Akron high school and of the city's com- 
mercial college, and for six months was a 
clerk in the office of the Akron Iron company, 
and since leaving that company has been in 
the employ of the American Cereal company, 
in their Chicago office. He is a strictly moral 
young man and an active worker in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church. Miss Bertha Brown 
graduated from the high school with the class 
of 1894, then attended the business college, 
and is now filling a clerical position in the 
office of Aultman, Miller & Co. Miss Ella F. 
Brown is still attending school. Mr. Brown is 
one of the ablest business men in Akron, has 
always been an indefatigable worker, and 
stands very high in the esteem of the social 
as well as business circles of Akron, and with 
his brethren in the church and lodge. 



^T^OHN ALLEN, now living in retirement 
M just south of Akron, Ohio, is a native of 

A 1 Coventry township, Summit county, 
was born October 20, 1821, and is a 
son of a pioneer family of English extraction, 
but of long residence in America. 

Jesse Allen, grandfather of subject, came 
from Groton, Conn., to Summit county, Ohio, 
in 181 I, took part in the war of 181 2, and 
here followed farming until the time of his 
death. Jonah Allen, father of subject, was 
born in Groton, Conn., October 17, 1798, and 
was consequently but thirteen years of age 
when brought to Ohio by his parents. He 
was reared in Coventry township. Summit 
count}', where he passed all the remainder of 
his life with the exception of a few years passed 
in Akron, where he was engaged in the manu- 
facture of cloth. Jonah Allen married Cynthia 




^.-.^ ^. ^^^^^^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



179 



Spice., who was also a native of Connecticut, 
born May 21, 1808, a daughter of Maj. Minor 
and Cynthia (Alien; Spicer, and to this mar- 
riage the following-named children were born: 
Edward, Catherine (Mrs Owen Beckwith), 
William, John and Cynthia, all of whom are 
now deceased, with the exception of John, the 
subject. Both parents were ardent members 
of the Disciples' church, in which the father 
was a deacon, and to the support of which he 
aided liberally with his means. In politics 
Jonah Allen was first a whig, but at the disin- 
tegration of that party became a strong repub- 
lican. He was always prominent in local 
affairs, took an active part in locating the 
county seat at Akron, and filled at different 
times all the township offices. He was a very 
industrious man, and as he added fresh tracts 
to his farm, paid for them by chopping cord- 
wood. He acquired quite a fortune for his 
day, having accumulated between $20,000 and 
$30,000, and died one of the most influential 
and substantial citizens of his township. He 
lost his life-companion September 11, i860, 
and his own death took place May 15, 1874. 

John Allen, the subject proper of this me- 
moir, was reared on his father's farm, and 
farming has always been his vocation. He re- 
ceiveil a common and high-school education, 
and has always taken an active part in the 
progress of his township, materially, educa- 
tionally and religiously, being ever ready with 
his money and influence in promoting all 
works designed for the public good. His farm 
is a model of neatness and thrift, and shows 
every evidence of being under the control of an 
active and experienced mind and hand. Mr. 
Allen is also president of the Lyman & Allen 
himber compan}' of Akron. 

Mr. Allen was united in marriage with Miss 
Ann E. Morgan I3ecember 9, 1857. This lady 
was a daughter of Isham and Julia (Meach) 
Morgan, who are among the wealthy and 



highly respectable people residing in Cleve- 
land, Ohio. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Allen has been blessed with the following chil- 
dren: Jesse, Emma (now Mrs. H. B. Sisler), 
Isham and John — all of whom are still living 
to gladden the declining years of their father. 
Mrs. Allen died August 24, 1894. She was 
a woman noted for her many virtues and pure 
life. 



@EORGE WARREN BAILEY, one of 
the soldiers of the Civil war and head 
of an excellent family, was born Feb- 
ruary II, 1836, in Stowe township, 
Summit county, Ohio, a son of Warren and 
Sallie (Thayer) Bailey, and Stowe township is 
still his home. He received a common-school 
education and was reared a farmer. He en- 
listed at Stowe, Ohio, August 12, 1862, in 
Capt. A. Means' company. One Hundred and 
Fifteenth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, 
Col. Thomas C. Boon, for three years, or dur- 
ing the war. He was promoted to be corporal 
June I, 1865, for meritorious conduct, and 
honorably discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, July 
5, 1865. He was a faithful soldier and 
prompt to do his duty, had but little sickness, 
and served mostly in Tennessee on guard duty, 
or on detailed duty with surveying parties. 
Mr. Bailey married, March 25, 1867, at Salis- 
bury, N. Y., Elizabeth Brown, who was born 
July I, 1843, a daughter of Gilbert and Par- 
melia Ann (Satterly) Brown. After marriage 
Mr. and Mrs. Bailey settled on Mr. Bailey's 
present homestead. To Mr. and Mrs. Bailey 
were born Miller, who died when three months 
old, and Bertha E. Bertha E. was born Oc- 
tober 6, 1870, in Stowe township, and mar- 
ried Albert F. Welker, who is train dispatcher 
with the A. B. C. railroad. They have one 
child — Helen, born April 2, 1896. Mr. Bailey 
first bought 102 acres of land, and by thrift 



180 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and industry added to it until he now owns 172 
acres, making a fine farm, on which he has 
built a substantial residence. Mr. Bailey is a j 
member of the G. A. R., Eadie post, at Cuy- 
ahoga Falls. In politics he is a democrat. 
He is an honored citizen and has served as | 
township trustee and as a member of the 
school board. He is also president of the Ag- 
ricultural society of Summit county, was pres- 
ident of the Farmers' institute, and was master 
of Pomona grange. Mr. Bailey had always j 
been an active and energetic man, but was [ 
stricken with paralysis in 1893 and has since 
been completeU' disabled. His wife, who was 
a most estimable lady in all respects, died Sep- 
tember 26, 1892. 

Elizabeth (Brownj Bailey, wife of subject, 
traces her ancestry back to the family of John 
Brown, from Stephentown, Rensselaer county, 
N. Y., who married Rebecca Bennett, a daugh- 
ter of June Bennett, who was born in Rhode 
Island, whence he moved to Stephentown, 
N. Y. The following are the six children: 
June, Ambrose, Hosea, William. Rebecca and 
Lystra, of whom Rebecca married John Brown 
and they had eleven children — Louis, Hosea, 
Johnson, Almira, John, Jr., Gilbert, Nancy, 
Susan, Eliza, Jane and WilJard. 

Warren Bailey, father of George W., was 
born at Middletown, Conn., September 27, 
1796, and learned the ship carpenter's trade, 
which business he pursued until he removed to 
Stowe, Ohio, where he purchased a farm, on 
which he lived until his death, b}- accident, 
March i, 1867. His wife. Sallie Thayer, 
whom he married in Middletown, Conn., Sep- 
tember 14, 1821, was born September 3, 1798, 
and came with him to Ohio in 1832, survived 
him six years and died June 20, 1873. There 
were six children by this marriage: Marv, born 
in Middletown, Conn., October 16, 1S22, and 
died at Stowe July 27, 1S49; Lamira, born 
May 14, 1823, and married to A. |. Konkle; 



John Bailey, born January 22, 1828, and died 
July 12, 1893; Hannah, born March 31, 1830; 
George W. ; and Francis M., born October 
16, 1838. 



aHARLES BAIRD, a well-known at- 
torney at law at Akron, Ohio, is a 
native of this city, was born March 
25, 1853, a son of Robert Baird, 
who was a native of Kincardineshire, Scotland, 
born March 8, 18 18, and who in 1843 came 
to America, settling in Akron, which was then 
little more than a village, and following his 
trade of blacksmithing for many 3'ears. 

Robert Baird has seen the village of Akron 
grow to its present proportions and probably 
has made more acquaintances and friends in 
the cit}- and throughout the county than any 
man living within the limits of either. He 
was from his early settlement here a strong 
anti-slavery man and free-soiler until the for- 
mation of the republican party, when he be- 
came one of its most faithf\il adherents. He 
was married in Akron to Miss Helen Knox 
Moir, a native of Scotland and a daughter of 
Charles and Mar\' (Gordon 1 Moir. This lady 
was born in Brechin, Forfarshire, August i, 
1 8 19, and died in Akron February 22, 1891, 
the mother of live children, viz: William, 
superintendent of the tile company at Barber- 
ton; Isabel, who has been identified with the 
educational progress of Akron since 1869, and 
for man}' years has been assistant principal of 
the high school: Charles, the subject of this 
memoir; Mary, who has also been identified 
with the schools of Akron for about twenty 
years and is now a teacher in the high school; 
and Helen, who died December 23, 1879, aged 
twenty-one years. 

Charles Baird, whose name opens this bio- 
graphical notice, was educated primarily in 
the common schools, graduated from the high 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



181 



school of Akron, then for one year studied 
(ireek and Latin at Buchtel college, and then 
entered the law oiflce of Upson & Ford, study- 
ing assiduously until his admission to the bar 
November 2, 1875, following which day he 
formed a co-partnership with his preceptor, 
Judge Upson, under the firm name of Upson 
tt Baird. In 1H77, on the return of Mr. Ford, 
the name of the firm was changed to that of 
Upson, I-'ord & l^aird, and so continued until 
March, 1883, when Mr. Upson was called to 
the supreme bench of Ohio, when the firm 
dissolved and Mr. Baird continued the practice 
alone until 1891, when he formed a partner- 
ship with Edwin F. Voris, under the firm 
name of Baird & \'oris, which continued until 
June, 1895, since which time Mr. Baird has 
continued the practice alone. 

As a republican, Mr. Baird was appointed, | 
in 1875, township clerk of Portage township, ; 
and in 1879 canal collector, which office he 
held until his election, in 1880, as prosecuting 
attorney of Summit county, filling this position 
one term of two and one term of three years, 
making a total of fi\e years in this responsible 
position. Having given special attention to 
the laws governing corporations, he has been 
very successful in this line of practice, and 
has, beside, been instrumental in the forma- 
tion of several companies, whose lines of in- 
dustry have given employment to many hands 
and redounded to the material progress of 
Akron. He has, moreover, assisted in found- 
ing several of these important links in the chain 
of Akron's prosperity. For instance, he was 
one of the incorporators of the Portage Straw 
Board company, the mills of which were 
located at New Portage and Circlevillc, Ohio, 
and one of its directors until it was consolidated 
with the -American Straw Board company, in 
the organization of which he had charge of the 
legal proceedings and was its first secretary. 
Mr. Baird also assisted in 18S0-81 in the or- 



ganization of the Diamond Match company, 
the most gigantic in the world in its line, and 
has since been one of its attorneys. He was 
also one of the incorporators of the Goodrich 
Hard Rubber company, has been a director 
since its organization, and is largely interested 
in the B. F. Goodrich company as a stock- 
holder. 

In 1890 Mr. Baird joined O. C. Barber and 
A. T. Paige in the purchase of a tract of land 
on which the town of Barberton is now located, 
platted that town and assisted in the formation 
of the Barberton Land & Improvement com- 
pany, of which he is secretary and treasurer; 
he was one of the incorporators of the National 
Sewer Pipe company, and is its vice-president; 
was one of the organizers of the Stirling com- 
pany and assisted in securing ts location at 
Barberton, and was one of its directors for 
some years; was one of the incorporators of 
the Barberton Belt Line Railroad company, 
and is its superintendent and treasurer; was an 
incorporator of the Creedmoor Cartridge com- 
pany, at Barberton, and is one of its directors; 
was one of the organizers of the General F"ire 
Extinguisher company of New York, whose 
plants are located at Warren, Ohio, and Provi- 
dence, R. I., and has been from its organiza- 
tion one of its directors; was one of the or- 
ganizers and is director of the Ohio Tube com- 
pany, Warren, Ohio; and is interested in vari- 
ous other concerns. 

In 1888, on the death of Albert Allen, Mr. 
Baird became administrator of the Commins 
estate, the largest administered up to that 
time in Summit county, and in 1892 was ap- 
pointed one of the executors of the will of 
Thomas W. Cornell, the largest estate ever 
administered in Akron, and is still executor, 
in association with J. B. Wright. As an at- 
torney, Mr. Baird has had a wide practice in 
the courts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Penn- 
sylvania, Connecticut, New York and Ohio, 



182 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and in the federal courts, making a specialty 
of corporation law, although he does a great 
deal of general practice besides. 

Mr. Baird was united in marriage, Febru- 
ary lo, 1882, with Miss Lucy Allyn Voris, 
daughter of Gen. A. C. Voris, of Akron, and 
this union has been crowned by the birth of 
five children, viz; Alvin Voris, born Decem- 
ber 3, 1882; Helen Elizabeth, August 30, 1884; 
Betsey Coe, June 11, 18S6; Charles, October 
15, 1888; and Katharine, November 19, 1890. 



eL. BALDWIN, of East Akron, trus- 
tee of Springfield township, is one of 
the leading young farmers of that 
township. He was born in Mont- 
ville, Geauga county, Ohio, March i, i860, 
the son of Lewis C. Baldwin, whose parents, 
Erastus and Lucretia Baldwin, were substan- 
tial farming people of Goshen, Litchfield 
county. Conn. Lewis C. Baldwin was born 
in Goshen, Conn., July 20, 1826, and was 
reared on the paternal farm. He came to 
Summit county, Ohio, in 1842, and on Janu- 
ary 2, 1852, was married to Jerusha A. Cham- 
berlain, who was born April 10, 1827, a daugh- 
ter of Amos and Asenath (Crane) Chamberlain. 
To them, beside our subject, were born Elton 
L., May (wife of Thomas J. Santom), and 
Katie B., wife of Bert E. Jones. Immedi- 
ately following their marriage they moved to 
Montville, where they remained until 1873, 
farming. In this latter year they moved to 
Hudson, this county, where thej' lived until 
1884, when they located on the farm on which 
our subject lives, and where the father died 
January 5, 1896; the mother June 23, 1891. 
Both were earnest members of the Disciples' 
church. Mr. Baldwin served in the late war 
on guard duty on Johnson's Island, enlisting 
August 23, 1864, in company B, One Hundred 
and Twenty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry. 



being discharged in 1865. He was a stanch 
republican and took an active interest in local 
affairs. During his residence in Geauga county 
he held several offices. He was a charter 
member of Montville lodge, I. O. O. F., and 
a past grand in Apollo lodge. No. 61, same 
order, and a member of Buckley post, G. A. 
R. , of Akron. He was buried with the honors 
of both fraternities. 

E. L. Baldwin has always li\ed on the 
farm. He received a good common-school 
education, and on January i, 1884, married 
Miss Josephine M. Thompson, who was born 
November 26, 1862, in Hudson, the daughter 
of Asaph and Sabrina (Burroughs) Thompson. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Thoinpson were natives of 
this county, the former being born at Hudson, 
December 15, 1831, the latter at Northfield, 
October 16, 1835. They resided continuously 
at Hudson, where she died F"ebruary 22, 1873. 
He died December 15, 1881, in California, 
whither he had gone but a few months before 
for his health. Both were members of the 
Presbyterian church. Mrs. Baldwin's paternal 
grandfather, William Thompson, was of Scotch 
descent, and was one of the earliest pioneers 
of the county. He married Mary Oviatt, and 
they lived and died at Hudson, having accumu-- 
lated considerable wealth for their day. Her 
maternal grandparents, Allen and Betsey 
(Honeyj Burroughs, were pioneer farming 
people of this county and lived and died at 
Northfield. 

Since the second jear of his marriage our 
subject has lived in Springfield township, and 
occupies a finely improved farm of 190 acres 
owned by Joseph A. Baldwin, of Akron. He 
is largely engaged in the breeding of registered 
Jersey cattle, and now has a considerable and 
valuable herd. He has been in this business 
for the past ten years and has been quite suc- 
cessful. He is a republican, strongly grounded 
in his political faith, and is a member of Apollo 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



183 



lodge, No. 6i, I. O. O. F. In 1892 he was 
elected trustee of Springfield township and is 
now serving his second term in that office. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin have been born the 
following children: Ruth E., Lee E., Mary 
F. Cdeceasedi, and Joseph C. 



ffiYRON BARBER, a retired farmer of 
Brimfield township, Portage county, 
Ohio, is a son of Lyman and Julia 
(Landorn) Barber, and was born 
near the village of Brimfield May 6, 1822. His 
parents were both natives of Litchfield, Conn., 
came to Ohio in 18 18, and settled in Brimfield 
township, Portage county, where the father 
bought 200 acres of land. Lyman Barber 
was a carpenter by trade, and erected all his 
buildings, including dwelling and barn, and 
yet he was a successful farmer. To his mar- 
riage with Miss Landorn were born four chil- 
dren, of whom two still survive — Myron and 
Nelson; Emily died July 13, 1840, at the age 
of twenty years, and one child died in infancy. 
Mrs. Julia Barber died February 14, 1856, at 
the age of sixty -one years, and May 3, 1857, 
-Mr. Barber married Mrs. Mary Weston. Feb- 
ruary 8, 1865, he passed from earth. 

Myron Barber was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the common schools until 
eighteen years old. At nearly his majority he 
married, March 23, 1843, Miss Elizabeth Jen- 
nings, daughter of Solomon and Susan (Price) 
Jennings, who bore him eight children, viz. : 
Wallace L. , Emily, wife of Earl Merrills; 
Phemie, wife of Wallace Merrills; D. H. ; 
Franklin W.; Susan E., who died P'ebruary 
8. 1862; Byron \V., who died July 23, 1849; 
Oliver E. , whose death was caused, Septem- 
ber 5, 1873, by an e.xplosion of lime at Spring- 
field. The mother of this family was called 
away November 5, 1872, at the age of fifty 
years. Mr. Barber next married, in May, 



1874, Mrs. Mary H. Taylor, who met with a 
sad and untimely end. On July 16, 1896, she 
left her home, in the best of health, to go to 
Kent to do some shopping, but within six 
hours was a corpse. 

In politics, Mr. Barber has been a repub-- 
lican and has served his fellow-citizens as a 
member of the board of education and super- 
visor, but filled these offices more from a feel- 
ing of duty than from any desire for public of- 
fice. Being one of the oldest nati\e-born citi- 
zens of his township, his long and u.-^eful life is 
duly appreciated by his neighbors, and his 
name, which is well known throughout the 
county, is honored where\er and whenever 
mentioned. 



^y'^ ELSON L. BARBER, a retired 
I m farmer, was born in Brimfield town- 
^ I ship. Portage county, Ohio, June 3. 
1825, a son of Lyman and Julia 
(Landorn) Barber, natives of Litchfield coun- 
ty. Conn. 

Joseph Barber, grandfather of Nelson L. , 
married a Miss Cole and reared a family of 
ten children, all now deceased. Of the daugh- 
ters, Dorcas, the eldest, lived single until her 
sixtieth 3'ear, when she married a man who 
was eighty years old; Lucy was married to 
Isaac Osborn; Polly was the wife of Orrin 
Gilbert; Sally became Mrs. Arba Twitchell; 
Maria married a Mr. Sill; Abbie married a gen- 
tleman of the same name — Sill; the sons were 
named Norman, Lyman and Edwin. 

Lyman Barber, father of Nelson L., was a 
carpenter by trade and came to Ohio about 
1 8 16. To his marriage, in Goshen township, 
Litchfield county. Conn., with Miss Julia Lan- 
dorn, there were born four children, of whom 
two still survive — Myron and Nelson L. ; one 
child died in infancy, and Emily, a school- 
teacher, died in 1840, at the age of twenty 
years. The father was called away in 1865, 



1S4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in his sixty-sixth jear, and the mother died in 
Brimfield. 

Nelson L. Barber passed his early years on 
the home farm in Brimfield township and at- 
tended the district school until sixteen years 
old, and then attended a select school in 
Twinsburg, Summit county, two terms of three 
months each. At the age of seventeen he be- 
gan teaching — his first school being at Brim- 
field — and in all he taught fourteen years dur- 
ing the winter months, passing the summers in 
farm work. His marriage took place April 22, 
1852, within a few rods of his present home, 
to Miss Sarah Berkheimer, daughter of John 
Iierkheimer, and this marriage has been 
blessed with four children, viz: Emmit, George 
M. and Jesse O., still living, and John L. , who 
died in 1881, at the age of twenty-four years. 
The mother of these children was called from 
earth in 1882, at the age of forty-eight years. 
.\fter his marriage Mr. Barber continued to 
teach school for three terms, and then turned 
his attention exclusively to farming, which he 
successfully followed until a few years ago, 
when he retired on account of ill health, hav- 
ing for many years been a victim of asthma. 
In August, 1866, he made a trip to Minnesota, 
remained two months, and was considerably 
benefited; then made a visit south, and for the 
past eight years has alternated his visits be- 
tween Minnesota and Michigan. 

In politics Mr. Barber has been very promi- 
nent as a republican, and for twenty-one years 
served as a justice of the peace, having been 
elected seven times consecutively, his last term 
expiring in the spring of 1896; he also served 
as township trustee for a number of years, and 
for nine years was a school director. Frater- 
nally he has for many years been a member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and 
socially he enjoys the well-earned esteem of 
his fellow-citizens in general and of his imme- 
diate neighbors in particular. 



BREDERICK J. BAUER, M. D., a 
prominent practitioner of Summit 
county, was born in Suffield town- 
ship. Portage county, Ohio, March 5, 
1854, a son of Jacob and Christena (Holtz- 
worth) Bauer, of whom further mention is 
made in the following paragraph. 

Jacob Bauer was born in Wurtemberg, 
Germany, February 22, 1809, a son of Mi- 
chael and Mary (Wildermuth) Bauer. For six 
years he was a soldier in the German army, 
later learning blacksmithing, and in 1839 came 
to the United States. For a short time he 
worked at his trade in Erie, Pa. , and then 
came to Ohio, settling in Greensburg, Summit 
county, where he engaged in farming. He 
married Miss Christena Holtzworth, who was 
born in Germany in 1819, and to this union 
were born nine children, of whom seven are 
still living, viz.: Rudolph; Mary, wife of 
George Price, of Suffield; Adelia, widow of 
Newton Stoffer; Lena, wife of John Peterson, 
Carthage, Mo.; Frederick J., the subject; Lu- 
cinda, wife of John May, living on the old 
homestead in Suffield township; Jacob W. , re- i 
siding in Columbia, S. C, where he has charge 
of the state weather bureau. Those who 
passed away were Sophia, who was the wife 
of William Wilson, and George, who died in 
infancy. The mother of these children was 
called from earth in 1882, at the age of sixty- 
nine years, and the father in September, 
1890, aged eighty-one years and six months, 
both in the faith of the Reformed church. 

Frederick J. Bauer passed his early boy- 
hood days on his father's farm, attending the 
district school of Suffield meanwhile, and, ., 
being an apt scholar, prepared himself for \' 
school-teaching, which preparation he found 
to be of some advantage in later years. At • 
the age of seventeen years, he and his brother 
Rudolph, and their brother-in-law, George .. 
Price, leased a saw-mill in Suffield, and did a \ 






OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



185 



^ood business, under the firm name of l>auer 
Bros. & Price, for two years, when they sold 
out. Mr. Bauer then engaged as clerk in the 
general store of George Michael, in Suffleld, 
which position he held eight months, and 
then, beginning with 1874, for three winters 
taught school in his native district, and one 
spring term — his last term being taught after 
he had begun the study of medicine in 1877. 
While engaged in teaching, he attended Mount 
Union college during the summer months, 
which he attended six terms — two terms at a 
time, and then, in 1877, ^^ just mentioned, 
began his preparatory studies in medicine vmder 
Dr. |. C. Ferguson at Mogadore. He next 
attended the Ohio Medical college at Cincin- 
nati, and later the university at Wooster, from 
which he graduated in 1880. Returning to 
Mogadore, he practiced, in partnership with 
his former preceptor. Dr. Ferguson, until the 
latter's death, in January, 1886, since when he 
has been alone, his profound hygienic knowl- 
edge being the means of yearl\' increasing his 
large list of patients. 

Dr. Bauer was united in marriage, October 
17, 1885, at Kent, Ohio, with Miss Kate S. 
Rubbins, a daughter of John and Lydia M. 
(Olds) Kubbins, and this union has been 
blessed with two children, Frederick Otis and 
Carl Holtzworth. Mrs. Dr. Bauer was born 
in Newport, N. Y., August 12, 1866, but was 
brought to Kent, Ohio, by her parents while 
yet a child. She is a highly educated lady, 
and through the training of her devoted mother 
wa.s prepared, while yet a mere child, for the 
profession of teacher, which vocation she en- 
tered upon at the early age of sixteen years, 
teaching for two years, her last term being just 
west of Mogadore, in the same district in 
which the doctor had been teaching, and where 
she formed his acquaintance, marrying him 
when about nineteen years old. Since her 
marriage she has been giving lessons in oil 



painting and pastel drawing, in which arts she 
is an adept. 

John Rubbins, father of Mrs. Bauer, was 
born in England, and is a machinist by trade. 
He came to the United States a single man, 
enlisted in the Union army and was shot 
through the hip at Gettysburg; after reco\ery 
he re-enlisted and served until the close of 
hostilities, when he was honorably discharged 
after a service of four years. Returning to 
New York, he married Miss Lydia M. Olds, 
October 3, 1865. This lady was a native of 
the Empire City, was a daughter of Carty and 
Catherine (Jenkins) Olds, and was born Janu- 
ary 9, 1847. She bore her her husband two 
children— - Emma, who died at the age of three 
years and seven months, and Kate S., now 
Mrs. Bauer. The devoted mother was called 
away October 13, i8g6, leaving her discon- 
solate husband and surviving daughter to 
mourn her loss. Catherine (Jenkins) Olds, 
the maternal grandmother, of Mrs. Bauer, was 
a daughter of Evan and Lydia (Hathaway) 
Jenkins, and bore her husband twelve children, 
viz: Otis; Jane, widow of Bereth Bullard; 
Jennette, widow of Hiram Linster; Helen, 
wife of Samuel Walker; Orrin; Delbert; Sarah, 
wife of Julius Gardner, and Lewis, all still liv- 
ing; the deceased were Orson, who died in the 
army of Frederick City, at twenty-three years 
of age; Marcia, who was married to Eli Root, 
and died in August, 1891, and Lydia M., the 
mother of Mrs. Bauer. Both grandparents 
were devout members of the Methodist church. 
Dr. I'rederick J. Bauer is a democrat in 
'politics, and in 1886 was elected a justice of 
the peace, which office he filled with great 
ability for three years, and was also a member 
of the school board for two years. Fraternally 
he is a member of Akron lodge. No. 83, F. & 
A. M., and of Mogadore lodge. No. 482, 
K. of P., in the latter of which he has passed 
all the chairs, and was its delegate to the 



186 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



grand lodge in the spring of 1897; he is also 
an honorary member of the Junior Master 
Mechanics of Mogadore. He is likewise a 
member of the Summit county Medical asso- 
ciation, of the Northeastern Medical society of 
Ohio, and of the State Medical association, to 
all of which he has contributed many valuable 
essays on professional subjects. Mrs. Bauer 
has been a member of the Agricultural society 
for the past two years and takes a very active 
part in its proceedings. Socially, the doctor 
and his wife hold a very high position, and 
are well qualified to ornament the select circle 
in which they move. 



EENRY AULTMAN, a well-known 
farmer of Brimfield township. Port- 
age county, was born in Columbiana 
county, Ohio, December 30, 1829, a 
son of William and Susan (Shaffer) Aultman. 
His grandfather, William Aultman, was a na- 
tive of Germany, was a wheelwright by trade, 
and when a young man came to America and 
settled in Pennsylvania, and later removed to 
Ohio, where he died at the age of sixty years, 
a member of the Baptist church. The par- 
ents of subject were both born in Pennsylva- 
nia, came to Onio about the 3'ear 1812, and 
first located in Washington county, where Mr. 
Aultman engaged in carpentering and farming. 
To his marriage with Miss Shaffer were born 
five children, four of whom still survive, the sub- 
ject being the eldest; the other three are Lydia 
to Ann, wife of Samuel Wise; Fannie, married 
B. John Wise, and Samantha S., now Mrs. S. 
B. Jones. The name of the fifth child was Elias, 
who died in infancy. The father of this fam- 
ily died in October, 1892, at the age of eighty- 
five years, and the mother, who is a daughter 
of William and Sophia Shaffer, still hale and 
hearty, at the age of eight}-six, is living with 
her daughter in Brimfield. 



Henry Aultman attended the common 
schools of his boyhood, and in 1845 came to 
Brimfield township with his parents, whom 
he materially aided to support. He, himself, 
began life a poor man, but by untiring indus- 
try and true economy has worked himself up- 
ward, and now owns one of the best farms in 
Portage county; he has also been engaged in 
threshing for the past twenty years, thus ad- 
ding materially to his income. During the 
winter months, butchering has received con- 
siderable of his attention, and he has been 
a good manager of everything he has under- 
taken, the result being a competency. 

The marriage of Mr. Aultman took place 
October 17, 1858, to Miss Elizabeth Gusherd. 
daughter of George and Catherine (Kroll) 
Gusherd, and this happy union has been blessed 
with three children, of whom Curtis married 
Miss Eva Woodenberg, Lettie M. is the wife 
of E. F. Whittlesy and Charlie E. died July 
24, 1875. Mr. Aultman and family are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church at 
Brimfield, in which Mr. Aultman has filled all 
the secular offices, and he has also served as a 
member of the board of school directors, and 
as supervisor for many years, being a member 
of the republican party. The high esteem in 
which he is held by his fellow-townsmen he 
has gained through his personal merits, and 
his good example through life may well be im- 
itated with profit by the rising generation. 

Mr. Aultman now owns 2i6acres of choice 
land, nearly all of which is well improved and 
on which his pleasant residence was built in 
1889. He is one of the self-made men of the 
county, and is one of the most respected, 
having done as much as any man in the town- 
ship for the promotion of its interests, and its 
moral, educational and material progress dur- 
ing the half century he has resided here, but 
the details of which grand work his modesty 
will not permit to be chronicled. 




HENRY AULTMAN. 




MRS. HENRY AULTMAN- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



191 



>y*OHN C. BEATTY, the well known 

M merchant of Ravenna, Ohio, is a native 
/» J of Bristol, Bucks county. Pa., was 
born February 4, 1833, ^.nd is a son of 
Robert and Catherine (Cabeen) Beatty, also 
natives of the Keystone state. His paternal 
grandfather, likewise named Robert, was a 
native of Ireland, but settled in Bucks county, 
Pa. , in an early day, where he was engaged in 
farming; became the father of four or five chil- 
dren, and there past his remaining days; the 
maternal grandfather, Robert Cabeen, also a 
native of Ireland, was likewise an early settler 
of Bucks county. Pa., was a merchant in Bris- 
tol, and there died in 1855, aged about sev- 
6nty-five years. 

Robert Beatty, father of John C, was a 
bank cashier in Bristol, Pa. He and his wife, 
Catherine, were the parents of six children, of 
whom four are still living, and named Eliza- 
beth, who is the wife of John H. Bostwick; 
John C, of Ravenna, Ohio; Samuel and 
Horatio B., residing in Bristol, Pa. The 
mother was called to her final home in i860, 
but the father lived until about 1867, when he 
departed at the age of sixty-seven years. 

John C. Beatty was reared and educated 
in Bristol, Pa., and has been engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits ever since the time of his 
quitting school. At the age of twenty-two 
years he came to Ohio and settled in Ravenna. 
He first opened a dry-goods store, which he 
conducted until 1868 or 1869, but since 1871 
has been in the clothing business, and for the 
past six years has had associated with him his 
son, Robert G. 

John C. Beatty was first united in marriage 
in April, i860, in Ravenna, with Miss Henri- 
etta G. Day, daughter of H. L. and Winifred 
(Latimer) Day, and this union was blessed 
with three sons and one daughter, named 
Henry, Robert G., Harry L., and Mary E., 
but of these Henry and Mary E. are deceased. 



Robert G. married Miss Clara Black, and is 
the father of five children — Frank, John, Ed- 
ward, Mary and Robert; Harry L. married 
Miss Eleanor Wallace, and is the father of 
one child — Helen. Mrs. Henrietta Beatty 
died in 1869, and on the 5th day of January, 
1 87 1, John C. Beatty was united in marriage 
with Mrs. Mary Beatty, widow of Harry Clay 
Beatty, and daughter of Garrett and Lydia 
(Wilson) Lukens, and to this second union 
have been born three children — Jennie, Hal- 
sey and John, of whom Halsey and John have 
also been called away. Mrs. Beatty is a con- 
sistent member of the Episcopal church, while 
Mr. Beatty is contented with his membership 
in the Oriental commandery, F. & A. M., of 
Cleveland. In politics Mr. Beatty is a repub- 
lican, and has served as infirmary director two 
years, as county treasurer four years, and also 
four years as postmaster of Ravenna. During 
his long residence of forty one years in Ra- 
venna his reputation as a merchant has been 
sustained without a spot or blemish, and 
socially he is held in the highest esteem. As 
a citizen he is honored for his public spirit, and 
the pride he has taken in the progress of his 
adopted city, and his patriotism in this respect, 
are only exceeded by his private worth. 



*w ^ ON. HARRY L. BEATTY, attorney 

l'^^^ at law and representative in the state 

M. . r legislature from Portage county, 

Ohio, was born in Ravenna, Ohio, 

April 4, 1865, and is a son of John C. and 

Hettie G. (Day) Beatty, natives, respectively, 

of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. 

Samuel Beatty, paternal grandfather of 
subject, was a native of Bucks county. Pa., 
was a banker, and died in Pristol, Pa., at the 
age of about sixty-five years, the father of six 
children. H. L. Day, maternal grandfather 
of subject, and a native of Connecticut, was 



192 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



one of the pioneers of Portage county, Ohio, 
and was for many years a dry-goods merchant 
in Ravenna, in which city he died about the 
year 1873, being then between sixty-five and 
seventy years of age; his widow is now a resi- 
dent of Meadville, Pa. 

John C. Beatty, father of Hon. Harry L. 
Beatty, came from Bucks county, Pa., to Ra- 
venna, Ohio, in 1855, and engaged in business 
with John H. Bostwick, the firm name being 
Bostwick & Beatty. To his first marriage, 
which, as stated, was with Miss Hettie Day, 
there were born three sons and one daughter, 
and of these children two sons are still living 
— Robert G. and Harry L. Mrs. Hettie 
Beatty having died in 1869, John C. married 
his brother's widow, Mrs. Mary L. Beatty, 
who bore the maiden name of Lukens, and to 
this union there have been born three children, 
of whom one still survives — Jennie. Some 
years prior to the late Civil war, John C. 
Beatty engaged in the dry-goods trade on his 
sole account, and in this he continued until 
1871, when he embarked in the clothing busi- 
ness and continued alone until about 1885, 
when he admitted as a partner his son Robert, 
with whom he is still associated. 

In politics, John C. Beatty is a stanch re- 
publican, and has always taken an active in- 
terest in the success of that party, with which 
he is himself very popular, and which he rep- 
resented as a delegate to every convention in 
which the late James A. Garfield was nomi- 
nated as a candidate for any office. He has 
also served as county treasurer of Portage 
county four years, and was postmaster of Ra- 
venna four years under Harrison's administra- 
tion, and is still a wheelhorse in republican 
politics. Mrs. Beatty is and has long been a 
member of Grace Episcopal church, with 
which her family also affiliated. 

Hon. Harry Lincoln Beatty was educated 
in the schools of Ravenna and graduated from 



the high school in 1882. He then read law 
in the office of Judge Luther Day until 1884, 
when he entered the Cincinnati Law school, 
from which he was graduated, was admitted to 
the bar in Maj', 1886, and immediately entered 
upon the active practice of his profession in 
his native city of Ravenna, where his ability 
was fully recognized, the result being a large 
and lucrative clientage. A stanch republican, 
he was elected, in 1887, a justice of the peace, 
and still fills that office; in 1888 he was elected 
township and village clerk, and in this capacity 
served until 1896; in November, 1895, ^^' was 
elected a member of the general assembly of 
Ohio, of which office he is still the representa- 
tive from this district. Fraternally, Mr. Beatty 
is a Knight of Pythias. 

The marriage of Mr. Beatty took place 
April 9, 1889, with Miss Eleanor Wallace, 
daughter of Samuel and Harriet (Gentry) Wal- 
lace — two children, Mary Ellen and Harriet, 
being the result of this felicitous union. The 
home of this happy family is at the corner of 
Spruce and Walnut streets, and this is not 
only the abode of domestic bliss, but the seat 
of a genial and liberal hospitality and social 
intercourse. In all the conditions of life which 
it has been the lot of Mr. Beatty to fill, he 
has been guided by an intelligent knowledge 
of their wants or needs, and in every capacity 
has exhibited an integrity and a faithfulness 
that have placed his name foremost in the 
ranks of the eminent citizens of Portage county. 



«-|f-» EWIS F. BECKER, a retired citizen 

I r of Franklin township. Summit county, 

1 ^ Ohio, is a native of the Buckeye state 

and was born in Wayne county No- 

\ ember 19, 1842, of German ancestors. 

Michael Becker, grandfather of the subject 
and the founder of this family in America, was 
born in Prussia in 1772, in one of the Rhine 



OI' PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



193 



provinces, where he was a gas or fire-damp in- 
spector in the mines. He there married Wil- 
helmina Ries, and in 1837 brought his family 
to America, for a short time lived in Summit 
county and thence went to Wayne county, 
where he died March 3, 1854, and his wife in 
April, 1855, members of the Lutheran church. 
Their children were named as follows: Lewis, 
farher of subject; Dorothea, wife of Christian 
Kies; Wilhelmina and Magdalena, twins (Wil- 
heimina married to Conrad Walters and Mad- 
dalena to Peter Klinej; Christian Frederick; 
Elizabeth, wife of William Gern; Catherine, 
wife of Lewis Nauman; Francis M., and 
Louisa, wife of Nicholas Wagoner. Lewis 
Becker, father of subject, was born in Prussia 
in 1805, and came to America in 1833, was a 
musician of considerable local reputation, and 
also worked in the mines with his father, with 
whom, also, he came to America. His expe- 
rience in mining convinced him that \aluable 
coal leads existed in Ohio, and after experi- 
menting opened what is now known as the 
Dannemiller mine, the first, likely, in the state. 
He married Miss Elizabeth Baker, a native of 
Bavaria, Germany, born May 5, 18 12. Her 
father was killed in Bavaria and mother later 
married Christian Wagoner and located, near 
Canton, Ohio. To Lewis Becker and wife 
were born Lewis F., the subject; Rev. Henry 
J., of Dayton, who was mission secretary of 
the United Brethren churches for the United 
States; Elizabeth (Mrs. Snyder); Magdalena 
(Mrs. Smith); Minnie (Mrs. Lytle), and Cath- 
erine and Michael, both deceased. The father 
of this family died August 26, 1866, and the 
mother, September 18, 1869. 

Lewis F. Becker, the subject, passed his 
early years in coal mining, and January 13, 
1870, married Miss Harriet A. Hollinger, who 
was born in Franklin township. Summit county, 
Ohio, November 27, 1850, a daughter of Jacob 
and Barbara (Daily) Hollinger, both natives of 



Summit county and born, respectively, August 
31, 1818, and March 26, 1S21. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hollinger were married March 29, 183S, and 
to their union were born ten children, viz: 
Joseph D., born January 22, 1839 — died Oc- 
tober 4, 1 871; Michael D., born January 1, 
1841 — died February 24, 1841; David D., 
born January 4, 1842; Jacob D. , born April 
1 1, 1844; Levi D., born April 6, 1846; Amanda 
E., born February 12, 1848 — died March 18, 
1896; Harriet A., born November 27, 1850 — 
died October 1, 1875; Josiah D., born Octo- 
ber 12, 1853; Uriah D., twin of Josiah D. , 
died October 28, 1859, and Barbara E. , born 
April 10, 1859 — died June 12, 1859. Jacob 
Hollinger, father of the above children, was a 
son of Jacob Hollinger, Sr. , who, with his wife 
and four children, came from Huntingdon 
county. Pa., and settled in Franklin township 
in i8i6, then a part of Stark county. Jacob 
Hollinger, Jr., died October 15, 1873, but 
had lost his wife, Harriet A., June 29, 1859. 
The marriage of Lewis F. and Harriet A. 
Becker was blessed with two children, viz: 
Ada M., born June 8, 1871, is a graduate of 
Hammel's business college of Akron, and 
Carrie E., born April 12, 1873, was a pupil at 
the Boston (Mass.) conservatory of music, and 
is now a teacher of the art. The mother of 
these children, as intimated above, died Oc- 
tober I, 1875, in the faith of the Evangelical 
church, while Mr. Becker' has been a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church the past 
twenty-eight years. 

Mr. Becker is a member of H. Bevard 
post, Canal Fulton, Stark county. No. 385, 
G. A. R., having been eligible from serving in 
company A, One Hundred and P'ourth Ohio 
volunteer infantry, in which he enlisted Au- 
gust II, 1862. He served in Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee and Georgia; was in the forty-day fight- 
ing that led up to the capture of Atlanta, and 
at Columbia, Tenn., sustaining a concussion 



194 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



of the brain by being struck by a piece of 
shell. He was later in the fight at Nashville, 
Tenn., and was with the army in the Caro- 
linas, joining Sherman at Goldsboro, N. C. 
He is a prohibitionist in politics and stands 
very high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. 



'S 



gUIRE NOEL BECKLEY, of Cuy- 
ahoga Falls. Ohio, and one of the 
respected citizens and a native of 
Stowe township, springs from ster- 
ling English Puritan stock. Sela Beckley, 
grandfather of subject, was born in Connecti- 
cut and his business was that of a tinner. He 
married in his native state, and his children 
were Noel, Lawton, Edwin, Harriet, Celetia 
and Caroline. Mr. Beckley was an Episcopa- 
lian in religion, lived to be about sixty-one 
years old, and died in Stowe, at the home of 
his son Noel. 

Noel Beckley, father of subject, was born 
at Hartford, Conn., received a common-school 
education, and was a blacksmith. He came 
to Stowe township in 1 8 19 or 1820, worked at 
his trade, and married Margaret Stowe, a 
widow. This lady was a native of Rutland, 
Vt., and a daughter of James Lindsey, who 
was born in Germany. To Mr. and Mrs. Beck- 
ley were born Caroline, Edwin. Laura, Noel 
and Ravina. Mr. Beckley settled at Stowe 
Corners, bought fifty acres of land, and pros- 
pered by his industry and thrift. There were 
no roads when he came to Stowe township, 
and he set up his forge under a tree. He 
bought more land, unthl he owned a farm of 
130 acres, including the farm where our sub- 
ject now lives. He lived to be si.xty-three 
years old and died on his farm. He was a 
democrat in politics, was a man of sterling 
worth and integrity and was well known for 
his good moral character. Mrs. Beckley, by 
her marriage to Thomas Stowe, was the 



mother of tsvo children — Sallie and Emeline. 
James Lindsey, her father, came from Rutland, 
\'t., to Stowe township, as a pioneer, about 
the time at which Noel Beckley came. He 
was a farmer, owning a good farm of 100 acres, 
which he cleared np from the wilderness, and 
on which he died a greatly respected citizen. 
His children were James, Detius, Simeon, 
Betsey, Mary and Margaret. 

Noel Beckley, the subject of this sketch, 
was born July 18, 1834, received his education 
in the log school-house and became a farmer. 
He married, October 2, 1864, Martha E. Ran- 
dall, who was born in Stowe township July i, 
1846, a daughter of David and Maria (Stowe) 
Randall. David Randall was born in New 
York, was a painter, came to Summit county 
when young and married .Maria Miilncx, nee 
Stowe, a widow, and to Mr. and Mrs. Randall 
were born Elizabeth, Prudence, Hannah, 
Martha E., and William D. Mrs. Randall 
had been married twice previously — the first 
time to E. Adams, to whom she bore one 
child. Mr. Adams died and she married Mul- 
nex, and their children were Avery and Caro- 
line. Mr. Randall died in Summit county, 
aged about forty-two years. 

'Squire Beckley and wife, after marriage, 
settled on their present farm, then belonging 
to his father, and have since lived here. He 
bought out the heirs, improved the property 
and planted trees. To Mr. and Mrs. Beckley 
were born ^^'illiam E, Bessie M. and David 
E. Mr. and Mrs. Beckley are members of 
the Disciples' church, of which 'Squire Beck- 
ley is one of the trustees. In politics he is a 
republican, and has held all the offices of his 
township, having been trustee three years, con- 
stable two years, and recently has been elected 
justice of the peace. 'Squire Beckley has 
prospered, has always been an industrious and 
honored citizen, and stands high for integrity 
of character and sterling worth, and is well 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



195 



known throughout this part of the county, his 
faniilj' being equall\- well respected with 
himself. 



'^yry'lLLIAM H. BEEBE, cashier of the 
■ ■ I Second National bank of Ravenna, 
mJL^ Ohio, was born in this city October 
19, 1 84 1, and is a son of Horace Y. 
and Augustus C. (Coolman) Beebe, the for- 
mer of whom was a native of Middletown, 
Conn., and the latter of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. 
Beebe were the parents of two children — Mary 
P., the deceased wife of U. \l. Clewell, and 
William H., as named above. 

Oliver Dutton Beebe, paternal grandfa- 
ther of subject, was a native of Connecticut, 
of English ancestry, and died in Middletown, 
that state, well advanced in years, and the fa- 
ther of three sons and two daughters. Will- 
iam Coolman, maternal grandfather of Mr. 
Beebe, was born in Middletown, Conn., was a 
farmer, and further details concerning his life 
may be found in the biography of Dewitt C. 
Coolman, on another page of this volume. 

Horace Y. Beebe. father of subject, was 
an ear]\- comer to Ohio and first located at 
Cuyahoga Falls, but later removed to Ravenna. 
For many years he was county clerk and aft- 
erward was a conductor on the Cleveland & 
Pittsburg railroad, but left its emploj' in 1854 
and became cashier lor the Robinson, King & 
Co. bank, but withdrew ten years later, when 
that bank was merged with the Second Na- 
tional bank, in 1864. He was always active 
in politics, and was one of the four Ohio men 
in the national republican convention who 
changed their votes to Lincoln, and thus se- 
cured his nomination for the presidency of the 
United States. During the Civil war he was 
an assessor of internal revenue in Ohio, and 
later became bookkeeper and manager of the 
Diamond Glass works. He \\ as one of Ra- 



venna's most public-spirited citizens and a 
gentleman of great force of character; was 
pronounced as an Odd Fellow, and was a past 
grand master in that order and past grand rep- 
resentative at the time of his death, which oc- 
curred in 1 888, his wife having died a few 
years previously — both devoted adherents of 
the Universalist faith. 

William H. Beebe, whose name opens 
this biographical notice, has passed his entire 
life in Ravenna, excepting, perhaps, a tem- 
porary absence during his college days. He 
received his preparatory education in the pub- 
lic schools of his native cit}', and then at- 
tended Hiram college under President James 
A. Garfield, and the day after he quit that in- 
stitution of learning he entered the Second 
National bank at Ravenna as cashier, and is 
now in the thirty-eighth year of his incum- 
bency of that position. On the 1 3th day of 
October, 1864, he was united in marriage 
with Miss Ella Reeves, daughter of John and 
Harriet M. (Mason) Reeves, of Trumbull 
county, and now has his residence on Bowery 
street, at the head of Meridian, Ravenna. 
Mr. Beebe has been a director of the Ravenna 
Gas & Electric company since its organiza- 
tion in 1873, and is at present its treasurer. 

Mr. Beebe is an exalted Odd Fellow, being 
past grand patriarch of the state of Ohio; 
at present a representative to the sovereign 
grand lodge; past grand of Ravenna lodge, 
No. 65; past patriarch of Ravenna encamp- 
ment; member of Beebe Rebekah lodge. No. 
405 (which lodge was named in honor of his 
father), member of canton Cleveland, No. 33. 
in which he holds the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel, and of Kremlin Moscow, I. O. M., 
of Cincinnati. He is also a member of Un- 
cas tribe, No. 57, I. O. R. M., Crescent lodge, 
No. 252, K. of P., Ravenna council. No. 376, 
Royal Arcanum, and grand treasurer of the 
grand council, I\. A., of Ohio, for the past 



196 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ten years, and was representative to the su- 
preme council, R. A., at Savannah. Ga., in 
1S96, and in Hoston in 1H97. 

Politically he is a republican. Mr. Beebe 
has served his fellow-citi/cens as a member of 
the Ravenna city council for six years, and is 
very active in promoting the material pros- 
perity of the city. Ke has always, indeed, 
been active in his support of all wholesome 
measures of a public nature, and free m his 
aid for their advancement. For thirty-seven 
years he has been prominently before the pub- 
lic, and durinj^ that long period no murmur of 
complaint has ever been uttered against him. 
He is a most genial gentleman and has hosts 
of friends. 



aHARLES C. BENNER. a rising young 
attorney-at-law of Akron, was born 
in Franklin township. Summit county, 
Ohio, March 27, 1870, and is a son of 
Simon and Caroline E. (Slawbaugh) Benner, 
both natives of Summit county. 

Simon Benner was born June 17, 1846, 
was a school-teacher in his earlier years, and 
for a long time taught at various places in the 
state of Indiana, and on his return to Ohio was 
united in marriage with Miss Slawbaugh. a 
daughter of Jacob and Mary (Iveller) Slaw 
baugh, and this union was blessed with nine 
children, of whom eight still survive, viz: 
Elda, wife of Frank Werner; Clinton A., Mel- 
vinL. , Charles C, Ervin R., Gertrude M.. 
Wallace J. and Howard C. ; Otto M., the de- 
ceased child, passed away at the age of five 
years. For a number of years Simon Benner 
served as a justice of the peace, but later be- 
came a farmer and an extensive dealer in live 
stock, and was an influential and prominent 
citizen. He and his wife were very active 
members of Grace Reformed church, and in 
this faith was called froui earth August 22, 



1884, at the early age of thirty-eight years, his 
widow surviving until January 7, 1S90, when 
she was called to join her departed husband, 
when forty-five years old. 

Henry Benner, the paternal grandfather of 
Charles C. , was a native of Pennsylvania, as 
was also his wife. He came to Ohio early in 
life and was among the early settlers of Frank- 
lin township. Summit count}'. He was a 
blacksmith b}' trade, which vocation he fol- 
lowed as long as his strength permitted, and 
then engaged in farming. To his marriage 
with Miss Kintz there were born eight chil- 
dren, of whom six are still living, viz: David; 
Mary OhI; Anna, wife of Jacob Myers; Har- 
riet, now Mrs. Daniel Zellers; Isabella, mar- 
ried to James Kerstter, and Hiram; those who 
have passed away were Sarah, wife of Henry 
Raber, and Simon. The father of this family 
died in 1884, at the advanced age of ninety- 
two years, while his wife still survives, in ex- 
cellent health, aged eighty-eight. The ma- 
ternal grandparents of Mr. Benner were both 
born in Lancaster county, Pa., were pioneers 
of Franklin township, and were the parents of 
two children — Frank and Caroline C. 

Charles C. Benner was primarily educated 
in the common schools of Norton and Copley 
townships. Summit county, and this was sup- 
plemented by an attendance at the Ada Nor- 
mal university of Ohio. He passed the later 
years of his minority on his father's farm, as- 
sisting in its cultivation during the summer 
months, and devoting the less busy winter 
months to study. In 1890 he commenced 
reading law with the well-known legal firm of 
Baird & \'oris, continuing his studies until ad- 
mitted to the bar, in June, 1893. The firm of 
Baird & \'oris having by this time dissolved, 
Mr. Benner at once opened an office for prac- 
tice in connection with Mr. Baird, and this 
congenial relationship has since continued, to 
their mutual profit. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



iy7 



Mr. Benner entered upon the chosen work 
of his life fully equipped for the execution of 
all the complex, minute, exacting, ofttimes 
vexatious, and yet fascinating duties of the 
legal profession, ami has met with phenomenal 
success, his marked ability being recognized 
from the beginning, and his clientele is not 
only an extensive one, but unusually respect- 
able in its individualism. Courteous and af- 
fable to the general public, he has made many 
warm friends, and, dignified and honorable in 
all his dealings with his brother-attorneys, he 
has won their unqualified esteem. Socially 
inclined by nature, he is popular as a member 
of the Akron lodge of the Benevolent & Pro- 
tective Order of Elks; he is also a charter 
member of Akron lodge, No. 693, Knights of 
Pythias, and is prominent, likewise, in the Im- 
proved Order of Red Men. December i, 
1890, he became a member of company B, 
Eighth regiment, Ohio national guard, of 
which he was elected captain, but resigned his 
commission in i S94, his increasing legal busi- 
ness and other pressing affairs precluding him 
from giving what he thought to be the neces- 
sary attention to military affairs in order to 
keep up the esprit du corps of his company. 

Mr. Benner was most happily united in 
matrimony September 29, 1897, at Akron, 
with Miss Gertrude Forster, the accomplished 
daughter of Martin B. and Sarah (Clark) 
Forster, well-known and prominent citizens of 
Akron. 



>Y*OHN A. BENNETT, an extensive dealer 
■ in coal and all kinds of mason's supplies, 
A ■ sewer pipe, drain tile, etc., at Ravenna, 
Portage county, Ohio, is a native of the 
state of New York and was born in Niagara 
county, .April 11, 1853. His parents, Daniel 
and Louisa (Secor) Bennett, are natives of the 
same countv and have had born to them five 



children, of whom four are still living and are 
named John A. (subject), Charles, Ellis and 
Edward. 

Daniel Bennett, the father, has been a 
farmer through life, has prospered in his call- 
ing, and is a man of influence in his county, 
where he has held several local offices, and is 
a pious member of the Methodist church, while 
his wife is equally devoted to the Baptist faith. 
The father of Daniel was also a farmer of New 
York state, had born to him two sons and one 
daughter, and lived to an advanced age. His 
wife's father, John Secor, was likewise a farmer, 
was county surveyor for a number of years, 
and also lived to reach old age. 

John A. Bennett, the subject, was reared 
on his father's farm in Niagara county and was 
educated, like most other farmer lads, in the 
district school. At the age of eighteen jears, 
however, he left the homestead and came to 
Ohio', and for two years worked in the ship- 
yards at Cleveland. He then returned to the 
home farm, on which he assisted until his 
health failed, when he went to New Orleans, 
La., but, failing to recuperate, he in a short 
time returned to his home, where he was con- 
fined to his bed on account of his illness. Still 
in search of health he made a trip to Georgia, 
where he passed one summer, and, somewhat 
improved, returned to New York. The rigor- 
ous climate of the north still being too severe 
for his constitution, he made yet another trip 
to Georgia, where, in a short time, fortunately, 
he gained fifty pounds in his avoirdupois, and 
full health was apparently restored to him, 
and he again returned to the north. In 1887 
he came to Ravenna, but still continued, nev- 
ertheless, his peregrinations through the east- 
ern, southern and northern states for three 
years longer, securing for himself, in the 
meantime, an excellent peach orchard of 100 
acres in Georgia. Charmed with the beauty 
of Ravenna, however, he made the city his 



198 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



permanent home and engaged in his present ex- 
tensive coal business and its collateral branches. 

Mr. Bennett was married, in 1876, to Miss 
Frances Foster, daughter of Thomas Foster, 
and to this marriage was born one child, Cora 
Louise. Mrs. Bennett having passed away in 
1879, ^^r. Bennett next married, in 1882, Miss 
Emma G. Carmer, daughter of Benjamin F. 
Carmer. 

Mr. Bennett is a member of the Royal 
Arcanum and in politics is a republican. As a 
business man he has been very successful, being 
prompt in filling the orders of his patrons and 
attentive to their needs. His integrity has 
never been questioned, and his plain, straight- 
forward methods have won for him a constant 
increase of custom. Socially, he and wife are 
held in high esteem by their neighbors and 
friends, of whom they have made many since 
their residence in Ravenna. 



^y^lLLIAM BERGIN, a prominent and 
■ ■ I prosperous farmer and dealer in live 
m%^J stock, Franklin township. Portage 
county, was born in Northtield, 
Summit county, Ohio, February 11, 1844. 

Patrick Bergin, father of William, was a 
native of county Kings, Ireland, was born in 
181 5, came to the United States in 1842, and 
settled in Northfield, Summit county, where 
he was chiefly employed in clearing up land and 
in fanning. He first married, in England, 
Mrs. Mary Robinson, whose maiden name was 
France, and who was a native of Yorkshire, 
England. To this union were born three chil- 
dren, of whom John and William still survive, 
while Mary lost her life by drowning when 
eleven years old. Mrs. Mary Bergin died in 
September, 1847, at the age of thirty-three 
years, and was a most amiable and adorable 
woman. The second marriage of Mr. Bergin 
was with Ellen Donahue, a Catholic in religion. 



but to this union there was no issue. Mr. 
Bergin died in the holy faith February 14, 
1872, at the age of fifty- seven years, an hon- 
ored and respected man, and Mrs. Ellen Bergin 
expired February 22, 1895, at the advanced 
age of eighty-six years. 

William Bergin, whose name opens this 
biography, lived on his father's farm until his 
seventeenth year, receiving his education in the 
district school, and then was employed as a 
clerk in the grocery, provision and liquor store 
of a Mr. Donahue, at Ravenna, and this posi- 
tion he retained six years. February II, 1867, 
he married Miss Mary McNamara, a daughter 
of John and Bridget (Murphy) McNamara, and 
this union has been blessed with three chil- 
dren, of whom Mary E. died December 13, 
1867, aged one month; Ann T. and Ellen are 
the names of the surviving two. 

In 1867 Mr. Bergin passed a few months 
on the old homestead, but in the fall removed 
to Iowa, where he engaged in the grocerj' 
trade, but, owing to the ill health of his wife, 
returned to Ohio eight months later and bought 
a half-interest in his brother's farm south of 
Ravenna, on which he resided one year, when 
he removed to the city, where he was engaged 
in the wholesale butchering business until 1872. 
He then settled on his present farm, where he 
has since been engaged in general farming and 
stockraising, and is widely known among horse- 
men as a breeder of some of the fastest trot- 
ting horses in the country. 

In politics Mr. Bergin is very prominent as 
a democrat and has served as school director 
for several years. He was also a member of 
the fire department while residing in Ravenna, 
and served from October 3, 1863, until Octo- 
ber 3, 1868, and for the past ten years he has 
served as a director and superintendent of the 
Portage county Agricultural society, in which 
he takes a deep interest. 

Mrs. Mary Bergin was born in county Kil- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



199 



kenny, Ireland, May 26, 1S41, and was brought 
to America in 1852 by her parents, who first 
located in Earlville, Ohio, and afterward re- 
moved to Ravenna. Patrick McNamara, pa- 
ternal grandfather of Mrs. Bergin, was a 
farmer and the father of eight children. 
Thomas Murphy, her maternal grandfather, 
married Miss Mary Grace, and was blessed 
with a family of thirteen children. John 
McNamara, father of Mrs. Bergin, was born 
in county Kilkenny, Ireland, was a railroad 
man, and to his marriage with Miss Bridget 
Murphy were born four children beside Mrs. 
Bergin, \\/..: Richard, who was killed on a 
railroad in 1854, at the age of nine years; Ann 
died March 3, 1891, aged forty-eight years, 
and Patrick now lives in California. Mr. 
McNamara, the father, passed away October 
19, 1S89, at the age of seventy-eight years, his 
wife having preceded him to the grave March 
23, 1887, aged seventy-eight. Mr. and Mrs. 
Bergin stand very high in the social circles of 
Franklin township, and the business name of 
Mr. Bergin is without a stain. 



>Y'0HN B. BETZ, a well-known farmer 
■ and e.\-soldier of Norton township, 
A 1 Summit county, Ohio, was born in this 
township, on the farm owned by Cyrus 
Miller, and has been identified with the agri- 
cultural interests of Norton township all his 
life. 

Abraham Betz, great-grandfather of sub- 
ject, was a native of Philadelphia, Pa., was 
born August 14, 1743, and married Eva 
Bauers, who was born October i, 1761. John 
Betz (1st), son of above and grandfather of 
subject, was born February 28, 1773, and 
married Catherine Tro.val, who was born May 
2, 1778. He was in early life a school-teacher 
and was of deep religious convictions, and was 
the founder of the Betz family in Summit 



county, Ohio, having first located in Chippewa 
township, Medina county, whence he moved 
to Norton township, Summit county — the lat- 
ter county having been formed in March, 1840, 
from parts of Medina, Portage and Stark coun- 
ties. Here he purchased a large tract of 
wooded land, filled with deer and other game, 
but lived to improve, or clear, the greater por- 
tion of it, and died May 14, 1852, one of the 
most honored and substantial citizens of the 
township and county. His widow survived 
until June 5, 1862, when she, too, was called 
away, venerated by all who knew her. 

John Betz (2d), son of above and father of 
subject, was born in the Keystone state March 
15, 1808, and there married Rebecca Beyer, 
who was born January 27, 1807. Shortly after 
marriage he came with the family in wagons 
to Chippewa township, as above mentioned, 
and a little later bought the farm of 160 acres 
in Norton township on which Cyrus Miller 
now lives. The land was all new and im- 
proved with a log cabin only. Here he under- 
went all the hardships of pioneer life, but suc- 
ceeded in developing from the wilderness a 
comfortable home, and accumulated a great 
deal of other valuable property. He rose to 
great prominence among his fellow-citizens, 
and as a democrat was honored by being 
elected to fill almost all the township offices. 
He was a devout member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, which he aided financially 
with great liberality, and was one who carried 
his religious convictions into the affairs of his 
every-day life. He was ne\er known to use 
profane language on any occasion whatever. 
This respected pioneer, while on a \isit to his 
soldier-sons in Union camp during the Civil 
war, was seized with camp fever, and on his 
return home died, as he had lived, an exalted 
Christian, February i, 1863. His widow sur- 
vived until December 18. 1887, when she also 
expired in the same religious faith. The chil- 



200 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



dren born to John and Rebecca (Beyer) Betz 
were named as follows: Samuel, Susan (wife 
of Eli Wuchter), Aaron, George W. , Mary E., 
Charles W. and John B. Of these, Charles 
W. died in Virginia while serving in the Sixth 
United States cavalry, and his remains received 
interment at the place where he died. 

John B. Betz was born October 25, 1844, 
received a good common-school education, and 
lived on the home farm until his enlistment, in 
August, 1864, in company G, One Hundred 
and Seventy-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry. 
He was assigned to the western army, and 
took part in the campaigns through Kentucky, 
Tennessee and Virginia, and was in the last 
campaign against Hood and in the battle of 
Wilson's Pike. He was finally taken ill and 
was placed in hospital at Washington, D. C, 
and was mustered out in June, 1865, having 
received an honorable discharge. August 13, 
1867, he married Miss Catharine Weaver, a 
native of Coventry township. Summit county, 
born December 10, 1847. 

Daniel E. Weaver, father of Mrs. Betz, 
was born in Pike township. Stark county, Ohio, 
August 8, 1823, and married, in Coventry 
township. Summit county, Rebecca Renniger, 
who was born in Pennsylvania, January 11, 
1824, a daughter of John and Maria (Spotts) 
Renniger. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver came from 
Coventry township to Norton township in 1866, 
and here Mr. Weaver died May 22, 1892, a 
devoted member of Grace Reformed church, 
and in politics ademociat. Mrs. Weaver now 
resides with her son, Philip, at Loyal Oak, 
Summit county. The children born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Weaver were named as follows: Su- 
sanna, who is the wife of William Souers; 
Mary E., who was married to Dr. J. C. Dreh- 
er, but is now deceased: Catherine, married 
to subject; George; Levina, wife of M. Young; 
Philip and Joseph. The happy union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Betz has been blessed with the fol- 



lowing children: Franklin S., born May 23, 
1868; Minnie R., born January 12, 1S70, and 
now the wife of Perry E. Ware; George H., 
born March 10, 1872; Nora E., born January 
14, 1874, was married to E. E. McXeely, but 
died March 6, 1896, leaving an infant, Ruth 
I., then twelve weeks old and being now reared 
by its grandparents; Daniel O., born April 4, 
1876, and Maud E., who was born April 7, 
1879, and died March 4, 1S80. 

Mr. Betz is the owner of a highly cultivated 
farm of seventy-five acres, improved with ex- 
cellent buildings, and regarded as one of the 
best farms of its size in Norton township. He 
and his wife are leaders in Grace Reformed 
church, to which all the family also belong, 
and are active in Sunday-school work. Mr. 
Betz is a member, likewise, of Buckley po.st, 
No. 12, G. A. R., and, although a stanch 
democrat, voted, at the age of twenty years, 
while in the army in Tennessee, for .Abraham 
Lincoln for the presidencj' of the United 
States. Locally he has always taken an active 
part in politics and has filled the office of town- 
ship trustee, and also as county infirmary 
director for three years from November 8, 
1892. Mr. Betz is probably one of the best 
marksmen in the state of (^hio, being capable 
of taking off a pigeon's head in a tree-top with 
a rifie-ball, and was never known to kill a 
squirrel except by shooting it through . the 
head. So great is his skill in this respect, he 
is barred out of all ordinary shooting matches. 
He is very comfortably situated, is at the 
head of a respected family, and enjojs in every 
particular the esteem of his fellow-citizens. 



,V^^ ORMAN B. BIDLEMAN. one of the 

I M most substantial farmers and live 

^ _ [ stock raisers in Green township. 

Summit county, Ohio, is a native of 

this township, and was born February 24, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



JUl 



1S50, a son of Georfje and Rachel ((irotz) 
Bidleman. 

John Bidleman, paternal grandfather of 
Norman B., was born in Pennsylvania, was a 
drover, and married Elizabeth Lilhe, who was 
also a native of the Keystone state, was born 
in 1780, and died March 3, 1867, the mother 
of four children. It is surmised that her hus- 
band met with a death by violence, as he had 
departed from his home for New Jersey with a 
drove of ninety-one mules, always carried con- 
siderable money about his person, and was 
never thereafter heard of. Abraham Grotz, 
maternal grandfather of Norman B. Bidleman, 
was also a native of Pennsylvania, was a hat- 
ter by trade, doing business in Bloomsburg, 
Columbia county, and in 1831 came to Ohio. 
To his marriage to Emeline Koon were born 
eleven children, of whom three still sur\i\e, 
viz: John K., of Bloomsburg, Pa.; Rebecca, 
widow of Michael B. Myers, and Louisa, wife 
of John B. Myers, of Green township, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio. 

George Bidleman, father of Norman B., 
was born in Bloomsburg, Pa., October 16, 
1804, and learned the tanner's trade. He 
married, April 3, 1828, Miss Rachel Grotz, 
who was born February 11, 1809, a daughter 
of Abraham and Emeline (Koon) Grotz, and 
to this union were born six children, of whom 
Rebecca is the wife of Jacob Royer, of Stark 
county; Norman B. ; Abraham passed away in 
infancy, in i829;\\'illiam died March 17, 1851, 
at the age of seventeen years; Lovinia died in 
1830; an infant unnamed is deceased. .After 
George Bidleman settled in Ohio he followed 
farming until his retirement about twenty 
years before his death, which occurred Janu- 
ary 28, 1890, his wife dying \fay 18, 1891. 
Mr. Bidleman had attained considerable prom- 
inence in his township, of which he was a 
trustee for many years, and had accumulated 
a handsome competency, living retired from 



active attention to biisiness for fully twenty 
years. He and wife were both conscientioos 
members of the Reformed church and were 
greatly esteemed for their many good qualities 
of heart and mind and the purity of their lives. 

Norman 13. Bidleman resided on his fa- 
ther's farm until fourteen years of age, receiv- 
ing, in the meantime, a fair education in the 
district school. For a year he clerked for C. 
F. Stroman cS: Co., receiving $50 and his 
board for his services. The following year he 
hired to David Grotz for $13 per month, and 
remained with him two years, and then, at the 
age of seventeen j'ears, took possession of his 
father's farm. November 14, 1872, he married 
Miss Eovinia A. Wise, who was born January 
I, 1850, in Eake township, Stark county, 
Ohio, a daughter of Samuel N. and Anna 
(Raber) Wise, and to this union have been 
born four children, of whom two — Carrie E. 
and Mattie M. — are still living, Elsie A. having 
died February 16, 1874, aged twenty-one 
days, and Norman B., Jr., also dying in in- 
fancy. 

Samuel N. Wise, father of Mrs. Bidleman, 
was born in Stark county, Ohio, October 9, 
1823, was reared a farmer, but for many years 
was engaged in the live stock trade, and now 
resides in Union Town, Stark county, in retire- 
ment, and is still an active member of the 
Methodist church, in which he has been a class 
leader for the past thirty years. He married 
Miss Anna Raber, who was born .May 22. 
1822, a daughter of John Raber, and to their 
union were born five children, of whom two 
are still living, viz; Hiram P., of Union Town, 
Stark county, and Lovinia A., wife of Mr. Bid- 
leman. The deceased three children were 
Amelia, John and Amanda^the last named 
having been married to Frank Myers, and dy- 
ing April 5, 1887, at the age of thirty-four 
years. Mrs. Anna (Raber) Wise departed 
this life January 4, 1892, aged si.\ty-nine 



201' 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



years, seven months and twelve days, and was 
a devout Christian. 

Since 1S72, in addition to farming, Mr. 
Bidleman has given a great deal of attention 
to the raising of and dealing in live stock, and 
for the past ten years to the bujing and sell- 
ing of wheat, and at present is operating the 
grain elevator at Myersville Station, constantly } 
adding to his already comfortable fortune. 
Politically he was in early days a democrat, 
but now affiliates with the prohibitionists, pre- 
ferring that the grain he handles should go 
into breadstuffs, rather than into whisky. 
He cast his first vote for Horace Greeley. He 
and family are members of the Methodist 
church at Union Town, in which he holds the 
office of steward, and of which he was, for a 
number of years, a trustee, and was superin- 
tendent of the Sunday-school. 

Mr. Bidleman is one of the most progress- 
i\c tiusiness men of his township and count}', 
and well deserves the high esteem in which he 
is held by his fellow-citizens, for he has cer- 
tainly done much to advance the moral and 
material progress of both town and county, 
having begun when a mere lad and continuing 
the good work in the prime of his manhood. 



a APT. GEORGE BILLOW, the vet- 
eran funeral director of Akron, Ohio, 
is a native of Germany; he was born 
on the 2d day of April, 1833, in Nord- 
heim, near the cit\' of Worms, on the famous 
rivur Rhine, Hessen Darmstadt; he is the 
fourth son of John and Elizabeth (Millius) 
Billau. The family, consisting of the parents, 
five sons and two daughters, immigrated to this 
country in 1844, settling eight miles northwest 
of Fremont, Sandusky count}', Ohio, in what 
was then known as the "Black Swamp." At 
the age of sixteen, George, our subject, was 
apprenticed to Ambrose Ochs, a vvagonmaker 



in Fremont, for three years, at the following 
wages: Fifteen dollars for the first year; 
twenty dollars for the second, and forty dollars 
for the third, together with board and his 
washing. Low wages and long days (twelve 
to thirteen hours) were then the prevailing cus- 
tom. After learning his trade he wended his 
way to Cleveland, Ohio, and worked in the 
carriage factory of Jacob Lowman until he 
had acquired proficiency as a body-builder, 
when, in February, 1854, he came to Akron, 
engaged himself as a body-builder to C. A. 
Collins in his factor}' at Middlebury, now the 
Sixth ward of Akron, and later embarked at 
the same place in the business for himself until 
the second year of the war of the southern 
Rebellion, when, in July, 1862, he assisted in 
recruiting a company of volunteer infantry for 
the Union army, enlisting himself as a private, 
being mustered in with his company, I, One 
Hundred and Seventh regiment, Ohio volunteer 
infantry, as orderly sergeant, at Cleveland, 
Ohio, on September 6, 1862. On November 
30, following, he was commissioned second 
lieutenant, but the name being spelled Billow 
instead of Billau — the arm}' being under march- 
ing orders to Fredericksburg, \*a. , in anticipa- 
tion of meeting the enemy in severe battle, 
prompted Col. Seraphim Myers, who com- 
manded the regiment, to advise the immediate 
muster in as second lieutenant under the name 
given, since which time it has been so retained. 
Subsequent promotions to first lieutenant and 
captam followed October i, 1863, and Novem- 
ber 3, 1864, respectively. The One Hundred 
and Seventh regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, 
with which the captain cast his lot, was des- 
tined to pass through extraordinary hardships, 
privations and severe battles. Before being 
fully equipped, it was rushed to the front to 
resist the advance of the rebel army in Ken- 
tucky, under Gen. Bragg, after which it was 
forwarded to the army of the Potomac and 



1 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



203 



assigned to the command of Gen. Franz Sigel, 
the Eleventh corps, at Fairfax C. H., Va., 
sharing with it the cruel hardships of Gen. 
Burnside's December campaign to Fredericks- 
burg, Va. , the humiliating defeat of the bat- 
tle of Chancellorsville, Va., May 2, 1863, and 
its glorious victory at the famous battle of 
Gettysburg, Pa., July i, 2 and 3, 1863, losing 
heavily in killed and wounded because of the 
prominent part taken, yet, in all, Capt. Billow 
escaped the rebel missiles. After the battle of 
Gettysburg, what remained of the One Hundred 
and Seventh regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, 
was, with Gen. Gordon's division, transferred to 
Folly Island, S. C. , the department South, com- 
manded by Gen. O. A. Giltriore, where, on the 
several islands in front of Charleston, they 
were engaged in assaults upon and the final 
taking of Fort Wagoner, on Morris Island, as 
also in frequent skirmishes and small battles 
from August, 1863, to January, 1864, when 
they were transferred to Jacksonville district 
of Florida. While on Folly Island, Capt. 
Billow was taken sick with typhoid fever, and 
with other hopeless cases, sent to St. Augus- 
tine, Fla., returning to his command about 
four weeks later, not well, but convalescent. 
He never fully recovered from said sickness; 
in consequence he was, in February, 1864, de- 
tailed on the staff of Col. Noble, of the Sev- 
enteenth regiment, Connecticut volunteer in- 
fantry, commander of brigade, to act as com- 
missary of subsistence; on May 18, following, 
he was ordered by Gen. Foster, commanding 
the department South, to Fernandina, Fla., in 
charge of the commissary department. De- 
cember 13, 1864, he was assigned to duty as 
provost marshal at Jacksonville, Fla., and 
March 12, 1865, by special request of Com- 
missary Gen. Champlin, at Hilton Head, S. 
C, he was again returned to his former post 
at Fernandina, serving until relieved for the 
purpose of muster-out with his regiment at 



Charleston, S. C, July 10, 1865, and finally 
discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, July 26, 1865, 
serving his entire term of nearly three years 
without a single furlough. 

The captain is a member of the Episcopal 
Church of our Savior, and is quite prominent 
as a Freemason, being Past E. C. of Akron 
commandery. No. 25, K. T. , and its present 
Prelate; King of Washington chapter. No. 25, 
R. A. M. ; P. M. of Adoniram lodge. No. 517, 

F. & A. M., for the establishment of which 
and the Masonic Temple company he was un- 
tiring as a prime mover; he is also a member 
of the Mystic Shrine; he is a charter member 
and past commander of Buckley post, No. 12, 

G. A. R., a member of the Loyal Legion, 
I. O. O. F., and several beneficiary societies; 
in politics he is a sincere and ardent repub- 
lican. Springing from families of more than 
ordinary longevity (his grandfather, father and 
mother attaining to the age of over eighty-six 
years), his genealogy is quite interesting and 
not without its military ancestors, who figure 
under another government; yet the family 
characteristics lean toward peaceful pursuits. 

Capt. George Billow's marriage took place 
September 19, 1854, to Miss Anna Mary, 
daughter of Conrad and Charlotte Fink, of 
Akron, Ohio. His family consists of five sons 
— George W. , Charles F., Albert C. , Jacob 
and Edwin L. — and three daughters — Anna 
(Mrs. John Sabin, in Vermont), Ida (Mrs. 
James Rehert, Akron, Ohio), and Clara. 

Since his discharge from military service 
the subject of this sketch has been engaged, 
with various successes and reverses, in the gro- 
cery business at Akron, as a partner, also as 
salesman; invested largely in fanning-mill pat- 
ent right on the advice of friends, proving a 
total loss; then moved to Huntsville, Ala., to 
enrich himself, raising cotton, which proved a 
(lisniai failure, whereupon he returned to his 
old home, .\krt)n. Ohio, and in 1875 engaged 



204 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in the undertaking business, and by industry, 
honesty and skill has succeeded in making it 
the leading establishment in his city, which is 
still growing, and, possessing the respect and 
confidence of his fellow-citizens, this seems to 
afford him the contentment so essential to 
happiness and quite satisfactory at the even- 
tide of a bus\' life. 



^'^YLVESTER J. BOLEXDER, a 
•^^^* thriving farmer of Franklin town- 

h,^^ ship. Summit county, Ohio, was born 
in Lake township. Stark county, Jan- 
uary 31, 1850. 

George Bolender. grandfather of subject, 
was a nati\e of Union county. Pa., was car- 
penter and cabinetmaker, and a pioneer of 
Stark county, Ohio. He was also a farmer, 
and in Union Town, Stark count}', was pro- 
prietor of an inn and a stage-coach line. In 
politics he was a democrat, and in religion 
was a member of the Reformed church. He 
married, in Stark county, Margaret Wise, who 
came from Cumberland county, Pa., in 1815. 
John Bolender, father of subject, was born 
in Green township (now in Summit county) 
March 27, 18 19, was reared to farming, also 
learned cabinetmaking, and for several terms 
taught school in the old pioneer school-house 
of his district. In politics he was a democrat, 
and for a number of years filled the office of 
justice of the peace. He was an elder in the 
Reformed church and for fifteen years was su- 
perintendent of the Sunday-school. He at 
one time possessed considerable property, but, 
owing to the failure of others in business, he 
lost heavily. About 1838, Mr. Bolender mar- 
ried Miss Judith Pontious, daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Sophia (M\'ers) Pontious, and to this 
union were born Sophia, deceased wife of 
Manum Rayor; James K., who died when 
small; Armina L. ; Sylvester J.; Lucretia; 



Charles; and Sarah J., wife of Forest Nees. 
Mr. Bolender remained on his farm until 1866, 
when he retired to Union Town, where his 
death took place August 7, 1883, and that of 
his wife July 7, 1893. Both were honored for 
their chaste lives and their unswerving adher- 
ence to the teachings of their church. 

Sjlvester J. Bolender lived on the home 
farm until seventeen }ears of age, and then 
served an apprenticeship of four years at cab- 
inetmaking and later learned hard-wood fin- 
ishing. He had received an excellent educa- 
tion in the Greensburg academj- and was pre- 
pared for teaching school, and duly qualified, 
also, for teaching music. He passed nine 
years at his trade, and on Maj' 4, 1876, mar- 
ried Jennie R. Sorrick, daughter of Peter and 
Mary A. (Kyser) Sorrick, and this marriage has 
resulted in the birth of Bertha B., who was 
born May 22, 1877, and died August 7, 1877, 
and Hazel L. , born November 17. 1888. 

Peter Sorrick, father of Mrs. Bolender, 
was born in Franklin township September 20, 
1822; his wife, Mary A. Kyser, was born in 
the same township May 29, 1829, and here 
they were married November 15, 1855. Mr. 
Sorrick owned a well improved farm of 127 
acres in Franklin township, and seven acres in 
Manchester. He was a democrat in politics, 
and died December 20, 1893, a member of the 
Reformed church. His only child, Jennie R. 
(Mrs. Bolender), was born September 21, 
1856. Adam Sorrick, father of Peter Sorrick, 
was a native of Blair county, Pa., and an early 
pioneer of Stark county, Ohio. He took up 
land from the government in Franklin town- 
ship (then a part of Stark but now in Summit 
count)), and lived to clear it all up. He mar- 
ried, in Franklin township, Mary Raber, also 
a native of Blair county. Pa., and died in 1875 
— his wife dying March 27, 1877. 

Sylvester J. Bolender, since his marriage 
has lived upon the 127-acre farm formerly 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT XZOUNTIES. 



205 



owned by his father-in-law, and has materially 
improved it, rendering it both comfortable 
and profitable. In politics he is a prohibition- 
ist, has the full confidence of his party, and is 
moreover widely known and respected through- 
ont the township. 



EENRY F. BOWERS, a successful and 
and respected farmer of Green town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, was born 
in Lake township. Stark county, Sep- 
tember I 5. 1845, a son of Frederick and Eliza- 
beth (Coxen) Bowers, the former a native of 
Bedford county, Pa., born in May, 1798, and 
the latter born in Columbiana county, Ohio, 
in July, 1816. 

Frederick Bowers was brought to Ohio in 
1 80S by his parents, who located, first, about 
five miles south of the site of the present city 
of Canton, Stark county, where they remained 
one year, and then removed to Lake township, 
where Frederick passed the remainder of his 
•life. He was reared a farmer, and married 

Mrs. Elizabeth Spotts, a daughter of 

and Catharine (Fox) Coxen, the marriage re- 
sultin},' in the birth of five children, of whom 
three still survive, viz: Jacob, in St. Joseph 
county, Ind. ; Henry F., our subject, and Cath- 
erine A., wife of Uriah Stoner, of Canton, 
Ohio. The two deceased were William, who 
died at the age of nineteen years, July 4, 1863, 
in hospital at Cincinnati, Ohio, from disease 
contracted in the Civil war, and Rachel, who 
died at the age of forty-seven years, the wife 
of Isaac Shriver, who is also deceased. Mr. 
Bowers, who was a carpenter as well as farmer, 
departed this life in June, 1880, at the age of 
eighty-two years, and his widow followed him 
to the grave in July, 1884, at the age of sixty- 
eight years. 

Jacob Bowers, grandfather of Henry F. 
Bowers, served seven years in the Revolution- 



ary war and was a pioneer of Stark county, 
Ohio (settling there in 18081, and to him and 
wife were born fourteen children, of whom 
twelve reached maturity. The maternal grand- 
parents were natives of England and the par- 
ents of ten children, three of whom are still 
living, viz: Hannah, svife of George Witsman, 
of Lake township. Stark county, Ohio; Will- 
iam, of West \'irginia, and Emanuel, of Kan- 
sas. The deceased Coxen children were Mrs. 
Lucinda Bogue; Phebe; Mary, wife of Jacob 
Shively; Sarah, wife of Jonas Ruff; Elizabeth, 
wife of Henry F. Bowers, our subject; Sophia, 
wife of Levi Bolander, and John. The Coxen 
family were all members of the Reformed 
church, and people of some distinction among 
their neighbors. 

Henry F. Bowers was reared on his fath- 
er's farm and was educated in the district 
school of his native township and at Greens- 
burg seminary. At the age of nineteen years 
he began teaching school, following the voca- 
tion for twelve successive terms in district No. 
I, Lake township; five, in No. 6; two, in No. 
12; two in Union township; all in Stark count}', 
Ohio, and one term in Green township. Sum- 
mit county, but the summer months were 
passed on the farm. 

Mr. Bowers was united in marriage Febru- 
ary 23, 1 87 1, with Miss Catherine A. Kreigh- 
baum, daughter of Abraham and Harriet (Reif- 
snyder) Kreighbaum, of Lake township, and to 
this union have been born three children, viz: 
Edith I., wife of Frank Long, of Akron; Har- 
riet, married to Frank Langs, a leading mer- 
chant of Myersville, Green township, and Ralph 
C, still under the parental roof. 

Abraham Kreighbaum, father of Mrs. Bow- 
ers, was a native of Lake township. Stark 
county, Ohio, was a tanner by trade, but in 
later years became a farmer. To his marriage 
with Miss Harriet Reifsnyder, daughter of 
David and Mary (Grane) Reifsnyder, were born 



2o<; 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



seven children, viz: William C. ; Catherine 
A., who was born April 14, 1852, and is now 
Mrs. Henry F. Bowers: Frank G. ; Daniel R. ; 
Mary, wife of Isaac Heckman; Charles S., and 
Ellen, wife of J. Bare, all living in Stark 
county, with the exception of Mrs. Bowers. 
The mother of this family was called away 
March i, 1884, in the faith of the Evangelical 
church, and at the age of fifty-two years; the 
father reached the age of sixty-seven years, 
and died in October, 1895, in the faith of the 
Lutheran church, although he had formerly 
been a member of the same church with his 
wife. 

In the spring of 1S87 Mr. Bowers purchased 
his present farm, where, in connection with 
farming, he is. extensively engaged in stockrais- 
ing. For twelve years Mr. Bovvers was a 
member of the school board in Stark county, 
and has served as township clerk of Green 
township. Summit county. Heenjoys the con- 
fidence of the entire community, and he and 
family are among the most respected in Green 
township. 



'^-r'OHN H. BREWSTER, who is well 
M known as one of the most experienced 
A 1 business men and thrifty farmers of 
Coventry township. Summit county, 
Ohio, was born on his present farm January 
II, 1834. His father, James G. Brewster, 
was a native of Groton, Conn., was born in 
1797, and was fourteen years old when brought 
to Summit county by his parents, and here 
endured all the hardships of pioneer life, being 
educated in an old log school-house and inured 
to the severe toil of frontier farming. In 
early manhood he married Miss Martha Has- 
son, who was a native of Carlisle, Pa., and to 
this union were born six children, viz. : Stephen, 
deceased; John H., the subject; James G., 
who died January i, 1897; Hiram; George W., 



and William, who died when quite small. 
The father wrought out from the wilderness 
the farm now occupied by our subject, was 
the owner of 320 acres, and in his day was 
considered a wealthy man. He was a gentle- 
man of great influence in the community in 
which he lived, took an active part in whig 
politics and also a great interest in muster 
day. In religion he was a Universalist. and 
died in that faith June 27, 1842, more than 
ordinarily well respected; his widow survived 
until October 12, 1884, when she died, a 
Scotch Seceder in religion and venerated as a 
lady possessing many womanly virtues. 

John H. Brewster has always resided un 
his native farm, never having been away from 
it, with the exception of two months passed 
in Iowa. The live Brewster brothers who at- 
tained manhood's estate never divided their 
financial interests, but jointly conducted the 
farm, beginning at the point where their father 
left it. They now own about a section and a 
half of fine arable land in Summit county, be- 
side 400 acres of coal land in Columbiana , 
county, as one mutual possession. John H., 
however, is president of the Buckeye Sewer 
Pipe company, of Akron, and president of the 
United States Stoneware company, of the 
same city; also is a director in the Barberton 
Savings bank, and is interested with his broth- 
ers in the Brewster tlouring-mill, of Coventry 
township. In poHtics Mr. Brewster is a re- 
publican, and has filled most of the township 
offices as a matter of duty as a good citizen, 
has served three terms as county infirmary 
director, and is at present serving his second 
term as county commissioner. 

Hiram Brewster, brother of John H., was 
born June 8, 1835, and has always li\ed on 
this, his native farm. Neither brother is mar- 
ried, both living in "single blessedness" in 
their beautiful country house, which cost them 
over $14,000. 





//. ^tZZXA/J^^t^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



209 



The grandfather of Mr. Brewster was 
Stephen Brewster, born in Groton, Conn., in 
1770, came to Summit county, Ohio, in 181 1, 
and died here July 12, 1858. He was a car- 
penter by trade, and he and the father of Mr. 
Brewster erected the first flouring-mill on the 
Tuscarawas river. The mill was commonly 
known as the Fritts mill. 



>T^OHX BOOSINGER, a retired farmer 
M and one of the oldest residents of Brim- 
A J field township, Portage count}-, Ohio, 
was born here May 8, 18 18, the center 
village of the township being then known as 
Thorndyke, and is a son of John and Barbara 
(Willard) Boosinger. 

Conrad Boosinger. the grandfather of our 
subject, came to America from Germany, and 
took part in the war for American independ- 
ence. John Boosinger, the father of our sub- 
ject, was a native of Virginia, was a soldier 
in the war of 1812, and in 1816 came to Por- 
tage county, Ohio, and entered a 200-acre 
farm in Brimfield township, which was then a 
dense wilderness. Here he built a log cabin, 
and by untiring industry cleared up his land, 
which he converted into a fine farm, and 
which, through the added industry of our sub- 
ject, is now one of the best farms in the 
county. To his marriage with Miss Willard 
were born eight children, of whom John (our 
subject), Benjamin and Nathan are still living, 
while Catherine, Sarah, Susan, Philip and 
George have passed away. The father of 
these lived to be ninety years of age, when he 
died in the faith of the Universalist church. 

John Boosinger, the subject of this me- 
moir, was reared on the Brimfield farm, re- 
ceived such education as could be secured in 
the pioneer school, and at the age of twenty- 
two years assumed the management of the 
home place. He was first married in Novem- 



ber, 1842, to Miss Caroline Naff, daughter of 
Conrad and Mary Naff, and to this union were 
born two children — Lafayette V. and I-ucy C. 
— the latter married to George Meacham. 
Mrs. Caroline Boosinger was called from earth 
April 1 1 , 1843, at the age of twenty-nine years. 
November 4, 1845, Mr. Boosinger chose for 
his second helpmate Miss Julia Naff, a sister 
of his deceased wife. This union has been 
blessed with three children, viz. : Edward 
Conrad; Sadie, wife of William Moulton; and 
Omer C, who died December 30, 1887, at the 
age of twenty-nine 3'ears. 

Mr. Boosinger greatly inproved the home- 
stead while it was in his possession. He oper- 
ated a threshing machine several years in con- 
nection with his agricultural pursuits, but the 
old home place has passed out of the family, 
and now Mr. Boosinger owns another fine farm 
of 120 acres. In politics he has always lieen 
a democrat, and has filled the office of town- 
ship trustee, and for six years was a member 
of the board of school directors. He is a de- 
voted member of the Universalist church, of 
which he is also a trustee, and no resident of 
the county of Portage stands higher in the es- 
teem of the public than John Boosinger. 



^y^ ENJAMIN M. BOYEK, a highly re- 
l/*^ spected agriculturist of Springfield 
>^^_^ township, Summit county, Ohio, and 
a well-known educator, was born in 
Juniata county. Pa., February 17, 1841, a son 
of George and Mary Magdalena (Kepner) 
Boyer, of whom mention in full will be made 
further on. 

Benjamin M. Boyer received a sound public- 
school education, then attended Airv View and 
Markelville academies, and when seventeen 
years of age began teaching school in his own 
.district, continuing the vocation six consecutive 
years. He assisted his father on the home 



L'lO 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



farm when not attending or teaching school, 
and in 1864 came to Ohio, and in Akron 
secured a position as clerk in P. D. Hall's dry- 
goods store, where he remained nearly two 
years, and while thus employed was married, 
at Wooster, Ohio, October 3, 1865, to Miss 
Marv A. Ritter, daughter of John S. and 
Elizabeth (Ritzman) Ritter, and of whom fur- 
ther mention will be made before this sketch 
shall have been brought to a close. This 
marriage has been blessed with five children, 
of whom Philander M., Harry J., Emerson E. 
and Altha Augusta are still living; Effie M. 
died when but one year old. Of these chil- 
dren. Philander M. passed through the com- 
mon schools and the Akron high school; also 
took a course in Buchtel college, and in the 
normal department of the Union Town (Stark 
county) high school; his present business is 
that of a gardener. Emerson E. graduated 
from Hamniill's business college, is engaged 
in the dairy business, and is an honored mem- 
ber of lodge No. 50, I. O. O. F., at Akron. 
Miss Altha A. has passed through the district 
schools and has been awarded a certificate 
which permits her entrance to any high school 
in the county. 

In 1866 Mr. Boyer began teaching school 
during the winter months in Portage township, 
Summit county, and taught for eighteen con- 
secutixe terms, but while not teaching found 
many other occupations to engage his time 
and attention, for instance: The first year 
after leaving the dry-goods business he con- 
ducted a meat market in Springfield township, 
and then bought a small farm, but shortly 
afterward sold it at a handsome profit and 
bought another south of Akron, where he en- 
gaged in gardening. He then entered the 
brokerage business, which he still continues, 
more or less, handling stocks, chattel mort- 
gages, etc. In 1884 he relinquished teaching, 
and since then, beside his broker's business, 



has been principally engaged in agriculture, 
dairjing, and in running a fruit and vegetable 
wagon to Akron. He has also had some ex- 
perience as a teacher of vocal music in the 
public schools, and at one time was engaged 
in the sale of musical instruments. In poli- 
tics he is a democrat, and cast his first presi- 
dential vote for Gen. Geo. B. McClellan." 
He has served as township supervisor several 
terms, has been a member of the school board 
six years, and township trustee one term, per- 
forming his duties faithfully and satisfactorih'. 
He has served, also, as as guardian of three 
families of children and has settled up their 
estates to their entire satisfaction. Frater- 
nally Mr. Boyer is a past grand of Summit 
lodge. No. 50, I. O. O. F. , of Akron, and also 
of the encampment. Religiously, Mr. and 
Mrs. Boyer are members of the Lutheran 
church, while Philander M. and Altha are 
communicants of the Methodist Episcopal 
church at Krumroy. 

Mrs. Mary A. (Ritter) Boyer, wife of Ben- 
jamin M., was born January 22, 1843, in the 
house in which she and her husband now re- 
side in Springfield townshij), which house was 
erected by her father, who, with his wife, 
came from Snyder county. Pa., and settled on 
the farm now owned by Mrs. Boyer. Of the 
eight children born to John S. and Elizabeth 
(Ritzman) Ritter, Frederick resides near Bed- 
ford, Cuyahoga county, and is an agricultur- 
ist; Henry lives in Springfield township. Sum- 
mit county, and is also a farmer; Phebe is the 
wife of Levi Thornton, of Coventry township; 
Catherine is at home; Mrs. Boyer and John 
S. M. are next in order of birth; one child 
died in infancy, and Matilda, who was the 
wife of Solomon Warner, died at the age of 
forty-nine years. The father of this family 
died in 1872. at the age of sixty-six years, and 
the mother in 1884, when seventy-seven years 
old, both in the faith of the Lutheran church. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



211 



and among the most highly respected residents 
of Springfield township. 

George Boyer, father of Benjamin M. Boyer, 
was born on the banks of the Susquehanna 
ri\er, Cumberland connty, Pa., January 4, 1819, 
and his wife, Mary Magdalena Kepner, was 
born March 19, 1818, in Juniata county, in 
the Tuscorara valley, of the same state, and 
they were married December 19, 1839. In 
Juniata county, of the Keystone state they re- 
tain their residence, and are now living in 
retired ease. In his younger days Mr. Boyer 
learned tailoring, but followed the trade a 
short time only, preferring to drive a team at- 
tached to a canal-boat, at which work he 
earned considerable money, and in course of 
time was able to buy his present farm in Ju- 
niata county. To his marriage have been 
born nine children, of whom Benjamin M., 
whose name opens this article, is the eldest; 
Elmira J. is the wife of Alonzo H. Guss, of 
Akron, Ohio; Lehman O. resides in Juniata 
county. Pa. ; Mary is the wife of Jacob Wise- 
haupt. also of Juniata county; Ida C. was 
first married to Dr. Hench, and, after his death, 
was married to Wilson Robinson, who is also 
deceased, and the daughter herself is the 
manager of the household of her parents; 
George W. manages the farm for his father; 
Elizabeth C. died after reaching maturity; 
Sarah C. died at the age of eight years, and 
Albert Luther died in infancy. The father of 
this family, now eighty years of age, retains 
in full his mental faculties and keeps a gen- 
eral oversight of his financial interests, being 
a large stockholder in the Port Royal bank, 
and having other extensive investments. In 
fact, he has always been a financier, and- while 
a canal-boat driver boarded seven canal boat- 
men, and during the construction of the Penn- 
sylvania Central railroad exercised his energy 
in driving a team along that road, realizing 
$3,ODO in three years. He and wife are mem- 



bers of the Lutheran, church, live fully up to 
its teachings and are among the most vener- 
ated residents of Juniata count}'. 

Michael Boyer, paternal grandfather of 
subject, was born in Lebanon county. Pa., 
and was a son of a German who settled in 
Lebanon county. Pa., and to his marriage 
with Miss Koons were born five children, of 
whom three are still living, viz: Catherine, 
widow of James Foose, and a resident of New- 
port, Pa. ; George, and Jane, wife of David 
Kilmer, of Juniata county. Pa. One son, 
John P., with his family, was burned to death 
in Perry county. Pa., and another son, Philip, 
is also deceased. 

The maternal grandfather of B. M. Boyer 
was twice married, and to his first marriage 
were born John, Jacob and Catherine, all de- 
ceased. His second marriage was to Miss 
Sarah Dupes, and to this marriage were born 
eight children, viz: Elizabeth, now eighty- 
nine years old and married to Samuel Aughe}', 
of Millford, Pa. ; Christine, who was first mar- 
ried to Jacob Hertzler, and, after his death, 
to a Mr. Heikes, who is also deceased; Mary 
Magdalena, who is the mother of our subject; 
Benjamin D.; Samuel D. ; Solomon, who died 
in infancy; Sarah, who was married to Samuel 
Rice, but, with her husband, is now deceased; 
Henry, the oldest, has also passed away, and 
the parents have likewise gone to their rest in 
the faith of the Lutheran church. 

Mr. Boyer is located on a beautiful farm 
of 154 acres in Springfield township, seven 
miles from the court house at Akron. He 
comes from one of the old and respected fam- 
ilies of Summit county. He is also owner of 
valuable real estate in the city of Akron, and 
is classed as one of the progressive farmers of 
Summit county. While he was a member of 
the school board in his township the question 
was agitated of forming a high school system 
and Mr. Boyer was appointed as committee on 



212 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



that work, which was finally adopted. The 
system of high school known as the Akron 
system originated in this county and in Akron. 



l^y^ILHELM J. BRACKLOW, proprie- 
mm I tor of the Columbia hotel, Ravenna, 
WjL^ Ohio, was born in Berlin, Germany, 
August I, 1853, and is a son of 
Johan and Caroline Bracklow, who were the 
parents of four sons, three of whom are still 
living — Wilhelin J. , Herman and Joseph. The 
father, Johan, was in early life a soldier, but 
later became a carpenter, contractor and build- 
er, and was killed by an accident, which oc- 
curred in his native city. His widow married 
Otto Kickow, and both now live in Ravenna, 
Ohio, with their two children, Lena and Mary. 
Both grandfathers were also military men. 

Wilhelm J. Bracklow was a youth of four- 
teen years when brought to America by his 
mother. He had received a very good public- 
school education in his native country, and at 
the age of fifteen years began clerking in a 
hardware store in Ra\enna, Ohio, where his 
mother had made her home. Eight years 
later, tiring of this occupation and seeking for 
wider fields in which to realize a fortune, he 
started west, in 1875, for the Black Hills, for 
the purpose of prospecting, but in 1877 re- 
turned to Ravenna, but a trifle better off than 
when he departed. However, he was pre- 
pared to enter the furniture business in part- 
nership with his now step-father. Otto Kickow, 
which they carried on together about five years; 
he next clerked in the grocery store of Furry 
& Williams for seven years, and then, for sev- 
eral years, conducted a restaurant, in which 
business he was so successful as to induce him 
to take charge of the Columbia hotel in 1896, 
where the prospects for a competency are 
most flattering, as he is a most genial land- 
lord, is well acquainted with the needs of the 



traveling public, and as his experience in the 
restaurant business has fitted him for a first- 
class caterer and qualified him for overseeing 
the essential of all hotel-keeping — the cuisine. 

The marriage of Mr. Bracklow took place 
September 10, 1881, with Mrs. Cynthia Will- 
iams, daughter of Stephen and Eunice 
(Chickering) Bissell, but to this union there 
has been no offspring. Mrs. Bracklow, how- 
ever, is the mother of one son — Alonzo C. — 
by her former husband. The parents of Mrs. 
Bracklow were natives of Massachusetts and 
were the parents of nine children — three sons 
and six daughters, of whom five are still li\ing, 
viz: Maria A., wife of George Clark, of 
Royalton, Ohio; Cynthia, wife of Mr. Brack- 
low; Maud I., wife of Charles Coolidge. of 
Cleveland; Delia E. and William S., both, also. 
of Cleveland. The paternal grandfather of 
Mrs. Bracklow was Har\ey Bissell, a native of 
Massachusetts, an early settler of Medina 
county, Ohio, and the father of six children; 
the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Bracklow 
was George Chickering, also a native of the 
Bay State, was a farmer and was one of the 
pioneers of Cuyahoga county in the Buckeye 
state. For several years he kept a country 
inn, about twelve miles from Cleveland, the 
only stopping place west of the city on the 
state road, and in reality in the wilderness. 
He had a family of seven children, who all 
grew to maturity, and the last few years of 
his life were passed in Cleveland, where he 
died at the age of seventy-seven. The father 
of Mrs. Bracklow, Stephen Bissell, was a car- 
penter, came to Ohio in an early day, and set- 
tled in Medina count}' until about 1876, when 
he moved with his family to Cleveland and 
followed his trade until his death, in March, 
1892, at the age of sixty-six years; his widow 
is still a resident of that city. 

Mrs. Bracklow is a faithful member of the 
Methodist church and is an able assistant to 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



213 



her husband in his present business, being a 
lady of much experience. Mr. Bracklow is a 
master Mason and a member of the uniform 
rank, K. of P. In politics he is independent, 
and during his long residence of thirty years 
in Kavenna has ne\er made an enemy, but re- 
tains the friendship of hundreds of citizens 
whom he has won by his obliging disposition 
and unvarying courtesy, and his ability to 
"keep a hotel." 



@EORGE W. BREWSTER, the fifth 
son of James G. and Martha (Hasson) 
Brewster, was born on the home 
farm March 21. 1837, received a 
sound common-school education, and in 1857 
went to California, \ia New York city and the 
isthmus of Panama. He passed nearly seven 
years on tlie Pacific coast, two years in the 
mines, and for one year drove a ten-mule team 
between Sacramento, Cal., and Virginia City, 
Nev. He was next employed to manage or 
superintend the interests of a syndicate of 
wealthy men in 7,000 acres of land, and in 
1866 returned to Summit county, Ohio, to be- 
come bookkeeper and manager for the Brew- 
ster Bros. ' coal mines, which have now been 
worked for more than twenty years, employ- 
ing from twenty-five to 135 men. His present 
residence, in this interest, is situated about a 
half-mile north of Thomastown, and cost $14,- 
000, and to which allusion is made in the me- 
moir of John H. Brewster. 

For five years Mr. Brewster has been treas- 
urer of the Summit County Agricultural society, 
and a director for fourteen years; he is a di- 
rector in the 15uckeye Sewer Pipe company, in 
the United States Stoneware company, both 
at Akron, and in the Barberton Savings bank. 
In politics he is a strong republican, and fra- 
ternally is a member of lodge No. 83, F. & 
A. M. 



Mr. Brewster was joined in matrimony, 
October 18, 1876, with Miss Marie L. Kent, 
who was born in Suffield township. Portage 
county, Ohio, a daughter of Josiah and Lucia 
(Miller) Kent, pioneers of Portage county. 
Mr. Kent is now deceased, and his widow 
makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Brewster. 
The marriage of Mr. Brewster has been blessed 
with four children, viz: Georgia M., now at- 
tending Buchtel college; Hiram Wallace, who 
died young; Arthur K. , who was a very intel- 
ligent, but never strong lad, and died April 
28, 1895, at the age of fourteen years, and 
Bessie. Mr. and Mrs. Brewster are members 
of the Congregational church, and it is hardly 
necessary to add that their social standing is 
with the most respectable people of Summit 
county. 



■^Y* OSIAH BROWN, one of the old soldiers 
J of the Civil war, was born February 
A 1 28, 1838, in Cuyahoga Falls, received a 
common education in the public schools 
and learned the cabinetmaker's trade of his 
father. He enlisted at the age of twenty-three 
years, September 10, 1861, for three years or 
during the war, at Cuyahoga Falls, under Capt. 
A. J. Konkle, in company D, First Ohio 
light artillery, was promoted sergeant, served 
until he re-enlisted at Strawberry Plains Jan- 
uary 7, T863, in the same organization, and 
was promoted to second lieutenant May 13, 
1864, and assigned to battery E, First Ohio 
artillery. He was honorably discharged at 
Chattanooga, Tenn., June 20, 1865, having 
served his country three years and eight months. 
He was in the battles of Ivy Mountain, Ky., 
Pittsburgh Landing, Corinth, Miss., Nash- 
ville, Tenn., Knoxville, Tenn., and a battle 
near Resaca, La. Mr. Brown was sick in 
hospital from November, 1862, until May, 
1S63, with chronic diarrhea — with this excep- 



214 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



tion he was always an active soldier and prompt 
and efficient in the discharge of his duty. 
After the war he returned to Cuyahoga Falls 
and worked for Turner, \'aughn & Taylor for 
twenty years, in the wood-working department, 
and then engaged in the furniture and under- 
taking business with his father. He married, 
July 2, 1866, at Lebanon, Pa., Lucy E. 
Warner, who was born May 5, 1 841, in .Spring- 
field township. Summit county, Ohio, and a 
daughter of John Warner. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Brown were born Ida A., Charles A. and I^irdie 
B. Mr. Brown is a member of Eadie post, 
No. 37, G. A. R., Cuyahoga Fails, and is now 
quartermaster, and also of Howard lodge, No. 
36, I. O. O. F., and is an honored and respected 
citizen. 

Simon Brown, father of our subject, was 
born in Pennsylvania February 21, 181 1, a 
son of Jacob I^)rown, of sturdy Pennsylvania- 
Dutch stock. Simon came to Cu3ahoga Falls 
when a young man, about 1833 or 1834, and 
learned cabinetmaking and undertaking of J. 
T. Holloway, and, when he had learned his 
trade, engaged in business for himself at Cuy- 
ahoga Fails, and so continued for more than 
sixty years, or until his death, October 5, 1895. 
He was very industrious and reliable, and 
through his long business career was seldom 
away from his duties. He married Elizabeth 
Pontious, born March 25, 18 17, in Lake county, 
near Hartsville, Ohio, a daughter of Solomon 
Pontious. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Brown were born Josiah, 
April 28, 1838; Harriet E., February 10, 1840, 
and Ezra, January 18, 1842. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown were members of the Methodist 
church, in which he took an active interest 
and to which he contributed liberally. In pol- 
itics he was a republican and was a strong 
Union man. His son Ezra served in the Sev- 
enth Ohio volunteer infantry for about one 
year, was wounded in the hand badly, and was 



honorably discharged. This wound caused 
his health to be totally ruined. Simon Brown, 
father of our subject, was a well known and 
highly respected citizen and had the respect of 



all thr()Ugh(5ut his long life. 



HUSTIN K. BREWSTER, one of the 
most enterprising business men of 
Akron, was born in Coventry town- 
ship. Summit county, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 23, 1845, 's a son of Alexander and Mar- 
garet (Kinney) Brewster, and paternally is of 
remote Scottish extraction, William Brewster, 
the progenitor of the family of that name in 
America, having been a native-born Caledo- 
nian who came to America in trie Mayflower, 
in 1620, landing on Plymouth Rock, Mass. 
From him descended \N'illiam Brewster, the 
great-grandfather of our subject, who married 
a Miss Woodard and lived in Groton, Conn. 

Stephen Brewster, son of the last-men- 
tioned William, and grandfather of our sub- 
ject, was born in Groton, New London coun- 
ty, Conn., May 4, 1770, became a carpen- 
ter and joiner, and married Lydia Bellis, 
who was born in Connecticut, May 14, 177'> 
a daughter of John Bellis, who lost three 
sons on board men-of-war during the war 
of the Revolution. To the marriage of 
Stephen Brewster were born the following 
children: James G. ; Lucinda, who was mar- 
ried to James Edrington; Charlotte, married 
to Martin Hansell; Hannah, married to Will- 
iam Clark; Hiram, who died in infancy, and 
Alexander. In i Soo the family moved from 
Connecticut to Whitestown, Oneida count}', 
N. Y., and in 1812 came in wagons to Sum- 
mit count}', Ohio, there being at that date 
only two log cabins in Akron. The}' cut a 
road from East Akron through the wilderness 
to Akron, part of this road being now Buch- 
tel avenue, and here the father bought the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



215 



farm of 160 acres on which John Brewster 
now resides, built on it the first habitation — a 
log cabin — and cleared up the land. In 181 5, 
Stephen Brewster erected the first frame house 
in the township, and, being a zealous Presby- 
terian, the early meetings of this sect in the 
neighborhood were held in this new dwelling. 
Stephen and wife later became charter mem- 
bers of, and largely aided in building, the 
First Tallmadge and Second Springfield town- 
ship Presbyterian churches. Mrs. Lydia 
Brewster died in this faith at the age of 
seventy-one years, and Mr. Brewster died, an 
equally devout Presbyterian, July 4, 1858, 
aged eighty years and two months. 

Alexander I>rewster, youngest child of 
Stephen and Lydia Brewster and father of 
our subject, was born in Oneida county, N. 
Y. , September 10, 1808, and was consequent- 
ly four years of age when the family reached 
Summit county, Ohio, the day on which the 
war of 18 1 2 was declared against Great Brit- 
ain. He was educated in the log school- 
houses of the frontier, and lived on the home 
farm until his marriage, January 9, 1830, to 
Margaret A. Kinney, who was born May 14, 
18 1 3, a daughter of Ephraim and Mary Kin- 
ney. To this marriage were born the follow- 
ing children; Louisa, wife of J. F. Michum; 
Alfred A.; Ephraim; Mary; Melissa, wife of 
R. H. Kent, and Austin K. 

In 1848, Mr. Brewster engaged in coal 
mining, and before retiring had made it the 
largest industr}' in this line in the state, as will 
be shown in the coming paragraph, but it is 
here necessary to introduce an episode in the 
life of Mr. Brewster. March i8, 1850, he, in 
company with several others, started for the 
gold fields of California, going by wagon to 
Saint Louis, Mo., thence by steamboat up the 
Missouri river to Saint Jo, and then by wagon 
across the plains, through hordes of hostile 
Indians, to Sacramento, and while on this 



trip saw many hundred persons die of cholera. 
For about one year he engaged in gold digging, 
and then returned to Ohio and resumed coal 
mining. 

While in the coal business, Mr. Brewster, 
in company with his sons, exhausted about ten 
mines, and the books of the company, kept in 
Cleveland, show that he handled from 300,000 
to 500,000 tons of coal yearly for twenty-one 
years, besides other outputs, not recorded in 
the books mentioned. The company had al- 
most exclusive control of the mines on the 
Cleveland & Ohio canal, and continued their 
operations until 1865, when Mr. Brewster re- 
tired to Akron with a competency, and this 
city is still his home. 

December 14, 1854, Mrs. Margaret A. 
Brewster was called from earth, and some 
time afterward Mr. Brewster married Minerva 
Brown, who died September 6, 1877. Mr. 
Brewster next married Mrs. Lucy J. Chamber- 
lain, daughter of Justus and Sarah (Hyde) 
Gale, who came from Brattleboro, \'t., in 
1833, to Akron, Ohio, which then contained 
a population of about 300. Here Mr. Gale 
became a prosperous merchant, accumulated 
valuable property, and died in the faith of the 
Episcopalian church, and in politics was a whig. 
During the active years of his life, Mr. Brew- 
ster was a class leader in the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, and has always been most liberal 
in his contributions toward the support of 
church and school. At the age of eighty-nine 
years, he is to-day one of the oldest, most 
prominent and most respected of the citizens 
of Summit county. 

Austin K. Brewster was educated in the 
district schools of Coventry township, in the 
Greenburg seminary, and in the public schools 
of Akron, and began his business life in 1S65 
by becoming bookkeeper in the office of his 
father, in Coventry township. The same year, 
the firm of Brewster & Sons was formed, and 



n& 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in 1867 the Brewster Coal company was in- 
corporated, since when Austin K. has been its 
secretary and treasurer. In 1869 he came to 
Akron, the main office of the company being 
transferred to this city, and here he has ever 
since made his home. May 25, 1875, Mr. 
Brewster married Miss Louise Hitchcock, 
daughter of Frederick and Laura L. (Seekins) 
Hitchcock, of Cleveland, Ohio, and this union 
was blessed with one child, Liona L.. born 
May 4, 1882. Mrs. Louisa Brewster, it is 
painful to add. was called from earth and from 
her family April 6. 1897. 



^"V'ELAH WARREN BURT, mayor of 
•^^^kT Kent, Ohio, was born in Franklin 

h*^,^_y township. Portage county, June 1 5, 
1835, the }ounger of the two children 
born to Warren and Lydia (Shurtlif?) Burt, and 
is a representative of one of the pioneer fam- 
ilies of Franklin township. 

Martin Burt, grandfather of subject, was a 
native of Northhampton, Mass., was a farmer, 
and in 1821 traded his land in the Bay state 
for 600 acres in Ohio, and the same year came 
to Portage county and settled in F""ranklin 
township, where he cleared up a farm adjoin- 
ing Lake Brady, being one of the first settlers 
of that neighborhood. To him and wife, Phil- 
omelia (Robinson) Burt, were born si.x chil- 
dren, viz: Warren, father of subject; Martin, 
who resides in Virginia; Philomelia (Mrs. 
Ormsby), of Vermillion, Ohio; Horace, de- 
ceased; Dorcas C. , who was married to Rodney 
Wing and died in Birmingham, Ohio; Electa, 
wife of Samuel Wales, of River Falls, Wis. 

Warren Burt, father of Selah W., was 
born in Northampton, Mass., August 5, 1806, 
and came to Ohio with his parents, driving a 
team all the way and arriving in Portage county 
on his fifteenth birttidaj'. Here he grew to 
manhood, assisting his father in clearing up the 



new homestead, and working on the dams and 
locks of the Pennsylvania & Ohio canal, in the 
meantime receiving a very fair common-school 
education. November 30, 1829, he married 
Miss Lydia, daughter of Selah and Pruanna 
(Phillips) Shurtliff, and a native of South 
Hampden, Mass., born in 18 10, and also came 
to Ohio in 1820 with her parents, who settled 
in Franklin township, Portage county. At his 
marriage, Warren Burt was presented bj' his 
father with a tract of eighty acres of the orig- 
inal 600 acres of land, on which he lived until 
1863, when he removed to Kent, where his 
wife died in 1886, since when he has made his 
home with his son, Selah W. To his marriage 
there were born two children, viz: Lydia 
Louisa, wife of T. M. Sawyer, of Cleveland, 
and Selah Warren, the subject of this memoir. 
In politics Mr. Rurt was first a whig but is now 
a republican, and in religion he has been a 
member of the Christian church since almost 
childhood, and of this church his wife was also 
a member. 

Selah Warren Burt was reared on the home 
farm in Franklin township, received his ele- 
mentary education in the common schools and 
then attended Hiram college two terms. In 
August, 1859, he first married Miss Sarah 
Stowe, who died in April, 1861, leaving one 
child, also deceased. In 1862 he married Miss 
Susan A. Stratton, a native of Franklin town- 
ship and a daughter of Josejih B. and Ruth 
(Olin) Stratton, and this union has been 
blessed with one daughter, Cora M., wife of 
Frank C. Green, of Kent. Joseph B. Stratton, 
father of Mrs. Burt, was a native of Vermont, 
was a farmer, and ended his earthly cares in 
the city of Kent. 

Mr. Burt followed agriculture as a calling 
on his farm of eighty-two acres until 1886, 
when, on the death of his mother, he retired 
to Kent. In politics he has always been an 
active republican and his first public office was 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



217 



that of township trustee of Franklin, w hich he 
held for over twenty years. In 1893 he was 
elected infirmary director, which office he still 
holds. He ser\ed as member of the city coun- 
cil of Kent for one term, and in 1806 was 
elected mayor. He has proven faithful and 
efficient in every trust reposed in him, and is 
deservedly popular with his party as well as 
with the general public. He is a member of 
Kockton lodge. No. 316, A. F. & A. M., of 
which he is a past worshipful master. His 
wife and daughter are members of the Univer- 
salist church. Sociallj' the family stands very 
high, and their circle of acquaintance em- 
braces a wide extent of the territory of Frank- 
lin township. 



>Y*^H^^ P". BYERS, manager of the John 
M F. Byers Machine company, Ravenna, 
m J was born in Milton township, Mahon- 
ing county, Ohio, November 13, 1844, 
a son of Frederick and Ann (Reichard) Byers, 
natives of Pennsylvania, and the parents of 
five children, four of whom are still living, viz: 
John F., George R. , Charles, and Hattie, the 
wife of .A. Trowbridge. 

Frederick Byers, the paternal grandfather 
of subject, was born in Germany, lived for 
many years in Pennsylvania, but died in Ma- 
honing county, Ohio, at the age of eighty-si.\ 
years, the father of a large family. John 
Reichard, the maternal grandfather, was also 
a native of Germany, first settled in the Key- 
stone state, later came to Mahoning county, 
Ohio, and there died at an advanced age. 
Frederick Byers, the younger, father of John 
I'. Byers, was reared on a farm in Pennsyl- 
vania, came to Ohio in his early manhood and 
lived in Mahoning county until within ten 
years of his death, which occurred in Ravenna, 
March 4, 1869. His wife died in 1887, a 
member of the Lutheran church. 



John F. Byers, the subject of this biog- 
raphy, was educated in the district schools of 
his native county and reared on the home farm 
until nearly seventeen years of age. About 
1859 he came to Ravenna, learned the stone- 
cutter's trade, and worked on a neighboring 
farm until twenty-one years old, and then 
worked for fourteen years for the railroad 
company as stonecutter. His next step in 
business was to establish his present machine 
shop, which employs, when in full running 
order, about fifty hands. 

On the /th day of August, 1890, Mr. Byers 
was united in marriage with Miss Kate Palm, 
daughter of Adam Palm, and this happy mar- 
riage has been blessed with four children, born 
in the following order: Fred, Anna, John and 
Eve. Mr. Byers and family have a pleasant 
home one mile south of Ravenna, where he 
owns a farm of 125 acres, which, beside being 
pleasant — Mr. Byers having been reared a 
farmer — is made profitable through his skillful 
direction. Mr. Byers is a non-affiliating Odd 
Fellow, although for a number of years he was 
an active member of that order. In his poli- 
tics he is independent and votes for the man 
he thinks to be best qualified to fill the offices 
necessary to be filled — preferring to devote 
his time and attention to the needs of his 
patrons rather than wasting it by dabbling in 
party feuds. He and wife enjoy a high posi- 
tion socially and are much esteemed by all 
who know them. 



BRED I. BEAN, the gentlemanly pro- 
prietor of the Etna House, Ravenna, 
Ohio, is a native of Hammondsville, 
Ohio, was born January 17, 1869, 
and is the only survivor of the three children 
born to James and Eli/.a (Downer) Bean, the 
former of whom, also a native of Ohio, was a 
physician, but died when the subject was in 



218 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



his infancy; the mother, now Mrs. H. S. 
Shannon, is a resident of Ravenna, Ohio. 
Subject was educated at Ada, Ohio, and grad- 
uated from the Northwestern Ohio university; 
his life has been passed almost entirely in ho- 
tels, his step-father, Mr. Shannon, having had 
an extensive e.xperience in this line of busi- 
ness, and to him subject owes much of his in- 
struction in hotel keeping. 

The Etna House, of which Mr. Bean took 
charge June i, 1896, was thoroughly reno- 
vated and remodeled and is to-daj' the most 
favored of the hotels in Ravenna. The dining- 
room service is perfect and the employees 
courteous and polite on all occasions. The 
tables are supplied with the choicest viands 
that can be procured, and three complete 
meals are furnished daily — not with one good 
dinner and a light breakfast and supper, as is 
the custom with many hotels — but three sub- 
stantial repasts. The rooms are neatly fu r- 
nished and steamheated — thebeds are luxuri- 
ous and inviting to repose, and the Etna is 
rapidly becoming the choice of resorts by the 
traveling men of northeastern Ohio, who es- 
teem themselves fortunate if they reach the 
house in time to pass a Sunday or a holiday. 
No large city hotel could boast of a more ele- 
gant menu than that prepared at the Etna for 
Thanksgiving day, 1S96, and the daily fare is 
proportionately liberal and choice. In con- 
nection with the hotel is a bar, from which all 
gambling and its devices are strictly excluded. 
This is presided over by a temperate and po- 
lite gentleman, who caters to a legitimate 
trade, supplying the choicest articles of con- 
sumption, but discourages all loungers and dis- 
reputable visitants. The two clerks of the ho- 
tel are affable and obliging, and use every 
eflort to make the guests feel at home. Mr. 
Bean is himself a frank, genial and cordial 
gentleman, whose long experience as man- 
ager and proprietor of hotels here and else- 



where has well fitted him for the discharge of 
his duties in the delicate profession he has 
chosen to pursue, and all acknowledge him to 
be able and thorough in all its multifarious 
departments. 

Mr. Bean is prominent in Freemasonr)', 
being a member of Rockton lodge. No. 316, 
A. & F. M., of Kent; of Tyrian chapter. No. 
91, R. A. M., of Ravenna, and of Akron com- 
mandery, No. 25, K. T., and also of the Or- 
der of the Eastern Star, and Crescent lodge, 
225, Ravenna. In politics he is a republican. 



aHRISTIAN CACKLER, one of the 
most prominent native farmers of 
Franklin township. Portage count}', 
Ohio, and a representative of one of 
the oldest families in the county, and the third 
of his name, was born August 17, 1S36, in 
the house in which he resided until the spring 
of 1897, when he removed to Kent — a son of 
Christian and Tharisa (Nighman) Cackler, of 
whom a biography will be presented further 
on. The house in which subject was born 
was erected by his father in 1829, was one of 
the first brick mansions erected in portage 
county, is still an elegant residence, and here 
was organi2ed permanently the Pioneer asso- 
ciation of Portage county in 1S74. 

Christian Cackler, the subject, was edu- 
cated in the common schools of his district, 
and he also attended the schools of Kent for a 
few terms. All his life has been passed in the 
quiet but noble pursuit of agriculture, and he 
now owns 114 acres of land in one body, this 
being his portion of the original 400 acres 
owned by his father. He was married August 
10, 1862, to Elizabeth Mary Bently, daughter 
of John Bently, of Kent. This lad\- was born 
in New York city January 29, 1S43, and when 
fifteen years of age came with her parents to 
Portage count\', Ohio. To her marriage with 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMxMIT COUNTIES. 



21i> 



Mr. Cackler she has borne two children, viz: 
John C, who was born January 13, 1872, 
and who married in December, 1894, Miss 
Mary Hilderhoof, the result of this union being 
one son, Donald G., and whose residence is in 
Kent; Theresa Ella Louisa, the second child 
of Mr. and Mrs. Cackler, resides with her par- 
ents and is a music teacher. In politics Mr. 
Cackler has always been a democrat, is at 
present a township trustee, and has held sev- 
eral other township offices as a matter of pub- 
lic duty, but not for either emolument or 
honor. Fraternally he is a knight templar 
Mason, and both his wife and daughter are 
members of the order of the Eastern Star, an 
au.\iliary branch of the Masonic order for the 
benefit of the wives and daughters of Masons. 
To revert to the life of the parents of sub- 
ject: Christian Cackler, one of the first settlers 
of Portage county, died at his residence, in 
Franklin township, on the morning of July 5th, 
1878. He was born in Washington county. 
Pa. , June 27, 1791. In the spring of 1804, 
with his father and eldest brother, he moved 
to Hudson, Ohio. Three years later he was 
bound out to remain till he was twenty-one, 
that he might help support the family. Shortly 
after he obtained his freedom, he enlisted in 
the war of 18 12, and remained in service one 
year and twenty days. In August, 18 14, by 
Frederick Caris, Esq., he was married to Miss 
Tharisa Nighman. This was the first white 
couple married in Franklin township. On 
January i, 18 16, he moved to the place where 
he resided until death. The young couple 
had to endure the privations and hardships 
incident to the early settlement of Portage 
county. The prospect before them would not, 
to young people of this generation, seem very 
inviting. Mr. Cackler had an ax, and his 
wife a bed, and they purchased three white 
saucers, three knives and forks, and a wooden 
pail. These articles, with three wooden plates. 



a kettle and a table that was given them, com- 
posed their "set out." They contracted for 
fifty acres of land for $175, and they had to 
labor, struggle and economize for seventeen 
years to obtain a deed. This was a grand 
triumph over trying difficulties and adverse 
surroundings, and prepared the wa\' for other 
victories. From this time they were blessed 
with material prosperity. Hy honest work, 
frugal management, and the rise of real estate, 
they acquired a valuable property. For 
nearh' fifty years they lived and toiled together. 
Of twelve children all but one lived to years 
of maturity, and three still survive, and reside 
at, or near, the uld home. Of thirty-two 
grandchildren all but one survive their honored 
ancestors. 

Mrs. Tharisa Cackler listed until April 23, 
I SG9, when she expired at her home in Frank- 
lin township from a paralytic shock. She was 
born in- Hagerstown, Md., November 23, 1791, 
and came to Franklin township. Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, with her parents, in 1808. Here- 
with is appended in chronological order the 
complete genealogy of this old and respectable 
Ohio family, from the original pioneer to the 
birth of the subject of this memoir: 

Christian Cackler, Sr. , born January 27. 
1756; Mrs. Julia Ann (wife of C. Cackler), 
born October 14, 1759; Peggy Cackler, born 
December 7, 1780; Elizabeth, born March 12, 
1782; Polly, born August 12, 1783; Susan, 
born September 3, 1785; Catherine, born June 
5, 1787; Abraham, l)orn May 5, 17S9; Chris- 
tian Cackler, Jr., born June 27, 1791; John, 
born October 22, 1793; J'llia Ann, born 
March 22, 1796; Sarah, born May 16, 1798; 
Peter, born November 13, 1801. C. Cackler, 
Sr., was married January 27, 1780; died Sep- 
tember 28, 1830. Mrs. C. died November 23. 

1831. 

Record of Mrs. Cackler's family: Tharisa 
Nighman, born November 23, 1791; George, 



220 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



born August 28, 1793; John, born August 8, 
'795; Catherine, born September 15, 1797; 
Henry, born October 6, 1799; Peggy, born 
May 6, 1801; David, born October 10, 1802; 
Frederick and Polly, born September 5, 1804; 
Eliza, born February 13, 1807; William, born 
November 18, 18 10; Emily, born Deceinber 
23, 1813; Adam Nighman, father of Mrs. 
Cackler, born June 21, 1764, and Elizabeth 
(Mrs. X.), born April i, 1772. The former 
died June 12, 1835, and the latter August 5, 
1840; David died April 23, 1826, and George 
died June 12, 1835. 

Christian Cackler, Jr., was born June 27, 
1 791. Tharisa Cackler was born November 
23, 1791; died April 23, 1869, aged seventy- 
eight years. George Cackler was born Feb- 
ruary 13, 181 5; Almon Cackler was born Au- 
gust 21, 1816 — died July 2, 1845, aged twen- 
ty-nine years. Polly Cackler was born Feb- 
ruary 26, 18 1 8. Elizabeth Cackler was born 
March 19, 1820 — died February 15, 1872, 
aged fifty-two years. Harriet Cackler was 
born November 20, 1822- died April 10, 1849, 
aged twenty-seven years. Edwin and Edward 
Cackler were born April 10, 1824. Edward 
died February i, 1826, aged two years. 
Caroline Cackler was born May 31, 1826 — 
died April 23, 1849, aged twenty-three years. 
Jacob Cackler was born October 3, 1828. 
Julia Ann Cackler was born August 10, 1830. 
Delanah Cackler was born July 12, 1834. 
Christian Cackler III was born August 17, 
1836. 



m. 



'ILLIAM HENRY CANFIELD, 
bookkeeper for the Ravenna Shoe 
company, was born in this city 
September 6, 1 840, and is a son 
of William Harrison and Lydia Thompson 
(Frary) Canfield, the former of whom was 
born in Edinburg, Portage county, Ohio, and 



the latter in North Becket, Berkshire county, 
Mass., but came when quite young to Ohio 
with her father. 

William Harrison Canfield, father of our 
subject, was well educated in the district 
schools of Edinburg, then learned cabinet- 
making, which he followed many years, and 
then engaged in undertaking, removing to 
Windham, Portage county, in 1841, where he 
lived until 1858, when he came to Ravenna, re- 
mained here one year, and then went to Corry, 
Pa., where he passed the remainder of his 
life. 

William Henry Canfield, the subject, was 
educated in the common schools and in the 
academy of Windham; at the age of fifteen 
years, came to Ra\'enna and entered the store 
of Bostwick & Beatty as clerk, whence he 
went to Cleveland and took a course of six 
months in the Spencerian Business college, 
thoroughlv learning bookkeeping and business 
methods generalh'. He then clerked for Ed- 
win Holden, at Charleston, Portage county, 
for a year and a half, and afterward went to 
Youngstown, Ohio, where he started a gro- 
cery, which he later merged into a general 
store, this being about the time of the open- 
ing of the Civil war. In 1865 he sold out his 
Youngstown establishment and went to Corr\', 
Pa., in 1866, where he entered the freight 
office of the Atlantic & Great Western Rail- 
way company and remained until 1869, when 
he returned to Youngstown, Ohio: where he 
was employed in the office of the same com- 
pany as bookkeeper for fourteen jears. About 
two years of this time, however, he was in 
charge of the Shenango company's coal mines, 
under the general manager, R. J. \\'ick. 
About this time Mr. Canfield's health began 
to fail, and for a time he withdrew from 
his too confining vocation, and found desul- 
tory employment with the board of elections, 
also served as juror and as assessor until Feb- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



221 



ruary i, 1S93, when he returned to Ravenna 
and assumed the duties of his present posi- 
tion, which he has since filltd in a most satis- 
factory manner. 

September 2, 1S62, Mr. Canfieid married, 
in Youngstown, Miss Elizabeth Burnet, deugh- 
terof Stephen F. and Harriet (Drake) Burnet, 
the union resulting in the birth of nine children, 
viz. : Emma Lydia, Mary Elizabeth, Fordham 
Harrison, Frederick Wesley (deceased), Cyrus 
Burnet and Harriet Iva (deceased), Clara 
Louise, William Jay and Charles Henry. The 
father of Mrs. Canfield, Stephen F. Burnet, 
was born in New Jersey and his wife in Roche- 
dale, Lancashire, England. Mr. Canfield had 
three children, viz.: William H., Charles 
Wesley, who died in February, 1876, and Iva 
G. , now Mrs. J. P. Dawley, of Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

Mr. Canfield was formerly a member of 
lodge No. 365, F. & A. M., of Corry, Pa., but 
is now an unaffiliating Mason. In religion he 
is a Methodist, and at Youngstown was record- 
ing steward and trustee of his congregation; 
with his family he is now a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church of Ravenna, of 
which he is also a steward. In politics he is a 
strong republican and a believer in a protective 
tariff and sound monej'. 



ta 



'ILLIAM I. CARIS, D. D. S., one of 
the most scientific dentists of the 
state of Ohio, and now a resident 
of Kent, was born on his father's 
farm in Portage county, September 4, 1852. 
He is the inventor of the Caris Electro-anss- 
therizer, and is at the head of a company in 
Kent organized for the manufacture of the 
same. 

John Caris, grandfather of subject, was a 
native of Connecticut, was a soldier of the 
Revolutionary war, and while yet a single man 



came to Ohio and was one of the first settlers 
in Rootstown, Portage county, of which town- 
ship, also, he was the first justice of the peace. 
He was a millwright by trade and a general 
wood worker, was very ingenious, and in- 
vented a wheel for spinning flax and wool, and 
also invented a turning lathe. He here mar- 
ried Elizabeth Hartle, by whom he became 
the father of nine children. \iz: George, a 
shoemaker; Michael, a farmer; Frederick, a 
blacksmith; Samuel, a farmer; Lycurgus, a 
stone and brick mason; Henry, a farmer: 
Mary, married to James Likings; Susan, wife 
of Nelson Fuller, and one other. These chil- 
dren all made their homes in Portage county 
excepting Lycurgus, who settled in LaGrange, 
Ind. Frederick Caris, a brother of John, 
came with the latter to Portage county and 
engaged in farming. 

Samuel Caris, father of Dr. William I. 
Caris, was born in Rootstown township De- 
cember 27, 1823, a son of John and Elizabeth 
Caris. He was reared a farmer and married 
Rachel Ward, who was born in Rootstown 
June 20, 1824, a daughter of \Villiam and 
Betsey (Eatinger) Ward. William Ward, 
while serving in the army during the Revolu- 
tionary war, was badly injured and was carried 
from the field to camp b\' his comrade, John 
Caris, and this incident made them lasting 
friends — three sons of John Caris subsequently 
marrying three of the daughters of William 
Ward. John Caris lived to reach the age of 
eighty-two years, but his friend, William 
Ward, died when seventy-three or seventy- 
four years old. To the marriage of Samuel 
Caris and wife were born three children, viz: 
Belle, wife of Ira L. Herriff, of Kent; Dr. 
William I.; and Frank D., who died at the 
age of seven years. The mother of these chil- 
dren passed away in June, 1895; the father is 
living in Kent, but still owns the home farm. 
He has alwavs been a democrat, but has taken 



222 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



very little interest in politics, excepting the 
depositing of his ballot. 

Dr. William I. Caris lived on the home 
farm, attendinj^ school the meanwhile at Roots- 
town, until seventeen years old; he then passed 
a year at Ravenna in business, and at the age 
of eighteen commenced the study of dentistry 
with Dr. G. A. Case, under whose preceptor- 
ship he remained two years, and then opened 
an office in Huntington, W. Va., where he was 
in active practice until 1874, when he returned 
to Kent, Ohio, being now one of the oldest 
dentists in this city and standing in the front 
rank of the profession. He is an active worker 
in the Ohio State Dental society, in the North- 
ern Ohio Dental society, the Odontological 
society, the West Penn Dental society, of 
Pittsburg, and of the Lake Erie Dental so- 
ciety, and is a constant attendant at their 
meetings as well as a valuable contributor to 
their professional literature. He is the invent- 
or of the most wonderful and effective cata- 
phoric instrument ever discovered, which is 
denominated the Caris electro-antestherizer, 
and is unequivocally endorsed bj' hundreds of 
professional dentists of the highest reputation 
who have used the little instrument or ma- 
chine, and a company has been formed in 
Kent for its manufacture. Dr. Caris has been 
also instrumental in advancing other local en- 
terprises in Kent, and is a stockholder in the 
Royal Machine company, which manufactures 
refrigerators, steam engines, etc. ; he is also a 
stockholder in the Kent opera house, of which 
he was the first manager, holding that position 
two years. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow, 
and has passed all the chairs in his lodge; is a 
member of Akron encampment. No. 18, and 
of grand canton, No. 2, being brigade surgeon 
of the Ohio division and holding the rank of 
major; he is also a Knight of Pythias, being a 
past chancellor commander, and now a mem- 
ber of McPherson lodge. No. 65, at Akron; 



likewise, he is a member of the Royal Ar- 
canum. 

March 25, 1876, Dr. Caris married Miss 
Roxie S. Parmelee, and this union has re- 
sulted in the birth of two bright children — 
Carl P. and Mabel D. In politics the doctor 
was a democrat until the formation of the 
greenback party, with which he identified him- 
self and was elected city clerk; he was then 
appointed to fill an unexpired term as mayor 
of Kent, and after the expiration of his term 
was elected to succeed himself and served one 
full term. While mayor he succeeded in in- 
troducing the present waterworks system in 
Kent, the contract for the construction of the 
plant being let under his administration. He 
is now serving his second term in the city 
council. The doctor has made every dollar 
he owns, although his father once went his se- 
curity for $400, which has long since been 
paid by the doctor. The father could have 
done better, but had full confidence in his 
son's ability to succeed with this little aid, and 
he was not disappointed. 



,>^^EWTON CHALKER, one of the 
I M most sagacious and experienced at- 
K f torneys-at-law of Akron, Ohio, with 
his office at No. 130 South Howard 
street, has been a resident of this city since 
1874. He is a native of the Buckeye state, 
and was born in Southington, Trumbull coun- 
ty, September 12, 1842, a son of James, Jr.. 
and Eliza J. (Hyde) Chalker, both, also na- 
tives of Trumbull county. The families on 
both sides were from Connecticut and were of 
English descent, the paternal branch having 
come to America about the year 1640. 

James Chalker, Jr. , father of Newton 
Chalker. the subject, was twice married, his 
first wife having been Miss Eliza J. Hyde, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



223 



who bore him four children, viz: Benson, 
who (lied in childhood; Byron, a farmer of 
Southington, Trumbull county, who died at 
the age of fifty-two years; Newton was the 
third born; Columbus, also a farmer, who 
died at the age of twenty-seven years. The 
mother of this family died December 24, 
1849, and Mr. Chalker then married Adaline 
Timmerman, of York state, who bore two 
daughters — Mary J., deceased wife of A. J. 
Morris, of Southington, and Bertha, wife of 
Thomas McConnell, of Warren, Ohio. The 
father, James Chalker, Jr., lived to reach the 
age of eighty-two years, and died September 
23, 1893. 

Newton Chalker was reared in his native 
township and attended the district school un- 
til he was fourteen years of age, and then at- 
tended the Western Reserve seminary, at 
Farmington, Trumbull county, at intervals, 
until he reached his twenty-first year, when 
he entered Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., 
from which he graduated in the class of 1866 
with the degree of A. B. , and later received 
the degree of A. M. The year of 1866-67 h^ 
was principal of the Dixon (111.) seminary, and 
in 1867-68 was superintendent of the public 
schools at Darlington, Wis.; in 1868-69 he 
attended the law school of Albany, N. Y. , 
graduated in 1869, receiving the degree of 
LL. B. , and was at once admitted to the bar 
of New York, but soon afterward went to 
Cameron, Mo. , was admitted to the bar of 
that state, and for five years was there en- 
gaged in active practice. In 1874, as before 
stated, he came to Akron, Ohio, where he has 
since been occupied in general practice, and 
in handling real estate. He has made two 
allotments in the city of Akron, the first being 
known as Chalker's sub-division of a part of 
the original plat, and the second as Chalker's 
North Hill addition, and which comprises 
twenty-one acres. Mr. Chalker has also been 



a stockholder and a director in the People's 
Savings bank of Akron. 

In 1893 Mr. Chalker praticall)- retired from 
business and passed much time in travel. He 
visited Canada, most of the states of the 
Union, and Mexico. In 1895-96, he made a 
tour around the world, visiting the leading na- 
tions of the earth. 

In politics Mr. Chalker is a republican, in 
religion a rationalist; he is also a member of 
Buckley post, G. A. R., having enlisted in the 
Civil war, in company B. Eighty-seventh Ohio 
volunteer infantry, and having been engaged 
in the three days' battle at Harper's Ferry, 
■Va., in September, 1863, under Gen. Miles, 
who was defeated by the larger army of Stone- 
wall Jackson. After a service of four months, 
he was honorably mustered out at Delaware, 
Ohio. Mr. Chalker is unmarried, but has a 
pleasant home at No. 907 North Howard street. 
He is-truly a self-made man, having acquired 
his success through his astuteness as an attor- 
ney, his financiering abilities, and, above all, 
his unswerving integrity and diligence in car- 
ing for the interests of his patrons. 



ORIN D. CHILDS, M. D., an eminent 
physician and surgeon of Broadway 
and Market streets, Akron, Ohio, is 
native of Washington county, Vt. , 
was born in February, 1840, and is a son of 
Dennis and Angeline (Straw) Childs, of En- 
glish descent. 

Dennis Childs, father of the doctor, was a 
farmer and civil engineer and quite distin- 
guished in his native state of Vermont in pub- 
lic affairs, having been twice elected to the leg- 
islature and having filled several minor offices. 
In the fall of 1855 he removed to Wisconsin, 
where he quietly followed agriculture until his 
death. His children, who all grew to matur- 
ity, were si.\ in number, and were named, in 



224 



PORTRAIT AND I5IOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



order of birth, Ruth, who is married; O. D., 
the subject; A. S., a homeopathic physician of 
Chicago, 111. ; A. A., a dentist of Akron, Ohio; 
Eunice, wife of Charles Remington, of Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. , and Mary, wife of Myron Sam- 
phere. 

Dr. O. D. Childs was educated in the com- 
mon and high schools of \'ermont and Wis- 
consin, having been fifteen years of age when 
he accompanied his parents to the latter state. 
He was reared to farming, and in February, 
1865, enlisted for the war in company D, 
Forty-ninth Wisconsin volunteer infantry, and 
served until honorably discharged at Madison, 
Wis., in October, 1865, long after the war had 
closed. In the fall of the same year he came 
to Ohio and entered the office of Prof. T. 
P. Wilson, in Cleveland, where he read medi- 
cine until prepared to enter the Cleveland 
Homeopathic college, where he attended lec- 
tures until his graduation in February, 1867. 
In the fall of 1868 he assisted in organizing 
the Woman's Homeopathic college of Cleve- 
land, in which he filled the chair of anatomy 
until this college was merged into the Cleve- 
land Homeopathic Medical college. During 
the interval, however, he had opened an office 
for practice in Akron, in 1867, and alternated 
his professional with his college duties. The 
doctor has made nervous disorders a special 
study, and his practice has been very lucrative 
and successful. For twenty years the doctor 
has been a member of the state Homeopathic 
Medical society, was one of the organizers of 
the Northeastern Ohio Medical society, and 
also of the Summit county Homeopathic Clinical 
Medical society, as well as of the Cleveland 
Medical college, of which he is still one of the 
trustees. In 1871 he became a member of 
Akron lodge, No. 83, F. & A. M. He is pub- 
lic spirited to a marked degree, and eager to 
advance the prosperity of his adopted city. 
He was one of the organizers of the Citizens' 



Savings & Loan association in 1871, and is still 
a stockholder and directqr; also an organizer 
of and director in the Akron Belting company; 
also a director in the Akron Abstract & Title 
Guarantee company, and is active in other en- 
terprises. In 1870 he was one of the organiz- 
ers of the Y. M. C. A., of which he was pres- 
ident for the years 1874, 5 and 6. 

Dr. Childs is emphatically a self-made 
man in the business sense of the expression. 
having begun life with little or no pecuniary 
assistance, and now standing in the front rank 
among the members of his profession, as well 
as among the solid business men of the citj' of 
Akron. 

The doctor was united in marriage in June, 
1890, with Miss Lillian R. Robertson, daugh- 
rer of Capt. Robertson, now of Kansas City. 
Mo., but formerly for many years a steamboat 
captain on the lower Ohio and Mississippi riv- 
ers. The marriage of the doctor has been 
blessed with one child — Celeste Angeline. 



,>^ ENJAMIN F. CLARK, recorder of 

l/*^ Summit county, was born in Colum- 

J^^^ biana county, Ohio, January 24, 1841, 

a son of George Calhoun and Susan 

A. (Lee) Clark. 

George Calhoun Clark was a nati\e of 
Lancaster county. Pa., of Scotch and Ger- 
man parentage. While an infant he was 
deprived by death of his father and was being 
reared in the Catholic faith by his mother, 
which, being obnoxious to him, caused him to 
desert his home at a tender age and seek a 
refuge in Virginia. There he spent his youthful 
days and managed to secure a good common- 
school education, and later learned the car- 
penter's trade; he next began the study of the 
Scriptures, with a view to entering the min- 
istry. While engaged in these studies he 
married Miss Susan A. Lee, a first cousin of 




^,j.-^' 7^. lyo.^^ 




OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



227 



Gen. Robert E. Lee, and daughter of William 
Lee, who married a Miss Atchison and resided 
Albemarle county, Va. After marriage Mr. 
Clark came to Ohio and located in New Lis- 
bon. Having united himself with the Disciples' 
church and entered the ministry, he devoted 
his life to that service, chiefly preaching in 
Columbiana, Trumbull, Stark, Wayne and 
Summit counties, Ohio, from the age of thirty 
years until his death, at the age of fifty-nine 
years, in Wooster, ^^''ayne county, August 12, 
iiS6o, while he was there in charge of the 
Disciples' church. His widow survived him 
until March 4, 1865, when she died also in 
Wooster. Their family comprised eight chil- 
dren, viz: William H., who died at Nashville, 
Tenn., at the age of thirty years; Mary A., 
widow of Lieut. George W. Pomeroy, of Akron; 
Sarah, who died in infancy; Nancy Lee, who 
died in Wooster in 1870, the wife of A. J. 
Harvey, a soldier of the Civil war; Sylvanus, 
who died in Millersburg, Holmes county, in 
1872, from the effects of wounds received at 
the battle of Pea Ridge, while serving as ser- 
geant in Capt. Hickenloope's battery; Eliza- 
beth F., who was first married to Stephen A. 
Goodrich, a soldier of company I, One Hun- 
dred and Second Ohio volunteer infantry, 
captured at Birmingham, Ala., and murdered 
by guerrillas, and whose second husband was 
E/ra Tryon, a veteran of the Mexican war, 
and later was wounded while serving in the 
Si.xth Ohio battery in the Civil war, but who 
died on his farm at Nelson Center, Portage 
county, in 1893; George W., a machinist of 
Kansas City, Mo., and a member for three 
years of company H, Sixteenth Ohio volunteer 
infantry; and Benjamin F., the subject. 

Benjamin F. Clark was reared in north- 
eastern Ohio, was educated in the public 
schools — principally of Massillon — and at the 
age of sixteen years entered the office of Dr. 

A. Met/., the noted oculist and surgeon of 

4 



Massillon, studied under him for three years, 
and was prepared for his first course of lectures 
when the Civil war broke out, and he en- 
listed, August 13, 1 86 1, in compan\- H, Six- 
teenth Ohio \olunteer infantry. He was 
wounded in the knee by a piece of shell at the 
siege of Vicksburg, Miss., late in 1862, was 
sent home, and, after careful nursing, recov- 
ered and re-enlisted March 20, 1864, entering 
company B, Mcl^oughlin's squad of cavalry, 
and participated in the engagements at Resaca, 
Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, around At- 
lanta and the raid on Macon, where he was 
taken by the enemy and sent to Andersonville, 
where he was confined nine months. He was 
one of the first 100 selected to be sent to .An- 
napolis, Md., for parole, and, like the others, 
was a mere skeleton, unable to walk, from star- 
vation. As soon as able to be transported he 
was returned to his home at \\'ooster, Ohio, but 
here collapsed, and for three months was on 
the verge of the grave. His good mother 
nursed him to life again, but at the sacrifice of 
her own; for, on the third day after he was 
was able to sit up, she lay down and three 
days later yielded up her faithful spirit. Mr. 
Clark then joined his regiment at Charlotte, 
N. C, and was placed on guard duty; shortly 
after his squadron was merged into company 
C, Ohio cavalry, and was finally mustered out 
at Charlotte, N. C, October 28, 1865. 

After returning from the war, Mr. Clark 
learned the printer's trade at Wooster, and 
about this time was married, of which event 
further mention will be made. At the same 
time, in partnership with his brother, George, 
he established a bakery and confectionery, 
which was continued for about one year. He 
then took his young wife to Canton, Ohio, 
entered the Repository office, Josiah Hartzell 
and Thomas Saxton proprietors, and was con- 
nected with this journal eight \ears, and, 
beside setting type, did much uf the local 



228 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



reporting and editorial work. In 1874 he 
came to Akron and ten years was a com- 
positor on the Beacon and eleven years on the 
editorial staff — having charge, during the three 
years of the latter period, of the local force. 
He gave some attention to politics while on 
the Beacon, but was not a seeker of office; 
nevertheless, being a stanch republican, he 
was solicited, in the fall of 1890, to become 
the candidate of his party for the office of 
recorder of Summit county — was elected, and 
re-elected in 1893. His term of office expired 
in January, 1897, and then he was appointed 
by the county commissioners to fill the vacancy 
in the office, occasioned b)' the change in time 
of the year when the recorder assumed the 
duties of the office. 

Beside wielding a trenchant and facile pen, 
Mr. Clark is a first-class business man. He 
was one of the founders of the Van Wart 
company and is its vice-president; he is also 
proprietor of a novelty store in Youngstown, 
which he has placed in charge of a son, and 
which he established in the spring of 1892; he 
is president of the board of trustees of the 
First church of Christ in Akron, and for seven 
years was secretary of the board of charities in 
this city. Fraternally, he is a member of 
Akron lodge, No. 547. I. O. O. F. , and of 
Akron encampment. No. 18; of grand canton 
Akron. No. 2, patriarchs militant, and past 
chief patriarch of Akron encampment; also 
assistant surgeon-general of the First brigade, 
patriarchs militant of Ohio, with the rank of 
major; is a member of Buckley post, G. A. R., 
and McPherson lodge, No. 63, K. of P. 

The marriage of Mr. Clark took place May 
I, 1866, with Miss Carrie Foltz, daughter of 
Moses and Sarah Foltz, the union resulting in 
the birth of four children, viz.: Harry W., 
who died at the age of six months; Cora Alice, 
wife of H. S. Brandon, picture-framer of 
.Akron; George Kean, manager of his father's 



store in Youngstown, and married to Miss Ona 
B. Waite, of Akron; and William Kean Foltz, 
at home with his parents. 



^>^ YRON CHAPMAN, M. D.. of Copley 
l^''^ township, Summit county, Ohio, was 
JK^^^ born near Skaneateles, N. Y., Jan- 
uary 8, 1822, a son of Ashbel and 
Polly (Lane) Chapman, natives of Massachu- 
setts and the parents of the following-named 
children: Orson C, Selina, Orlin C, Lovina, 
Melissa, Lucius, Cynthia (whose husband, H. 
D. Patch, was killed at Shiloh in the late 
Civil war), Percinda, Almeron, Philinda, Will- 
iam J., Byron and John H. 

The Chapman family came overland from 
New York by teams to Copley township. Sum- 
mit county, in the fall of 1835, and settled on 
a farm of 154 acres, one-half mile south of 
Center. Here Ashbel Chapman, who had 
fought at Lundy's Lane in the war of 1812, 
cleared up a comfortable home, and on this 
farm Byron was reared to manhood, attend- 
ing in the meanwhile the common and more 
advanced school, until twentj-two years of 
age. Having now decided to adopt the med- 
ical profession as his life-pursuit, he com- 
mended the study of the science under his 
brother, William J., then a practitioner of 
some note in Copley. Later he attended 
lectures at Cleveland (Ohio) Medical college, 
from which he was graduated in March, 1847. 
But, just about this time, his elder brother 
and preceptor, William J., was suddenly called 
from earth and his field of usefulness, yet 
Byron felt no hesitancy in taking charge of 
the deceased physician's patients, whom he so 
skillfully treated that his reputation was at 
once established, and an increased and lucra- 
tive practice has been his ever since. 

Dr. Byron Chapman was united in mar- 
riage, December 23, 1847, with Miss Matilda 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



229 



Dils, then of New Hudson, Oakland county, 
Mich., but a native of Cayuga county, N. Y., 
born April 1 1, 1830, a daughter of Abram and 
Mary (Polhamus) Dils. To this union have 
been born two children, Willis D. and Fan- 
nie P. 

Willis 1). Chapman was born October 3, 
1 84S, and was educated in Copley and the Penn- 
sylvania Polytechnic college of Philadelphia. 
He then became locating engineer on the 
Lake Shore tS; Tuscarawas Valley railway, 
held the position until 1871, and then filled a 
similar position on the Canada Southern rail- 
way from 1872 to 1876; was then engaged in 
general civil engineering, with headquarters at 
Toledo, Ohio, for two years; then was for two 
years mining engineer and United States dep- 
uty surveyor in Montana, and in Akron, Ohio, 
served as city engineer from 1886 until 1889, 
since which time he has been engaged in elec- 
tric street railway construction in Akron, Can- 
ton and Zanesville, Ohio. At present Mr. 
Chapman is general manager of the Akron 
Street Railway & Illuminating compan\-. He 
has been a member of the American society 
of Civil Engineers since 1883, and also of the 
Ohio society of Civil Engineers. His marriage 
took place February 26, 1873, to Miss Ella A. 
Marriner, who was born in Akron Alay 5, 1849, 
and to this union have' been born six children, 
viz: Charles A., Etha M., Willis D., Jr., 
Ella A., George B. and Fred. Fanny P. 
Chapman was born August 3, 1852, and is 
now the widow of Albert E. Hiestand, who 
was a prominent attorney of Akron. Mrs. 
Hiestand has her present residence with her 
parents in Copley, and is a lady of many esti- 
mable qualities. , 

Dr. Chapman has been a member of the 
republican party since its organization, assist- 
ing as a delegate to Columbus, Ohio, when 
the party was founded in this state. He has 
served as postmaster seventeen years, as town- 



ship clerk ten years, and as treasurer twenty- 
seven years. Fraternally, he is a member of 
Copley tent. No. 204, K. (). T. M., and has 
ever been a prominent man, professionally 
and socially, and has always held an advanced 
position in promoting the moral and educa- 
tional interests of his county and state. The 
doctor has acceptably filled a position on the 
school board for about twenty-two years, 
which speaks volumes for him as far as the 
esteem in which he is held by the general pub- 
lic is concerned, but his professional eminence 
is the crowning glory of his life. 



BRANKLIN P. CHAPMAN, the enter- 
prising boot and shoe merchant of 
Ravenna, Ohio, and probably the 
most extensive dealer in fashionable 
footwear in the city, was born in Rootstown, 
Portage county, August i, 1852, a son of Ed- 
ward E. and Melissa (Reed) Chapman, also 
natives of the Buckeye state and parents of 
five children, of whom four are still living, 
viz: Rose, wife of Nelson Loveland; Will- 
liam B., Franklin P., and Carrie, now Mrs. 
Charles Bogue. 

Edward E. Chapman, in his earlier business 
life, was an itinerant merchant, and drove a 
notion wagon through the country, profitably 
disposing of his wares to the good housewives 
and others who were debarred ready access to 
the markets of the town merchants. He later 
engaged in the cigar and tobacco trade, and 
ceased his peregrinations. Horace Reed, the 
maternal grandfather of Franklin P. Chapman, 
had the proud distinction of being the first 
white male child born in Rootstown township. 
Portage county, and further concerning his an- 
cestry maj' be found in the memoir of Judge 
C. A. Reed, on another page of this volume. 
Franklin P. Chapman was reared and edu- 
cated in Rootstown until thirteen years of age, 



230 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and then went to Cleveland, where, for a short 
time, he was employed as a bell-boy in the 
Weddell house. He then returned to Roots- 
town and for one term walked daily to Ra- 
venna to attend school, as supplementary to 
his earlier education. His next step in life's 
progress was to learn the shoemaker's trade in 
Ravenna, and after having thoroughly mas- 
tered this business he started a shop in Roots- 
town, which he conducted about two years. 
June 19, 1872, he was united in marriage with 
Miss Tibbie Powers, the accomplished daugh- 
ter of James and Rebecca (Windle) Powers. 
This union has been blessed by the birth of 
one daughter, Maud Irene, of whom they are 
justly proud. This young lady is a graduate 
of the Boston school of oratory, and in May, 
1896, completed a post-graduate course in the 
Boston school of Expression, and in June of 
the same year was selected to represent this 
school at the Boston Art school recital. 

From about the year 1873 until 1S80 Mr. 
Chapman conducted a grocery store and shoe 
shop at Freedom Station, Portage county, and 
was the postmaster there for nearly seven 
years, having served until the close of the Gar- 
field and Arthur administration. In 1880 he 
came to Ravenna and soon afterward bought 
out the interest of Mr. Sturtevant, of the shoe 
firm of Rumbaugh & Sturtevant, and for about 
ten years was in partnership with Mr. Rum- 
baugh, whom he bought out in 1892, since 
which time he has been doing a most success- 
ful business on his own account, and is carry- 
ing one of the finest and best assorted stocks 
of boots, shoes, etc., to be found within the 
limits of Portage county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he 
has been a member of the official board and 
treasurer for many years, and of the tenets of 
which he and his wife are strict observer-s, as 
well as liberal supporters of the church itself. 



Fraternally Mr. Chapman is a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the 
Roj'al .Arcanum, and politically has alwaj's 
been a stanch republican, being at present 
clerk of the board of health, of which he was 
president in 1895. 

Socially Mr. and Mrs. Chapman enjoy the 
esteem of a very large circle of friends, and as 
a business man his integrity and fair dealing 
have always been favorably commented upon; 
any one who once deals with him will ever 
after continue to patronize him. He has a 
most pleasant residence at the corner of Oak 
and Meridian streets, where his hospitable 
doors are always open to his numerous friends, 
who never tire of passing their hours at this 
home of culture and refinement. 



£~^ ELAH S. CLAPP, one of the oldest 
•^^^^ and most respected agriculturists of 

K^^ Franklin township, Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Montgomery town- 
ship, Hampden county. Mass., January 9, 
1 8 12, and is a son of the late Selah and Diana 
(Sheldim) Clapp, both natives of the Bay 
state. 

Selah Clapp, father of our subject, was a 
shoemaker by trade, was married in his native 
state March i, 1804, and came to Ohio August 
8, 1820, and here engaged exclusively in farm- 
ing, became a highly respected citizen, and 
was honored by being elected to various town- 
ship offices. To his marriage were born eight 
children, of whom three only are now living, 
viz: Spencer, of Iowa; Selah S., the subject 
of this memoir, and Diana, widow of Dr. J. P. 
Randell. Of those who have passed away, 
Samuel died July 2, 18 18, aged three years; 
Silas and Susan died at unrecorded dates; 
Achsah died July 19, 1863, at forty-five 3-ears 
of age; Delana died May 11, 1870, when for- 
ty-six years old. The father, Selah Clapp, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



231 



(lied June 4, 1840, at the age of seventy-five 
years, and his widow died, at the age of eighty 
years, August 29. 1S50 — both devout members 
of the Presb\terian church. Noah Sheldon, 
maternal grandfather of subject, was a native 
of Nortnampton, Mass., and married a Miss 
Clark, by whom he became the father of a 
large family. 

Selah S. Clapp was but eight years of age 
when brought to Franklin township. Portage 
county, by his parents. His educational op- 
portunities were limited, as schools were at a 
great distance, and his services were needed 
in clearing up the home farm from the wilder- 
ness. He was thoroughly initiated in the sci- 
ence of pioneer farming, and at the death of 
his father purchased the homestead, on which 
he still resides. His marriage took place at 
Ravenna, Ohio, to Miss Mary Brown, also a 
native of Massachusetts and a daughter of 
Nicholas and Fanny (Phillips) Brown, both 
natives of Massachusetts and parents of five 
children — Lucy, Mary, Lewis, Benjamin P. 
and Fann\' — all now deceased. The marriage 
of Mr. and Mrs. Clapp was blessed with four 
children, of whom Fanny E. died January i, 
1855. aged eighteen years and six months. 
The surviving three are Mary Adelia, single 
and at home; William H., who married Miss 
Mary Richardson and is a prosperous farmer 
of Franklin township, and I^ucyT. , still un- 
married and making her home with her father, 
Mr. Clapp having had the misfortune to lose 
his wife January 27, 1875, who died a sincere 
Christian, at the age of fifty-eight years 

In politics Selah S. Clapp is a republican, 
but has never sought office, although he has 
been honored by election to several township 
offices, and lias served very acceptably as 
township trustee several terms. For the past 
si.xty years he has been a member of the Dis- 
ciples' church, and to the erection of the house 
of worship of this denomination in I'ranklin 



township he contributed $1,000, and also con- 
tributed very liberally toward the erection of 
the Presbyterian church edifice at Kent. For 
more than fifty years Mr. Clapp has been a 
deacon, and for many years a trustee of his 
church, of which his wife is also a devoted 
member. Mr. Clapp is the owner of one of 
the best farms in Franklin township, beside 
other property, and at one time, in connection 
with farming, also dealt largely in live stock, 
traveling extensively through the western states 
in the prosecution of his business. Being now 
over eighty-five years of age, he is still hale 
and hearty, and no man in the township stands 
higher in the esteem of the community. 



>Y* V. CLEAVER, M. D., one of the most 
■ experinced physicians and surgeons of 
A 1 Akron, Ohio, is a native of East Beth- 
lehem, \\'ashington county, Pa., was 
born June 13, 1858, and is a son of John I. 
and Pleasant H. (Hill) Cleaver, the former of 
German and the latter of Scotch-Irish descent. 
The Cleaver family is a very ancient one 
in America, the ancestors of the doctor having 
come to this country in 1682, and Pennsyl- 
vania has ever since been known as its home. 
John Cleaver, grandfather of the doctor, was 
one of the first settlers of Washington county, 
then a wilderness, but now one of the most 
populous in the state. Although tending 
largely to the pursuits of agriculture, the fam- 
ily has produced several physicians of celebrity 
and others have reached distinction in politics. 
Dr. Hiram Cleaver, an uncle of the subject, 
was professor of obstetrics in the Keokuk 
(Iowa) Medical college, and his son was also 
a physician, but both are now deceased; James 
H. Cleaver, M. D., is the present mayor of 
the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa; another uncle, 
Eli B. Cleaver, of Jefferson county, Ohio, has 
served in the state legislature, but John I. 



232 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Cleaver, father of subject, contented himself 
with the ennobling pursuit of agriculture. His 
children were four in number and were born 
in the following order: Etta, who died in 
early life; Dr. J. V., the subject of this biog- 
raphy; Solon H.. who died in early childhood; 
Isaac N., who has charge of H. P. Wasson's 
mercantile establishment, of Indianapolis, Ind. 
Dr. J. V. Cleaver passed his early life on 
his father's farm, and received his elementary 
education in the public schools; he next at- 
tended the Southwest Normal school at Cali- 
fornia, Washington county, Pa., and then 
taught school four years, synchonously read- 
ing medicine under Dr. Q. C. Farquhar, of 
East Bethlehem, Pa., and a so serving as 
treasurer's clerk of his native county. He 
then became a student in the medical de- 
partment of the university of Pennsylvania, 
and gave especial attention to surgery under 
the able instruction of the renowned Prof. C. 
R. Agnew (surgeon to President Garfield), and 
graduated May 2, 18S7. On the ist day of 
June, the same year, he came to Akron, and 
for one year was in partnership with Dr. 
Thomas McEbright, and then opened an of- 
fice for practice on his sole account. He now 
stands at the head of his profession in Summit 
county, and his patronage has been so great 
both in medicine and surgery, and particularly 
the latter, that he has felt it incumbent upon 
himself to relinquish the former and to devote 
almost his entire attention to the latter branch 
of his profession. Of professional societies 
the doctor is a member of the State Medical 
association, the Northeastern Medical society, 
the Mississippi 'Valley Medical association, and 
the Celsus club, of Akron, of which latter he 
was the first president. Fraternally, he is a 
member of Akron lodge, No. 247, I. O. O. F. , 
of which he is a past grand, and is also a 
member of the encampment, in which he is 
P. C. P. 



The marriage of the doctor took place in 
Akron, October 24, 1894, to Miss Mabel 
Wagoner, daughter of Aaron Wagoner, and to 
this union has been born one child — Josephine. 
In politics the doctor is a republican, and has 
served two years as city physician and as in- 
firmary physician four years, and is also sur- 
geon to the Northwestern Ohio railroad 
company. 



a APT. JEDEDIAH COLE, ex-soldier 
and county surveyor of Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, was born in Garrettsville, 
this county. May 26, 1830, a son of 
Jedediah and Elizabeth (Noah) Cole, the for- 
mer of whom was a native of "Vermont and 
the latter of Chester, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Cole 
had born to them four children, one of whom 
died in childhood; the three survivors are Re- 
becca, wife of Uriah Craig, of Cameron, Mo. ; 
William C, of Hamilton, Mo.; and Jedediah, 
the subject of this notice. 

Benjamin Cole, the paternal grandfather 
of our subject, was a soldier from \'ermont 
during the whole of the Revolution, and died 
in his native state at a green old age, as 
did also his wife. They were the parents of 
ten children — eight sons and two daughters. 
John Noah, maternal grandfather of subject, 
was a native of Dresden, Saxony, and on com- 
ing to America first located in Pennsyhania, 
where he tnarried a Quakeress — a most ami- 
able lady, who was never known to utter an 
angry word. In 1804 or 1805 Mr.. Noah came 
to Ohio, and with several members of his fam- 
ily settled on the farm in Nelson township 
where subject was reared, having but a short 
time been preceded by the Garrett family, of 
Garrettsville. There Mr. Noah followed his 
calling of agriculturist until his death at the 
age of eighty-nine years — his wife's death oc- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



233 



curriiif; within six months of his own. at the 
age of eighty-two. 

Jedediah Cole, father of subject, was a car- 
penter and joiner in early life, but later en- 
gaged in farming. He came to Portage county, 
Ohio, in 1818, and settled a mile and a half 
east of Garrettsville, where he followed farm- 
ing and likewise practiced medicine. Here 
he lost his wife in 1834, and was next married 
to Mrs. Milton Hamlin, nee Sanford, of Elyria, 
Ohio, whose father is reputed to have been 
the first permanent settler of Mantua town- 
ship. Portage county. To this second mar- 
riage of Mr. Cole were born five children, of 
whom three still survi\e — Milton, Orilla and 
Cordelia. Mr. Cole was a gentleman of no 
political aspirations, although he filled some 
few township offices that were in reality forced 
upon him, and was content to lead the life of 
a useful citizen until his death, on his farm, in 
1850. He and his wife had formerly been 
members of the Baptist church, but in later 
years became identified with the Disciples, 
there probably having been no place of wor- 
ship for the former denomination in the neigh- 
borhood. It may here be mentioned, also, 
that one of the brothers of Mr. Cole was 
killed in the battle of Lundy's Lane, Canada, 
in the war of 1812. 

Jedediah Cole, the subject proper of this 
memoir, was born, reared, and, in fact, mar- 
ried in a log house, and can recollect when the 
wagon-road between Ravenna and Garretts- 
ville was nearly all a dense wilderness, and he 
is at present the representative of two of the 
oldest-settled families of Portage county. He 
remained on his grandfather's farm until six- 
teen years of age, and received his early edu- 
cation in the district school, later attended the 
high school of Nelson, and then engaged in 
teaching at Salem, 111. He received his first 
license to teach in that state from the father 
of the recent democratic candidate for the 



presidency of the United States, eight years 
before the latter was born. Before teaching 
four years in Salem, he taught one year (near- 
ly) in the neighborhood of the Jennings fam- 
ily, then went to Jacksonville, Iowa, taught 
two years, and then taught in Prairie Du Chien, 
Wis., until 1862, where he enlisted in com- 
pany A, Thirty-first Wisconsin volunteer in- 
fantry, served something over two years, re- 
ceiving graduated promotions from the ranks, 
and was then mustered out to be commissioned 
captain in the One Hundred and Twentj-third 
U. S. C. I., for meritorious conduct in the 
field, and in this capacity served somewhat 
more than a year. He was finally mustered 
out in the latter part of October, 1865, re- 
turned to Portage county, and rented a saw- 
mill in Nelson township, and carried on the 
lumber trade until i 86g, when he was elected 
county survej'or by the republican party, and 
has -filled this office ever since, with the excep- 
tion of a part of a term, and, it is needless to 
say, to the perfect satisfaction of all parties. 
Mr. Cole was united in marriage Septem- 
ber 6, 1855, with Miss Catherine M. Dickens, 
daughter of James H. and Lydia (Pitner) 
Dickens — Mr. Dickens having been a Metho- 
dist minister for more than fifty years. To 
the happy union of Mr. and Mrs, Cole have 
been born five children, viz: Augustus S., the 
present mayor of Ravenna, who married Jane 
Allen, and has one child living — Lee; Henry 
M., died at the age of thirteen years; James, 
who resides in Kansas City, Mo., engaged in 
the coal and ice trade, is married, and has one 
daughter; Katherine D., a graduate of the 
Boston School of Oratory under Miss Edgelly, 
and who is now a noted elocutionist east and 
west, having made successful tours through 
both sections and is now professor of elocution 
in the I. F. College at Jacksonville, 111.; Paul, 
the youngest of the family, is attending Hiram 
college. Mrs. Cole is a devout member of the 



234 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Methodist church, while Mr. Cole is a master 
Mason and also a member of Mark Horton 
post, G. A. R., of Garrettsville. He has 
always been a favorite with the republican 
party, and has served as justice of the peace 
in every state in which he has lived. His resi- 
dence is in Garrettsville, but he has his office 
in the court house in Ra\'enna. He has grown 
with the growth of the county, has witnessed 
its wonderful progress for the past sixty years, 
and even before reaching his majority became 
a factor in its development. He and wife are 
extensi\ely connected in their social relations 
and stand high in the esteem of the people 
both of Garrettsville and Ravenna. 



HUGUSTUS S. COLE, mayor of Ra- 
N'cnna and attorney at law, and a 
descendant of one of the oldest-set- 
tled families of Portage county, Ohio, 
is a son of Jedediah Cole, present county sur- 
veyor, and his wife, Catherine (Dickens) Cole, 
of \\hom an extended biography will be found 
preceding this memoir. Augustus S. was 
born in Jacksonville, Chickasaw county, Iowa, 
during a temporary residence of his parents in 
that town, on October 6, 1858. In 1.865 he 
was brought to Portage county on the return 
of the family to their old home, and was here 
reared to manhood, and here received his pre- 
liminary schooling, and later attended Oberlin 
college for a short period. He learned civil 
engineering under his father's instructions, 
began the study of the law in 1880, and in 
18S2 was admitted to the bar. 

November ij , 1884, Mr. Cole was united 
in marriage with Miss Jennie Allen, daughter 
of William R. and Mary Allen, which mar- 
riage has been blessed with one child — Lee. 
Since 1886, Mr. Cole has been in the active 
practice of the legal profession in Ravenna, in 



which he has met with eminent success, being 
now classed with the foremost lawyers of the 
county and state. He has always been an 
ardent republican and has ever been popular 
with that party, as well as with the public in 
general, and under its auspices has filled most 
satisfactorily the office of justice of the peace, 
and in April. 1892, was elected to the highest 
office within the gift of the citizens of Raven- 
na — that of mayor, his present position. Fra- 
ternally Mayor Cole is a royal arch Mason, 
and is also a Knight of Pythias. He is a ge- 
nial, wide-awake public-spirited citizen, a 
sound and reliable lawyer, and an accom- 
plished gentleman. His home is on West Oak 
street, which he and wife make the seat of a 
generous hospitality, and which is the abode 
of a true domestic felicity. The attention of 
the reader is respectfully called to the biogra- 
phy of Jedediah Cole, father of the mayor. 



^>^ EWITT CLINTON COOLMAN, 
I I postmaster of Ravenna, Ohio, was 
/f^^_^ born in this city, February 16. 1828, 
a son of William and Mary (Bur- 
roughs) Coolman. respectively natives of Con- 
necticut and Vermont and the parents of five 
sons and three daughters, all of whom are now 
deceased, with the exception of Dewitt Clin- 
ton, whose name opens this paragraph. 

William Coolman, paternal grandfather 
of subject, was born in Strassbourg, Alsace, 
Germany, and came to the United States in 
1790. He first located in Charleston, S. C, 
but afterward moved to Middletown, Conn. 
Still later he removed to the town of Turin, 
Lewis county, N. Y., and in iSio came to 
Ohio and settled in Shalersville, Portage 
county, where he passed the remainder of his 
life, engaged in his regular calling of farmer, 
and died at the age of eighty-eight years — the 
father of three sons and two daughters. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



235 



Daniel Burroughs, the maternal grand- 
father of subject, was a native of Vermont, 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was a 
farmer by vocation, and in 1808 came to 
Shalersville, Portage count}-, Ohio. He had 
never experienced a day's illness in all his long 
life, and while on a visit to one of his sons in 
Illinois, simply lay down as if to go to sleep, 
antl so passed away in about his ninetieth 
year, leaving a family of li\e sons and three 
daughters. 

William Coolman, father of DeWitt C. 
Coolman, was for many years a contractor for 
carrying the United States mail between Pitts- 
burg, Pa., and Cleveland, Ohio, but in 18 10 
came to Shalersville, Ohio, with his father, 
and there made his home until his marriage, 
when he came to Ra\-enna. He was a promi- 
nent worker in the democratic party, and after 
settling in Ravenna ser\ed first as deputy 
sheriff, was later elected sheriff, and filled the 
office several terms. In 1839 he was appointed 
clerk of courts and served seven years, and 
also served several terms as a member of the 
Ohio general assembly. Among the minor 
offices \vhich he filled was that of city magis- 
trate, and among the numerous business en- 
terprises in which he was engaged was that of 
contractor on the Ohio & Pennsylvania canal, 
and during its existence was one of the govern- 
ment directors thereof; he was also a con- 
tractor on the Cleveland & Pittsburg railroad, 
a director in the Cleveland cS: Pittsburg and 
the Erie railroads, and was ver_\' active, also, 
in advancnng the business enterprises and pub- 
lic improvements of Portage county. He had 
been a soldier of the war of 18 I3, and when 
the Civil war burst forth, still filled with pa- 
triotic ardor, he carried his trust\' old rifie to 
Cincinnati, with the intention of again enlist- 
ing in the defense of the flag of the nation, 
but for some reason his services were declined 
— possibly on account of his age. In 1845 he 



lost his wife, who died in the faith of the 
Methodist church, and he took, for his second 
life companion. Miss Susan Bristol, but she 
also was called away, dying in the same faith, 
but leaving no offspring. His own death oc- 
curred in Ravenna in December, 1869, at the 
age of seventy-si.\ years, his religion being 
that of the Methodist church, and his fraternal 
relations being with the Masonic order, of 
which he had been a member ever since he 
had become of the proper age to assume its 
obligations. Few men in Ravenna were more 
honored or held in higher estimation by its 
citizens, and his loss, though inevitable, was 
deeply felt throughout the community. 

DeWitt Clinton Coolman was reared in 
Ravenna, there received his rudimentary edu- 
cation in the common schools, which was sup- 
plemented by an attendance at the Allegheny 
college at Meadville, Pa. , until the senior year, 
when,' in 1847, he joined the engineer corps 
at Ra\enna, to engage in the construction of 
the Cleveland & Pittsburg railroad, and thence- 
forward followed the profession for thirty years, 
and within Ihat period was chief engineer in the 
construction of the Atlantic & Great Western 
road from Salamanca to Dayton — now known 
as the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio rail- 
road. In 1869 he established, in partnership 
with George Robinson, the Diamond Glass 
works, which, with some few changes, were 
successfully conducted until 1880, the changes 
being occasioned by the death of Mr. Robin- 
son and the incoming of Wanzer Holcomb, 
the sale of Mr. Holcomb's interest to Mr. 
Coolman, and the final disposition by Mr. 
Coolman of his plant to other parties. In 
fact, Mr. Coolman has been one of the prime 
movers in the progress and prosperity of Ra- 
venna. He was one of the organizers of the 
Second National bank, was one of its first di- 
rectors, for a time was its vice-president, and 
later its president, and has been more or less 



236 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



interested in other business enterprises of 
minor note. 

Always a stanch democrat, Mr. Coolman 
has represented his congressional district in 
three national democratic conventions — in 
New York in 1868, in Cincinnati in 1880, and 
in Saint Louis, in 1892, when Grover Cleve- 
land was nominated for his second race for the 
presidency; he ran against James A. Garfield 
for congress in this, the Nineteenth district of 
Ohio, and was also his party's nominee for 
lieutenant-governor of Ohio on the ticket with 
Thomas E. Powell. February 16, 1894, he 
was commissioned postmaster of Ravenna, an 
office he is still administering with his accus- 
tomed ability. 

The marriage of Mr. Coolman was solem- 
nized in December, 1849, with Miss Elizabeth 
Coleman, the accomplished daughter of James 
and Sarah (Bell) Coleman, of Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, and this happ)' union has been blessed | 
with six children, viz: James and Horace 
(twins), Clinton H., Mary, and Blanche and 
Bertha (twins). Of these, however, Clinton | 
H. and Blanche only survive. Clinton H. 
married Miss Anna Hall, and to their union 
have been born four children — Frederick Will- 
iam, DeWitt Clinton, Catherine Multon and 
Alexander Curtis; Blanche still resides with 
her parents and is an assistant in the Ravenna 
post-office. Mrs. Coolman is a devoted mem- 
ber of the Episcopal church, while Mr. Cool- 
man is an exalted member of several secret 
societies — being a thirty-second degree Mason, 
of which order he has been a member for thir- 
ty-nine years, during which time he has served 
as master of Unity lodge. No. 12, for several 
terms; as high priest for a number of years, 
and is a veteran member of Oriental com- 
mandery of Cleveland, being now exempt from 
all dues; he is also a member of the Mystic 
Shrine. For forty-seven years he has been 
an Odd Fellow, and has filled all the chairs of 



his home lodge — Ravenna, No. 65. He is 
likewise a charter member of the home lodge 
of the Royal Arcanum. He has had his home 
in Ravenna now for sixty-eight years and done 
much to aid the development of the city and 
the prosperity of Portage county, and but feu- 
men have won so deservedly high a standing 
in the esteem and confidence of their fellow- 
citizens as DeWitt Clinton Coolman. 



BON. ELI CONN, M. D., and state 
representative for Summit county. 
Ohio, is a native of I^utler county. 
Pa., was born June 10, 1840, and is 
a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Ferguson) 
Conn, also natives of the Keystone state, of 
combined Scotch and Irish extraction. The 
father died in his native state in 1854; and the 
mother in 1889, at the unnsLially great age of 
ninety-two years. 

Dr. Conn, the subject of this memoir, was 
reared on the family homestead, and after re- 
ceiving a due course of instruction in the dis- 
trict school, became himself a teacher and 
conducted a school in his native township in 
the winter of 1860-61, and was thus employed 
at the time of his enlistment, in 1861, in the 
One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania vol- 
unteer infantry, which was assigned to the 
Sixth corps of the army of the Potomac, and 
with which he remained until the close of the 
Rebellion, taking part in thirty-two regular 
battles and as many, or even more, skirmishes. 
After receiving an honorable discharge, he re- 
turned to his home and in the fall of the same 
year entered Baldwin university at Berea. 
Ohio, from which institution he graduated, in 
1868, with distinction. He next attended the 
Cleveland (Ohio) Medical school for two terms, 
and then located for practice in his native 
county. Being a stanch republican at that 
time, he was elected by his fellow-citizens pro- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



23< 



bate judge of Butler county, Pa., and filled the 
office for four years to the utmost satisfaction 
of his constituents. In 1880, the doctor came 
to Akron, where his professional abilities were 
at once recognized, and he was equally suc- 
cessful in securing a long list of patrons. Nat- 
urally, he attracted the attention of the local 
members of the republican party, and was 
elected health officer of the city of .\kron, 
which position he held from 1882 until 1S84. 
In 1895, he was elected to represent Summit 
county in the Ohio general assembly, but has 
modified his political views to some extent, 
and is now a silver republican. 

In 1869, Dr. Conn was united in marriage 
with Miss Helen Kingsbury, of Medina, Ohio, 
the result of the union being four children, 
viz: Ellwood K., Maud J., Mary A., and Helen 
E. The family stand very high socially, and 
professionally the doctor holds a most promi- 
nent place before the public and in the esteem 
of his fellow-practitioners. He is connected 
with various medical associations, for whom 
he has prepared numerous essays on medical 
subjects, and has also contributed numerous 
similar articles to the journals published in the 
interest of the medical profession. 



aYRUS L. COX, a substantial farmer 
and citizen of Franklin township. 
Summit county, Ohio, was born in 
Green township, in the same county, 
July 5, 1850. 

Christopher Cox, great-grandfather of sub- 
ject, came from England prior to the Revolu- 
tionary war, bought an extensive tract of land 
in the wilderness of Washington county. Pa., 
and there and in Greene county, followed 
farming the remainder of his life. He married 
a Miss Rush, and by her became the father of 
the following-named children: Jacob, John, 
William, Moses, Ann, Lucinda and Matilda. 



Jacob Cox, grandfather of subject, was 
born in Greene county. Pa., was reared a 
farmer, and there married Elizabeth Hardsock, 
who was born in Washington county, a daugh- 
ter of ante-Revolutionary parents. To this 
union the following children were born, Nancy, 
wife of John Hann; Susan, wife of Joseph 
Grayble; Henry; Annie, wife of Isaac Horn; 
Noah; Christopher; Hiram; KittieA., wife of 
Thelas Wheeler; Jacob; Andrew, and Mary 
A., wife of Joshua Martin. After marriage the 
parents settled in Washington county, where 
they passed the remainder of their days. In 
politics the father was a whig and filled several 
township offices, and in religion, although not 
a member of the church, affiliated with and 
worshiped with the Baptists, and was free with 
his purse in contributing to the support of 
church and school. He died in August, 1861, 
honored alike in Greene and Washington coun- 
ties, Pa., where all his active life passed away. 

Christopher Cox, father of Cyrus L. , the 
subject, was born in Greene county. Pa., No- 
vember 30, 1820, and, like his ancestors, was 
reared to farming. After receiving a good 
common-school education he taught school for 
some months. In 1842 he walked from Penn- 
sylvania to Summit county, Ohio, 130 miles, 
and settled in Green township. Here he 
married, April 4, 1844, Mary Chisnell, a native 
of Lancaster county. Pa., born in 1824, and a 
daughter of George and Mary Chisnell, and to 
this union ha\e been born the following chil- 
dren: Cornelius (deceased), Hiram, Harriet. 
Henry Potters, Cyrus, John, Albert, Elizabeth 
(wife of Oliver Overholt), Edward, George, 
Harvey, Frank, and Clara (wife of Edward 
Huena, editor of the l>arberton Leaderj. In 
1859 the parents moved from Green township. 
Here, at one time, Mr. Cox owned over 1,000 
acres of good farm land, all of which he paid 
for with money earned through his personal 
exertions, with the exception, perhaps, of a 



L'38 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



few hundred dollars bequeathed him by his 
father. The greater part of this land Mr. Cox 
has divided among his children, but still retains 
a sufficient quantity to well provide for his own 
needs. In politics Mr. Co.x was originally a 
whig, but became a member of the republican 
party on the formation of the latter, but simply 
gives voice to his political opinions at the polls, 
being by no means desirous of public office. 
He is closely identified with the Brethren 
church, in the faith of which his beloved wife 
died August i8, 1889, after a wedded life of 
over forty-five years. 

Cyrus L. Cox, the subject of this sketch, 
took to himself a wife in Stark county, Ohio, 
on the 19th day of December, 1875. The 
lady whom he married bore the maiden name 
of Lavina N. Smith, and was born in Stark 
county, May 15, 1855, a daughter of Samuel 
and Mary (Ruch) Smith, the former of whom 
is a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1829, and 
the latter was a native of Germany. Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith were married in Stark county, 
where the death of Mrs. Smith took place 
August 18, 1889, in the faith of the Lutheran 
church. Mr. Smith resides near Canal Ful- 
ton, Stark county, where he owns 900 acres 
of land and is largely engaged in stock dealing. 
He also attends the Lutheran church and is 
liberal in his contributions to its support. 
In politics he is a republican, but his time 
and attention are mostly devoted to his busi- 
ness affairs. His children were born in the 
following order: Levi, Lavina N., Caroline, 
Ellen, .Amanda, John, Charles and Mary. The 
marriage of Cyrus L. Cox has been blessed 
with four children, viz: Delia May (who died 
September 7, 1885), Mary E., Perry E. and 
Clarence S. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are doing all 
they can toward the education of their chil- 
dren. Miss Mary has attained that place in 
school work which entitles her to admission to 
the high school. Perry is desirous of entering 



a school of a more extended course of study, 
and, as his parents are people of abundant 
means, the wishes of the children will be 
observed. 

Mr. Cox has been identified with Franklin 
township. Summit county, all his life, with 
the exception of about four years in Green 
township. Summit county. He owns a good 
farm of 125 acres, which he has improved with 
a modern farm house and barn. He also owns 
a sawmill and threshing machine, which occupy 
most of his time, while his farm work is done 
by hired help. In politics Mr. Cox is a strong 
republican, and cast his first presidential vote 
for the soldier president. Gen. U. S. Grant. 
In religion he and wife adhere to the Method- 
ist Episcopal faith, the children are attendants 
at the Sunday school, and in the local church 
he has filled the office of steward. He is 
highly respected among his neighbors for his 
sobriety, industry and upright life, and his wife 
enjoys with himself the warm regard of the 
entire community. 



BE. COURTNEY, the accomplished 
photographic artist, of the Arcade 
building, Akron, Ohio, is a native of 
the city and was born March 15, 1858, 
a son of Robert A. and Lucy A. (Hannan) 
Courtne\', natives respectiveh' of Maryland 
and Ashland county, Ohio. The father, a me- 
chanic of great skill, first came to Akron in 
1842, and is still a resident of the city; the 
mother passed away some years since. 

F. E, Courtney, the subject of this mem- 
oir, was reared and educated in Akron, and 
some time after quitting school went to Can- 
ton, Ohio, and there took lessons in his pres- 
ent art under his brother, Sherwin B. Court- 
ne)', who is one of the leading photographers 
of the state of Ohio. After passing nearly five 
years unner his able instruction and thoroughly 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



239 



learning the art in all its branches, F. E. 
Courtney went to South Carolina and for a 
year was in the employ of Mr. Anderson, a 
well-known photographer, and then returned 
to Ohio and spent another year with his brother 
at Canton. He then went to Medina, Ohio, 
and to Chester and AUentown, Pa., passing 
one year each in the latter two places, and 
then once more returned to Ohio and followed 
his vocation until 1888, when he came to Ak- 
ron and succeeded to the business of Mr. 
Chandler, up to that time Akron's favorite art- 
ist. Mr. Courtney has now one of the finest 
studios in the northeast part of the state and 
executes every variety of work known to the 
photographic art, including portraiture, view 
and commercial and mechanical delineations, 
in all of which he is unexcelled. He keeps 
fully abreast of all the modern advances made 
in photography, being a member of both the 
State and the National Photographic associa- 
tions, which are constantly making known to 
their members every new feature or improve- 
ment as fast as it is developed. 



^y^ .\NIEL E. CRANZ, M. D., one of the 

I I eminent physicians and surgeons of 
/^^_^ Akron, Ohio, occupies the rooms 
Nos. 3, 4 and 5, Odd Fellows' tem- 
ple, where he has been in the active practice 
of medicine since July, 1893, but is now giv- 
ing special attention to rectal and gyna;co- 
logical surgery. 

The doctor was born in Middletown, Holmes 
county, Ohio, October 31, 1854, to William 
and Mary (Drushel) Cranz, of German de- 
scent. The famiU' settled in Summit county 
in 1863, and here the father died in 1895. 
The latter in early life was a merchant, and 
his later years were passed in farming; in poli- 
tics he was a democrat, and in religion was a 
Lutheran. His children were born and named 



in the following order: Sophia, deceased; Pau- 
line, wife of Hon. C. O. Hale, of Bath town- 
ship; Frederick, an engineer, residing in Ak- 
ron; Cornelia, of Bath township; Daniel E., 
the subject; Frances Lena, deceased; Ivate, a 
teacher of German and French in the Athens 
(Ohio) State university; Lewis, a farmer of 
Bath township; Eugene F., also a farmer of 
the same place; Herbert, foreman of a brass 
foundry at Wadsworth, Ohio; Estella, wife of 
Amos Walters, of Bath township, and two 
children who died in early childhood. 

Dr. Daniel E. Cranz passed his early dajs 
on his father's farm, received his elementary 
education in the district school, and then at- 
tended Buchtel college, at Akron. At the 
age of seventeen years he began the study of 
medicine under Dr. O. D. Childs, of Akron, 
and then for three years attended the Hahne- 
mann Medical college, of Chicago, 111., from 
which h'e graduated in 1877, ^nd at once set- 
tled down to the active practice of his profes- 
sion in Wadsworth, Ohio, where for sixteen 
years his abilit}' and professional knowledge 
won recognition; but this field was not suffi- 
ciently extensive for the exercise of his energy 
and varied attainments as a surgeon, as well 
as physician, and in 1893, as already stated, 
he found a wider scope for his profession in 
Akron, where he has met with the most flat- 
tering success. He is a member of the State 
Homeopathic Medical society, of the North- 
eastern Ohio Medical society, and of the Sum- 
mit county Clinical society; he is also one of 
the visiting surgeons of the Akron city hos- 
pital. Fraternally he is a member of Adoni- 
ram lodge. No. 517, F. & A. M., of Akron. 
Ohio. 

Dr. Cranz was married at Wadsworth, 
Ohio, February 26, 1880, to Miss May E. 
Butts, to which union ha\e been born two 
children — Pauline and Cornelia. The doc- 
tor and his wife are members of the Reformed 



'240 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



church, although the Cranz family of former 
days were identified with the Lutheran church 
from its establishment — each first-born male 
child of the family becoming a minister in that 
church from the time of Martin Luther to the 
time of Daniel Cranz, grandfather of subject 
of this review, who was a pioneer minister of 
Holmes county, Ohio; and it may also be 
stated that one church of this faith in Germany 
had for over a hundred years a member of this 
family as its minister. The family is a very 
ancient one, and in the Black Forest of Ger- 
many hangs to-day an oil painting of one of 
the doctor's ancestors, who was a minister in 
the Lutheran church, and who lived in the 
tenth century. 



aHARLES H. CULVER, the well- 
known blacksmith and master me- 
chanic of South Akron, Ohio, is a 
native of Seneca county, N. Y., was 
born March i6, 1S48, and is a son of Charles 
H. and Harriet Culver, now residents of the 
city of Buffalo. 

Charles H. Culver, the elder, was born in 
the Empire state in 1825, and was there mar- 
ried to Mrs. Harriet Smith, whose maiden 
name was Newberry, she being a niece of Lord 
Newberry, of England. To the marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Culver the following children 
were born in the order named: Sarah, Clar- 
issa, Charles H., Solon K., George H., Clar- 
ence B., Emmeline and Ida. The parents 
lived for many years in Seneca county, N. Y. , 
but finally settled in Buffalo, where they are 
highly esteemed for their many excellent qual- 
ities, and worship at the Presbyterian church. 
Charles H. Culver, the subject, passed his 
earlier years in Geneva, Ontario county, N. Y., 
and has always been an industrious student, 
being mostly self-educated. At Phelps, N. Y., 
in 1874, he built the first Monitor engine ever 



placed on wheels, and, in 1879, came to Ohio 
and for ten years was master mechanic of the 
Diebold Safe & Lock company in Canton, and 
later was master mechanic of the Canton Car 
company; he then lived in Cleveland two years, 
and in 1890 came to Akron, and was here em- 
ployed as foreman of the D. F. Morgan Boiler 
company; he also, for a time, filled the posi- 
tion of master mechanic for Aultman, Miller & 
Co. For the past five years, however, he has 
been in business on his own account in South 
Akron, and, being extraordinarily skilled in 
his art, is meeting with the success his knowl- 
edge and industry deserve. 

In politics Mr. Culver is a democrat and is 
a strong advocate of free silver. He is very 
popular with his party, and in the fall of 1896 
was honored by an election to the office of 
justice of the peace, which position he fills 
with ability. Fraternally, he is a member of 
Adoniram lodge. No. 517, F. & A. M. Mr. 
Culver was united in marriage, in September, 
1886. with Mrs. Elmira Snyder, whose maiden 
name was Bancroft, and both enjoy the esteem 
of a constantly widening circle of sincere 
friends. 

In 1864 Mr. Culver made an effort to enlist 
in the Union army, but, owing to his youthful 
years, his application was refused. March 31, 
1865, however, he succeeded in enlisting in 
company K, Eighth regiment. New York 
mounted volunteers, for three years, or during 
the war, was honorably discharged from the 
service June 27, 1865, and was mustered out 
at Alexandria, Va. , the war having been 
brought to a successful close. 



^"V'HERLOCK B. CUTHBERT, one 
•^^^ of the most highly respected citizens 

^ y of Brimfield township, Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, and an ex-soldier and a 
very successful farmer, is a native of this coun- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



241 



ty, and was born March 24, 1843, a son of 
James and Anna (Graham) Cuthbert. 

James Cuthbert was born in Perth, Scot- 
laud, came to America when a mere boy, Hved 
in New York a few years, where he was mar- 
ried to Miss Graham, a native of New York, 
and then came to Kent, Ohio. The result of 
this marriage was nine children, seven of whom 
are still living, viz. : William, of Long Branch, 
Cal. ; James A., of Kent, Ohio; Harriet, widow 
of John Newham; Sarah, wife of G. W. Rouse; 
Sherlock B., the subject; Charles J., and 
Mary.\., wife of M. M. Parkerson, of Corn- 
ing, Iowa. Mr. Cuthbert lost his life partner 
in 1850, and his own death occurred in 1882, 
at the advanced age of eighty-three years. 
He was one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the 
state at the time of his death, had been a faith- 
ful member of the Congregational church for 
many years, and was an elder for some years 
prior to his demise. 

Sherlock B. Cuthbert attended the schools 
of Kent until twelve \'ears old, and then, until 
sixteen, worked out among the farmers of the 
neighborhood; he next apprenticed himself to 
a blacksmith, with the intention of learning 
the trade, but the outbreak of the Civil war 
made a change in his plan, and August 27, 
1861, he enlisted in compan}' A, First Ohio 
light artillery, and served within a few dajs of 
four years, being twice wounded — the first 
time at Shiloh, where he was struck on a fin- 
ger (and he still preserves the bullet), and the 
second time at Stone River, where he was shot 
in the left thigh, December 31, 1863. No at- 
tempt will here be made to enumerate the 
many battles in which Mr. Cuthbert partici- 
pated, and it will suffice to say that for meri- 
torious conduct he was promoted to be corpo- 
ral September 21, 1863; also that, on receising 
his second wound, a few months later, he lay 
four ilays on the battle field without food or 
drink, and was then hauled thirty-one miles 



to hospital, where he lay four weeks; was then 
transported to Cincinnati, where he was con- 
fined in hospital four months, and then con- 
fined in hospital at Clevelatfd four months 
longer; finally, having recovered from his se- 
vere wound, he returned to the front and re- 
enlisted in his same company as a veteran, 
received the usual thirty-day furlough, and 
served until receiving an honorable discharge, 
at Cleveland, July 31, 1865. / 

After returning from the war, Mr. Cuth- 
bert served a year at Kent as baggage-master, 
and for two jears afterward was emplo3ed by 
the railroad company. April 4, 1870, he mar- 
ried Miss Minerva Needham, daughter of Val- 
orus and Mary L. (Smith) Needham, to which 
marriage have been born five children, viz: 
Charles H., Ellen J., (irace N., Mary and 
Perry E. Since 1870, Mr. Cuthbert has de- 
voted his attention to farming, and is now one 
of the most prosperous agriculturists of his 
township. In politics a republican, Mr. Cuth- 
bert his served his fellow-citizens as supervisor 
of Brimfield township one term, giving com- 
plete satisfaction to his constituents. He is a 
member of A. H. Day post, G. A. R., at Kent, 
and is one of the most highly honored and es- 
teemed residents of Brimfield township and 
Portage count}-. 

\'alorous Needham, father of Mrs. Sher- 
lock B. Cuthbert, was born in Hampshire 
county, Mass., March 29, 1806, and was 
reared a carpenter. In 1833, he came to 
Ohio, located in Brimfield township, Portage 
county, worked at his trade a number of years 
and then bought the farm now occupied by his 
son-in-law, Mr. Cuthbert. There he resided 
until 1865, when he retired to Kent. His 
marriage took place, in 1S43, to Miss Mary L. 
Smith, daughter of Henry and Chloe (Chap- 
man) Smith, and to this marriage were born 
six children, of whom two only are still living 
— Mrs. Cuthbert, who was born March zy, 



242 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



1849, in Brimfield township, and Mrs. L. M. 
Tracy. Ttie deceased four were named 
Henry, who died in July, 1862, at the age of 
eighteen }ears; Chloe, who died in July, 1862, 
aged two and a half years; Harmer, who died 
at the age of eighteen years in May, 1865, and 
Ellen, who died in April, 1869, also aged 
eighteen years. The mother of this family 
died September 7, i860, at the age of forty- 
live years; the father, June 13, 1891, at the 
advanced age of eighty-five years, the wife in 
the faith of the Baptist church. Alvin Need- 
ham, father of Valorous, and grandfather of 
Mrs. Cuthbert, was also a native of Massachu- 
setts, married Miss Abigail Wallbridge, and 
came to Brimfield township, Portage county, 
Ohio, in 1835, and here passed the remainder 
of his life in the noble pursuit of agriculture. 



*-|^ AFAYETTE DARROW, a prominent 
I r farmer of Stowe township, is a grand- 
1 J, son of George Darrow, who was one 
of the original pioneers of Summit 
county, Ohio, and came with 'Squire Hudson 
on his second" trip to Summit county in 1800. 
George Darrow married, October 17, 1801, 
Olive Gaylord. This was the first marriage in 
Summit county and was solemnized by 'Squire 
Hudson. They settled in what is now the 
southern part of Hudson, on Darrow street, 
and cleared up a good farm from the wilder- 
ness, where John Morris, who married a Dar- 
row, now lives. George Darrow and wife 
were the parents of George, William, Daniel, 
David, Charlotte, Olive and Amanda. 

Mr. Darrow died at the venerable age of 
eighty-two years, a much respected pioneer. 
He was an Indian iigher, and after the shoot- 
ing of Daniel Diver in Deerfield in the winter 
of 1806-7, George Darrow and Jonathan Will- 
iams joined in the pursuit of the slayer, the 
latter shooting and killing the Indian Nickshaw 



in the township of Richfield. In the war of 
1812, a military company was formed in Hud- 
son township, and George Darrow, as major 
of the battalion, was assigned the work of 
opening a road through to Camp Huron, near 
Sandusky, but before its completion, learning 
of the trouble which the American troops were 
meeting with at the hands of red skins in the 
vicinity of Detroit, he hurried forward to re- 
inforce the garrison at Fort Huron, afterward 
being ordered to assist in the building of Fort 
Meigs. He was afterward colonel in the state 
militia, and was always called Col. Darrow. 

William Darrow, son of above, and the fa- 
ther of Lafayette Darrow, was born on Dar- 
row street, on his father's farm, received a 
common education and was reared a farmer. 
He married, December 15, 1841, Harriet Dea- 
con, who was born in Hudson township, a 
daughter of Henry Deacon. Henry Deacon 
was born in Pennsylvania, of German descent; 
his wife was of Irish descent. Mr. Deacon 
was an early settler of Hudson township, be- 
came a substantial farmer, cleared up a large 
farm and was at one time the largest land- 
owner in Hudson township. His children 
were Mary, Harriet, William (who went to 
Colorado and never returned), Betsey and 
Henry. Mr. Deacon was a good business man 
and lived to a ripe old age. William Darrow 
settled on the old Darrow homestead and there 
passed all his remaining days and was success- 
ful, owning 400 acres of land. His children 
were George, Lafayette, William and Mary. 
Mr. Darrow lived to be sixty-eight years old 
and died on his farm. He was a much re- 
spected, honorable and upright gentleman. 

Lafayette Darrow was born on his grand- 
father's old homestead, July 21, 1851, received 
a common-school education, and has alwajs 
been a farmer. He married, September 30, 
1875, in Stowe township, Ellen J. Call, who 
was born September 6, 1852, in Darrowville, 





'-v^,^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



245 



a daughter of Moses and Maria (Starr) Call. 
Mr. Darrow owns a j^ood farm of i6o acres, 
which he has placed under first-class cultiva- 
tion. He is independent in politics, and in 
religion is a member of the Congressional 
church. He is a gentleman of undoubted in- 
tegrity of character, and stands deservedly high 
for his sterling worth. 



* w ^ ON. LEONIDAS S. EBRIGHT, M. 
»^^ I)., of .\kron, an ex-soldier of the late 
I , r war, was born in Fairfield county, 
Ohio, near Royalton, September 25, 
1844, and is a son of George and Rachael 
(Hathawayj Ebright. He is paternally de- 
scended from Pennsylvania -Germans, and 
maternally, through his grandfather, from 
Scotch ancestry. 

George Ebright. father of the subject of 
this review, was a carriagemaker by trade and 
minister of the Methodist church for many 
years. He had a family of nine children and 
died in 1864, at the age of fifty-three years; 
his widow is now se\ent}^-si.\ years old. 

Dr. L. S. Ebright was educated in the 
public schools of Fairfield county, and May 7, 
1862, enlisted in company K, Eighty-fifth Ohio 
volunteer infantry, for the three months' ser\- 
ice, and was. honorably discharged in Septem- 
ber, 1862. In the winter of 1863-64 he taught 
school, and in April, 1864, he enlisted in the 
Eighthy-seventh Ohio infantry, but was soon 
transferred to company G, Eighty-eighth re- 
giment, and served on detached duty until July 
3, 1865, when he was mustered out, by special 
order, at Camp Chase, Ohio. After returning 
from the army he was employed for six months 
as clerk in a drug store in Wooster, Ohio, and 
in February, 1866, came to Akron entered the 
office of Drs. Howen & Ebright (Dr. Ebright 
l>eing an uncle), and with them read medicine 
until prepared to enter the Charity Hospital 

5 



Medical college at Cleveland, from which he 
graduated in February, 1 869, when he re- 
turned to Akron, where he practiced until the 
winter of 1871, and then took a course in the 
medical department of the college of Physi- 
cians & Surgeons of New York. He then re- 
sumed practice in Akron, which he continued 
until October, 1872, when he went to Germany 
and passed ten months in the hospitals of that 
countr}-. After an absence of thir'teen months 
abroad, Dr. Ebright again took up the active 
practice of medicine in Akron, but for many 
years devoted all the time he could spare from his 
professional duties to fraternal and benevolent 
matters, being a member of the F. & A. M. 
and K. of P. For four years he was grand 
treasurer and one year grand regent of the 
grand council of Ohio. R. A., and was three 
times representative to the supreme council 
from this body; was grand commander of the 
grand 'council of A. L. of H., and for eight 
years was a member of the supreme body of 
of that order; he was surgeon of battery B, O. 
N. G., for five years, and for five years, also, 
was surgeon of the German Guards. He was 
also appointed by Go\-. McKinley surgeon- 
general on the governor's staff, with the rank 
of brigadier-general, and held the office four 
years. As a republican he has been very pop- 
ular, and in the fall of 1879 was elected to rep- 
resent Summit county lin the lower house of 
the state legislature. For twenty years he has 
been a member of the county central republi- 
can committee, and during that time has made 
more speeches in the cause of the republican 
party than any man in the county. He was 
the first secretary of the Northeastern Medical 
society, and in 1896 retired from the pres- 
idency of the same; he served a long time as 
health officer of Akron, and for ten years has 
been physician to the Children's home. He is 
president of the county Agricultural society 
and also a director in the Hill Sewer Pipe 



-'40 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



company. He is a member of Buckley post, 
No. 12. G. A. R., and has likewise been a 
member of the board of physicians of the Akron 
city hospital for many years. He has a good 
knowledge of the German language as well as 
of the English, and in his political canvasses 
has made many speeches in the former tongue, 
and has been the associate and compeer of 
such able orators as McKinley, Tom Reed, 
Judge West, Ben Butterworth, Boutelle, and 
<^)thers, and is, in fact, one of the representa- 
tive leaders of the republican party. In the 
memorable campaign of 1896 Dr. Ebright did 
effective work for the party in Ohio, Kentucky, 
city of Chicago, and Michigan, and as a mark 
of confidence and the esteem with which he is 
held by the leaders of the party he was ap- 
pointed, by President McKinley, postmaster 
of Akron, Ohio, his commission bearing date 
of July 27, 1897. 

Dr. Ebright was united in marriage, in 
1883, to Miss Julia Bissell, of Sharon, Medina 
county, Ohio, which union has been blessed 
with two children — Ruth B. and Mary R. The 
doctor is a frank, outspoken gentleman, is 
witty, apt and genial. He is quick at repartee 
on the stump and in the social circle, and, as 
may well be inferred from the above record, 
has host of friends in Akron and Summit county. 



^^^EORGE L. DARROW, one of the 
■ ^\ substantial farmers of Stowe town- 
^^^M ship. Summit county, Ohio, is now 
living on the old Darrow homestead, 
where he was born August 19, 1856. His re- 
mote ancestors came from Scotland, and set- 
tled in Connecticut some time in 1600, at New 
London. 

Nathaniel Darrow, great-great-grandfather 
of George L. , was born in New London, 
Conn., and married Rachael Wilco.x, of Eng- 
lish descent. Their children were Nathaniel, 



Isaac, James, George and David, whose de- 
scendants are scattered throughout the United 
States. 

George Darrow, son of above and great- 
grandfather of subject, was born September S, 
1747, and settled when a young man ih Leba- 
non, New York state, married Eunice Meach- 
am, and reared a family of si.\ children (all 
of whom lived and had families of their own), 
viz: Celia, born March 12, 1774; Joseph, 
March 27, 1775; George, October 7, 1778; 
David, March 13, 1782; James, May 18, 1784, 
and Sallie, June 19, 1787. In 1806, George 
Darrow came with his family to Stowe town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, then all in the 
woods. He was one of the original pioneers, 
but died, five years after settling, in 181 1. 

Joseph Darrow, son of above, and grand- 
father of subject, born March 27, 1775, came 
to Ohio, when a single man with "Squire Hud- 
son as a surveyor, was one of the party who 
landed at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, 
river 1799, and he was the surveyor who laid 
out the land for 'Squire Hudson. Mr. Darrow 
married, in Northampton township, April 18, 
1803, Sallie Prior, who was born October 28, 
1 78 1, a daughter of Simeon and Catherine 
(Wright) Prior, and they settled on the farm 
where our subject now li\es. The Priors 
were of English descent, and of New England 
ancestry, and were pioneers of Summit count}'. 
Simeon Prior married, January i, 1781, in 
New England, and settled in Northampton 
township. Joseph Darrow's name appears 
with that of his brother George in the list of 
voters of the first election of town officers held 
at Hudson, Ohio, .April 5, 1802, in the first 
log house built in Summit county. This was 
built by 'Squire David Hudson, in 1799, in 
the fall, 'Squire Hudson being one of the orig- 
inal proprietors of Hudson township, which 
was the land of the Connecticut companj-. 
'S(|uire HudsiMi came out from Goshen, Conn., 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



247 



to Cleveland, and from there up the Cuya- 
hoga river to Boston, near the southwest cor- 
ner of Hudson township. He had with him a 
company of men, and Joseph Darrovv, the sur- 
veyor, and they cleared ten acres of land when 
he surveyed the townshiji. The Darrows 
were no doubt among the earliest pioneers of 
this Count)'. Joseph Darrow settled in the 
woods and cleared up the farm where our sub- 
ject now lives, and he surveyed much of the 
land in this county, including the Hrst road 
from Hudson to Canton. 

Joseph Darrow and wife were the parents 
of the following children, all born in Stowe 
township: Polly, born February 3, 1S05; Ly- 
man, September 3, 1S06; Abbie, November 
24, 1808; Stephen, March 31, 1810; Julia, De- 
cember 10, 181 1 ; Sarah A., July 19, 1813; 
Caroline, January i, 18 15, Charles, Septem- 
ber, 19, 1816; Seth, November 30, 1818; 
Catherine, January 22, 1821; Norman, Octo- 
ber 14, i822;Newry C, October 27, 1824; 
Clarissa, February 15, 1827. 

Joseph Darrovv was a democrat in politics, 
and died November 13, 1856, a venerable man 
of eighty-one years. He was a justice of the 
• peace many years and much respected. He 
was a hunter and trapper in early days, for 
his own pleasure and the benefit of his family. 
He was one of the early members of the Ma- 
sonic lodge, at Hudson, Ohio, and was liberal 
in religion, holding to the Universalists' belief. 
He was a man of sterling worth and high 
character. 

Charles Darrow, son of above and father 
of George L. Darrow, was born September 19, 
1 8 16, on the farm where the latter now lives, 
and the first child born in the frame house 
still occupied liy our subject and built in 181 5- 
1816. He received a good education for his 
day in the old pioneer school-house and was 
always a farmer. He married, January 27, 
1841, Sabra Wilcox, who was born July 2, 



18 1 8, a daughter of Nathan Wilcox. After 
marriage Mr. Darrow and wife settled on the 
old Darrow homestead, and here they passed 
all their remaining days. J-Joth were members 
of the Methodist church, and in politics he 
was a republican. He was a strong Union 
man and had a son in the Civil war — Norman, 
a private in companj' G, One Hundred and 
Fifteenth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, 
who died of sickness at Camp Chase, Ohio, 
October 20, 1862. Mr. Darrovv owned a good 
farm of 160 acres and was a substantial and 
respected man. 

George L. Darrow received a good educa- 
tion in the public schools and became a farm- 
er, and also learned the carpenter's trade. 
He married, September 3, 1876, in Darrow- 
ville, Emma R. Appleton, who was born July 
28, 1858, in Northfield, Summit county, Ohio, 
a daughter of Wesley and Amanda (Norton) 
Appleton. Wesley Appleton was a soldier in 
the Civil war and was among the missing. 
Mr. and Mrs. Darrow have five children: 
Lottie M., Charles, Fred, Dorotha H. and 
Celia. Mr. Darrow is a substantial farmer 
and dealer in agricultural implements. In 
politics he has been a republican, a free sil- 
verite and a populist. He is a member of the 
Knights of Macabees at Hudson, Ohio, and a 
member of the Darrow Street grange. He 
stands high as a business man, is an excellent 
citizen, and his familj' is one of the most re- 
spected in the countj'. Lottie M. Darrow is 
now married to William H. Peck, a farmer of 
Stowe township. 



EERMAN B. DICKINSON, prominent 
as an attorney at law, was born in 
Randolph township, Portage county, 
Ohio, August II, 1858, and is a son 
of William P. and Harriet (Watkins) Dickin- 
son, both natives of the Buckeye state, and 



248 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the parents of six children, viz: Herman B., 
Grace, Harriet (wife of H. A. Cail), Percie, 
and Fannie and Maie, deceased. 

Alpheus Dickinson, paternal grandfather 
of subject, was a native of Connecticut, was 
a farmer and lumberman, and a patriot of the 
war of 1812. He was an early settler of 
Portage county, Ohio, reared a large family, 
and died in Randolph township at the ad- 
vanced age of over ninety years. 

Joseph Watkins, the maternal grandfather 
of Herman B. Dickinson, was born in Wales, 
and was a boy when brought to America by 
his parents, who lived for some years in Con- 
necticut, and then came to Ohio and settled 
in Steubenville. Mr. Watkins became a mer- 
chant in Evansburg, Coshocton county, whence 
he shipped large quantities of grain, and was 
also a potent factor in the business, political 
and religious affairs of the town, being espe- 
cially interested in the famous underground 
railroad of that day. His death took place 
in Kno.x county, at the age of about sixty 
years. 

William P. Dickinson, father of subject, 
was reared in Portage county to farming, and 
was first married to Mariette Gillette, who bore 
him one child, Arthur, who is now living in 
Randolph township. His second marriage re- 
sulted, as already stated, in the birth of six 
children. Mrs. Harriet Dickinson died in 
1889, a member of the Congregational church, 
of which her husband is also a member. She 
had two brothers who served through the 
Civil war, and one who served through the 
greater portion of it. Mr. Dickinson now re- 
sides on his farm near the east corporation 
line of Ravenna. 

H. B. Dickinson, the gentleman whose 
name opens this memoir, when a year old was 
taken by his parents to New Jersey, where 
they lived until he was five years of age. The 
faniilv then returned to Ohio, and for two 



years lived in Oberlin, whence they moved to 
Knox county, and, in 1869, returned to Ran- 
dolph, Portage county, and finally settled on 
the farm east of Ravenna in 1876. Here Mr. 
Dickinson received his education in the district 
school, and in 1 883 graduated from the Ravenna 
high school. Immediately thereafter he began 
the study of law under Judge P. B. Conant, 
and was admitted to the bar June i, 1886, 
from which date until February i, 1888, he 
served as deputy in the office of C. A. Reed, 
judge of the probate court. Ma\- i, 1888, he 
opened his present office, and February i, 1897, 
he formed a partnership in the practice of law 
at Ravenna with G. R. Percival. In pol- 
itics he is a republican and has served two 
terms as justice of the peace. 

Mr. Dickinson was united in wedlock May 
10, 1889, with Miss Ida E. Hitchcock, daugh- 
ter of Dr. Hitchcock, the marriage being 
blessed with three children — Ethel, Ruth and 
Howells. Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson are con- 
scientious members of the Congregational 
church. Mr. Dickinson is a young man of 
pleasant manners and is rapidly building lip a 
lucrative practice. His legal ability is univer- 
sally recognized, and he holds the confidence 
and esteem of the citizens of Ravenna and 
surrounding territory. 



aLAUDE M. DAVIS, assistant cashier 
of the City Bank of Kent, Ohio, and 
agent in this city for the John Han- 
cock Mutual Life Insurance company 
of Boston, was born in Kent, April 20, i858, 
and is a son of Dr. Joel D. and Mary (Smithj 
Davis. 

Joel D. Davis, M. D., the leading physician 
of Kent and Franklin township, was born in 
Randolph township. Portage count)-, Ohio, 
July 8, 1844, his parents being Darius and 
Louisa (Merrell) Davis, natives, respectively. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



249 



of the states of Ohio and New York, but whose 
lives were principally passed in Kent, where 
the father, Uarius, died at about sixty-two 
years of age, and the mother at about seventy. 
Joel D. was primarily educated in the common 
schools of his native township, where he con- 
tinued to reside until twent}' years old, or 
thereabout, when he came to Kent, which city 
has since been his home. He began the study 
of medicine, in 1875, under the preceptorship 
of Dr. E. ^^'. Price, quite an eminent profes- 
sional of Kent, was thoroughly prepared for 
and entered the \\'estern Reserve universit)-, 
from the medical department of which he 
graduated in 1878, and at once opened his 
office in Kent, securing a large and lucrative 
practice. In 1884 the doctor opened a drug 
store, which he conducts in conjunction with 
his practice, and finds to be a very convenient 
and profitable accessory. By his marriage, in 
1867, to Miss Mary Smith, there have been 
born seven children, viz: Claude M., Ethel- 
bert L. , Jay D., Louise M., Edna P., I^essie 
and Jeannette. Fraternally, Dr. Davis is a 
Freemason; politically he is a republican; so- 
cially he mingles in the select circles of Kent, 
and professionally he stands in the front rank 
of the medical men of Portage county. 

Claude M. Davis, after attending the com- 
mon schools of Kent until he had absorbed all 
that their curriculum afforded, took a course 
at the Spencerian Commercial college at Cleve- 
land, and then, from 1888 until the spring of 
1893, clerked in his father's drug store. In 
the last-named year he engaged in the real es- 
tate and insurance business, and July i, 1894, 
ha\ing manifested unusual business (jualifica- 
tions, was tendered his present position in the 
City Bank of Kent, which he accepted and has 
since filled in a most satisfactory manner. 

October 20, 1888, Mr. Davis was united in 
marriage to Miss Lorinda M. Card, who was 
born in Decrfield, Portage county, Ohio, De- 



cember 12, 1867, a daughter of Silas and Mar- 
garet H. (Ellett) Card, the latter of whom 
came here from New Jersey, with her parents, 
about sixty years ago. The marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Davis has been blessed with two sons 
— Ray C, born November 18, 1889, and Joel 
M., born March 8, 1892. In politics Mr. 
Davis is a stalwart republican, and fraternally 
is a member of Achilles lodge. No. 378, Knights 
of Pythias, at Kent. He is one of the leading 
young business men of northeastern Ohio, is 
very popular and prominent in Kent, and his 
social standing, as is that of his accomplished 
lady, is with the elite of Ivent and surrounding 
territory. 



Wi 



ILLIAM DANNER, an experienced 
agriculturist and formerly cabinet- 
maker, and a highly respected citi- 
zen of Green township, Summit 
county, (^hio, and a son of Philip and Mary- 
Ann (Benzel) Danner, was born in Canton, 
Stark county, February 15, 1833. 

Philip Danner, grandfather of William, was 
a native of Pennsyhania, was a shoemaker b}' 
trade, and was a pioneer of Stark county, 
Ohio, coming here in 1818, and locating one 
mile east of Canal Fulton, where he followed 
farming. He married Miss Margaret Millheim, 
the union resulting in the birth of nine chil- 
dren, viz: John, Samuel, Catherine (wife of 
George Stover), Jacob, Philip, Margaret, 
Michael, George and David. The father of 
this family died at the age of eighty-one 
years, seven months and nine days, and his 
wife also attained great longevity. 

Philip Danner, father of subject, was born 
in Center county. Pa., was a weaver by trade, 
but on coming to Ohio settled at what is now 
known as Canal Fulton, Stark county, and 
carried on wea\ing and also carpenter work. 
He married Miss Mary .^nn Benzel, daughter 



250 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



of Baltzer Benzel, and this union was 
blessed with four children, of whom three still 
survive, viz: Samuel, of Canton; Emaline and 
William (our subject). Alfred, the deceased 
child, died in 1855. The parents both were 
spared for several years after their marriage, 
and died in the enjoyment of the esteem of all 
their neighbors. 

William Danner was but four months old 
when he was adopted into the family of his 
uncle, George Danner, who reared him to 
farming until twenty-one years old; after, he 
worked on shares until 1859, when his uncle was 
called from earth. He then moved to a point 
near Canal Fulton, where he had an aunt liv- 
ing, and there passed away nineteen years of 
his life. He had married at Canal I'^ulton in 
October, 1855, Miss Lucinda Shriver, who was 
born in Bucyrus, Ohio, January 6, 1835. a 
daughter of Henry and Susan (Smith) Shriver, 
the former of whom was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania and a life-long farmer, his wife being also 
a native of the Keystone state, and both dying 
in Ohio, in the faith of the Lutheral church. 
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Danner has been 
blessed with three children, of whom Henry 
A. died in September, 1862, at the age of five 
years and eleven months; Clara F. is the wife 
of William H. Sutter, of Copley township, 
Sunmiit county, and Elva B. is the wife of 
George J. Butler, and living at the home of 
Mr. Danner. 

For some time after marriage, Mr. Danner 
worked in a machine shop, and in 1879 sold 
his farm near Canal Fulton and bought a 
house and lot in Fulton town, where he en- 
gaged in wagonmaking until 1890, when he 
moved to Akron, and entered upon wagon- 
making for hve months — a trade with which 
he had familiarized himself, among his other 
multifarious acquisitions in the mechanical 
arts, and which he followed, at the different 
places in which he lived, for a period, all told. 



of eighteen years in connection with that of 
cabinetmaking, and which he continued in Ak- 
ron three years, or until 1893, when he bought 
his present farm in Green township, which has 
e\'er since been his home. Mr. Danner has 
never been an office seeker, but has served on 
the school board si.\ years as a matter of pub- 
lic duty. He well remembers when wild deer 
were plenty in Stark county, and has in his 
possession the antlers of the last one shot, and 
which was killed by his uncle, David Danner; 
he likewise possesses a picture o\er 200 years 
old, that belonged to his grandmother's grand- 
mother, and a piece of money over 100 years 
old. He and wife are members of the Pres- 
byterian church, at Akron, Ohio, of which he 
was a trustee, and the}' are among the most 
respected residents of Green township. 



IRA O. FAIRCHILD, one of the prom- 
inent farmers and most respected citi- 
zens of Stowe township. Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, is a man of undoubted 
integrity of character. 

Jonathan Fairchild, the grandfather of Ira 
O., was a farmer of Connecticut, where he 
married and became the father of Zera, Sher- 
man, Elam, Polly and Seth. Mr. Fairchild 
came to Ohio, but did not settle here, prefer- 
ring to go on to Hvansville, Ind., where he 
died a very aged man, both he and wife living 
to be between ninety and 100 years old. It 
is believed he was a soldier in the-Revolution- 
ary war. 

Elam Fairchild, father of Ira O.. was born 
in Connecticut, January 9, 1793. He became 
a carpenter and farmer, and married in Otsego 
county, N. Y., where, he went when a young 
man. Miss Lydia Wilco.x. Mr. Fairchild, 
soon after marriage, went to Pittsburg, Pa., 
and thence by Hat-boat to Evansvilie, Ind., 
and worked at his trade. About two or three 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



251 



years later he came with ox teams to Paines- 
ville, Ohi(j, where he lived some time, and 
then moved to Mentor, Ohio, lived at Kirk- 
land when the Mormons built their temple 
there, and drew stones for the building. He 
owned a farm one mile south. He then 
moved to Chester, Ohio, where he lived five 
years, and then, in 1837, moved to Willough- 
by, Ohio; in 1840 moved to Amherst, Lorain 
county, Ohio; in 1866 moved to Kent, Ohio; 
one year later, in 1867, he moved to the farm 
now occupied by Ira O. Fairchild, buying 
fifty-two acres, ad here lived a few years, and 
then retired to Amherst, where he died, aged 
over eighty-nine years, December 22, 18S2. 
In politics he was a democrat and in religion 
an Episcopalian, while his wife was a Method- 
ist. He was a highly respected citizen and 
at Amherst was trustee, and was land ap- 
praiser in Lorain county. His children were 
Julia Ann, Martha, L\dia, Emily and Ira O. 
His wife was a very ambitious and energetic 
woman and of man}- virtues, and died eighteen 
years before her husband. 

Ira O. Fairchild was born July 28, 1827, 
and gained a good education in the public 
schools. He began life as a farmer, a pursuit 
which he has always followed. He came to 
his present farm with his father in 1 867 and 
bought him out in 1873, the farm consisting 
of fifty-two acres, and by his industry and 
thrift he has added to it, first buying si.\ty-six 
acres, and now has a fine farm of 195 acres, 
upon which he has excellent buildings, kept in 
good repair. In politics he is a democrat, is 
an honored citizen, and has served as justice 
of the peace fifteen years and township trustee 
and clerk two years. He has always been an 
industrious man of the greatest integrity of 
character and has always enjoyed the respect 
of all who know him, and stands high for his 
sterling worth. He is a public-spirited man 
and liberal to all sjood causes. 



^V^ KV. JAMES J. FARRELL, pastor of 

I /<^ the church of the Immaculate Con- 

I^P ception at Ravenna, Ohio, was born 

in county Kilkenny, Ireland, October 

18, i860, and is a son of Patrick and Catherine 

Farrell, the former of whom died in 1879. 

The six children born to these parents were 

named Mary, Michael (deceased), James J., 

Margaret, Anastasia and John. The mother 

and three of the surviving children still reside 

in Ireland, Anastasia being housekeeper for her 

brother, the Rev. James J., our subject. 

Rev. James J. Farrell received his ele- 
mentary education in the national schools of 
Ireland and his literary and philosophical 
courses were taken at Saint Kiernan's college 
in Kilkenny. In 1882 he came to the United 
States and at once entered upon his theological 
studies at Saint Mary's academy in Cleveland, 
Ohio, where he remained under discipline for 
three"years. In 1885 he was ordained priest 
by the Kt. Rev. Richard Gilmour, bishop of 
Cleveland (now deceased), and said his first 
mass in the Catholic church at Willoughby, 
Ohio. His first appointment was to the pas- 
torate of St. Patrick's church at Elmore, 
Ottawa county, Ohio, which he held until the 
fall of 1885, where he faithfully ministered to 
the spiritual wants of a small congregation 
and to those of the missions at Oak Harbor, 
Genoa and Woodville until October, 1885, 
when he was transferred to Hudson, Ohio, and 
given the pastorate of Saint Mary's congrega- 
tion, with whom he remained four years, hav- 
ing also under his care the missions of Cuya- 
hoga Falls and Peninsula, Ohio. About this 
time the Catholics of Ravenna were deprived 
of their beloved pastor, the Rev. John' T. 
Cahill, and the good and faithful service of 
Father Farrell being fully recognized, he was 
selected by the bishop as a fitting successor to 
the late brilliant and eloquent divine. In Sep- 
tember, 1889, Father Farrell came to Ravenna, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and has here performed his duties with untiring 
zeal up to the present day, and much is due to 
him for the present flourishing condition of the 
conijregation of the Immaculate Conception. 
This consists of about 125 families, or 500 
members, and supports two schools — primary 
and grammar, respectively — which are con- 
ducted by the Dominican sisters of Jersey City, 
N. J., three of the societ}' being sent to Ra- 
\enna for the purpose named. The fine church 
edifice is located at the corner of Main and 
Sycamore streets, and stands on a lot of 180 
leet frontage on Main by a depth of 220 feet 
on Sycamore street, and the other property of 
the congregation comprises the parsonage and 
a residence for the sisters. 

Father Farreli is a profound student and 
has a well-stocked library; he is a delightful 
conversationalist, an eloquent pulpit orator, 
and, above all, a devout priest and servant of 
his church, and few can estimate the immense 
amount of arduous labor performed by him in 
promoting the spiritual welfare of his charge, 
who, indeed, lo\e him as a father. As a re- 
laxation from his onerous duties, in part, and 
the recuperation of his health, and in part to 
re-visit his beloved mother and family. Father 
Farreli made a trip to Ireland in the summer 
of 1896, and while there availed himself of 
visiting many points of interest in the Emer- 
ald isle, beside his old home. Since his return 
he has renewed his ministerial duties with in- 
creased vigor, being heartily welcomed by his 
people. 



EIKAM SILAS FALOK, a well-known 
citizen of Coventry township. Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, was born on the 
farm on which he now lives, March 
22, 1829, and descends from one of the old 
pioneer families of the county, of German 
origin. 



Adam Fehler, as the name was originally 
spelled, was the grandfather of subject, was a 
nati\e of Germany, and was the founder of the 
present Falor family in Ohio. On coming to 
America he first located in Pennsylvania, re- 
sided in Reading a few years, and then came 
to Ohio. Here he lived in Stark county 
some time, then bought a farm near Wolf 
Lodge, now within the corporation of the city 
of Akron, but died a number of years ago in 
New Portage, Summit county. 

George Adam Falor, son of Adam Fehler, 
and father of Hiram Silas, the subject, was 
born in Lower Smithville, Northampton 
county. Pa., Jul)' 17, 1798, and in 1809 was 
brought to Ohio by his parents, and after 
having lived in Stark county about five jears, 
located on what was later known as the 
Thornton farm, and which now constitutes 
a populous part of the cit\- of Akron. He re- 
mained with his father until he was twent)- 
fi\e years of age, and then bought from the 
government what is now the well known Falor 
farm of eighty-two acres in Coventry township, 
at $1.50 per acre, which he cultivated many 
years, besides following his trade of stone- 
mason. George A. Falor was three times 
married — his wives being sisters, and named 
respectivel)-, Nanc}' McCoy, Rachel McCoy, 
and Mrs. Jane (McCoy) Wilson. To the first 
marriage were born four children, viz: Milo 
J., deceased; James M., deceased; Lucinda, 
now Mrs. John Gottwalt, and Hiram S., the 
subject. To the second marriage were born 
George W., now deceased; Oliver P.; Mary A., 
now Mrs. J. A. Long; Thomas J.; William W., 
deceased; Henry C, deceased, Martha E., 
married to Henry Acker; Lillie A., wife of 
George L. Adkins, and Perr}- T. To the third 
marriage no children were born. Mr. Falor 
was a captain of a militia compan}' and also a 
drum-major in a company which he had aided 
in organizing. In politics he was first a free- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



253 



silver democrat and later a republican, and 
was a man of great influence in his commu- 
nity. Having acquired a competency through 
his good management, he finally retired to 
Akron, where he died of dropsy June 29, 1868, 
an honored and venerated pioneer. 

Hiram S. Falor, the subject, received a 
sound common-school education and early 
learned the trade of harnessmaker, a business 
he conducted for fifteen years with unqualified 
success in Akron. In i860 he went to Cali- 
fornia and for a time clerked in a wholesale 
store in San Francisco; worked for a brief 
period in the mines, and then established the 
pioneer harness shop in X'irginia City, Nev. 
In 1861 he organized the City guards, and, as 
captain of this company, tendered its services 
to the government at the outbreak of the Re- 
bellion, but, for the lack of means of transport- 
ation at that time, the tender was declined.' 
In 1863 Capt. Falor returned to Akron, and 
five years later removed to his present farm, of 
which mention has already been made, and 
which now comprises eleven acres just outside 
the corporation limits of x\kron, and also of 
si.\ly-three town or building lots. 

Capt. Falor has ever been a consistent 
republican and has faithfull}' and ably filled 
man}- offices of honor and trust, political and 
otherwise. For several years he was foreman 
of one of Akron's pioneer fire companies; was 
deputy village marshal two years; was secre- 
tary of the Summit county Agricultural society 
two years, and for two years its assistant sec- 
retary; he was a messenger in the office of 
State Treasurer Joseph Turney, at Columbus, 
from 1880 to 1884, and was a member of the 
police fcjrce in charge of Music Hall during 
the Ohio Centennial exposition of 1888; was 
census enumerator for Coventry township in 
1890, and was a justice of the peace from 
1893 to 1896. Fraternally, he is a royal arch 
Mason, and for thirty-fi\e years has been a 



member of Akron lodge, No. 517, F. & A. 
M. As an Odd Fellow he has filled all the 
chairs of Summit lodge. No. 50, but is now 
non-affiliating. 

Capt. Falor was first married, July 4, 1854, 
to Miss Bertha E. Agard, who bore him three 
children, viz: Benjamin ^tanton, who was 
born August 21, 1855, and died October 30, 
1874; Claude Emerson, who was born De- 
cember 23, 1856, served in the regular army 
fourteen years, se\'en months and sixteen days, 
and was honorably discharged for disability; 
and Honora N., who was born January 18, 
1859, and died January 27. 1865. Mrs. Ber- 
tha E. Falor died January 4, 1873, an ardent 
and consistent member of the Baptist church, 
and July 16, 1873, Capt. Falor married Mrs. 
Phebe A. Lutz, of Westfield, Medina county, 
Ohio, a daughter of Martin and Fanny Wright, 
and the mother of two children by her first 
husband — Minnie, who died May i, 1881, and 
Sylvester E. Lutz. To this second marriage 
of Capt. Falor have also been born two chil- 
dren — Hiram Garcelon, August 12, 1879, and 
Phebe Fanny, March 6, 1881. Mr. and Mrs. 
Falor are members of the Main street (Akron) 
Methodist Episcopal church, of which the 
captain is a trustee, and toward the erection 
of which edifice he was a liberal contributor. 
He possesses to an unusual extent the esteem 
and confidence of his fellow-citizens and is 
universally recognized as one f)f the most pub- 
lic-spirited and useful members of the com- 
munity in which he has so long had his being. 



^V'^AMD F. FELMLY, mayor of Cuya- 
I I hoga Falls, Ohio, for the past three 
/<^^_^ years, springs from sturdy Dutch an- 
cestrj-, and is the son of Jacob and 
Susannah (Paulus) Felmly, of old colonial de- 
scent. The grandfather of David F. was a 
native of Snyder county, Pa., was a farmer. 



254 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and his childrrn were David, Jacob, Franklin 
and Mary. 

Jacob Felmly, father of David P., was 
born August 6, 1836, in Snj'der county, Pa., 
on his father'.s farm, and received but a Hm- 
ited common education. He came to Ohio 
when a young; man of twenty, in 1856, and 
married March 27, i860, in Sufficld township. 
Portage county, Susannah Paulus, who was 
born March 29, 1837, in Portage county, a 
daughter of David and Mary Paulus, of Penn- 
sylvania-Dutch stock. David Paulus was a 
farmer, and lived to the great age of eighty- 
six years. His children were David, Daniel, 
John, Peter, Henry, William, Elias, Abraham, 
Samuel, Mary and Susannah. Jacob Felmly, 
after marriage, settled on a farm in Suffield 
township, but now lives on his farm in North- 
ampton township, Summit county, and has 
always been a farmer. n politics he is a 
democrat, but voted for .\. Lincoln. Mr. 
Felmly is an industrious, hard-working man, 
respected by all. His children were named 
David I'., Charles H., Mar)' C Cora M., Ida 
J., Ewin E. , Lydia A., Miles E., Amy S. (died 
an infant), Nelly A. and Jacob L. — all now 
living except Amy S. 

David F. Felmly was born March 7, 1861, 
on the farm in Suffield township, and received 
his education in the public schools and in the 
college in Akron, Ohio. He taught school 
three years in Summit county, and then en- 
gaged as bookkeeper with Harry Thompson, 
in his sewer-pipe works. Mr. Felmly mar- 
ried, March 12, 1889, in Summit county, 
Emily Williamscjn, who was born November 
13, 1865, in this county, a daughter of W. H. 
and Maryette (Starke) Williamson. Mr. \\' ill- 
iamson is a farmer of Summit county, and his 
children were named, in order of birth, George 
B., Amy, Emily and Frank (died aged five 
years). His ancestors and his wife's were of 
New England stock. He is a substantial 



farmer and a respected citizen and in politics 
is a republican. Mr. Felmly is a successful 
farmer. He has held, in Northampton town- 
ship, the office of clerk of township two jears; 
in Cuyahoga Falls he has served as clerk of 
the town, was a member of the council two 
years, and was elected mayor in 1894. 

Mr. and Mrs. Felmly are members of the 
Disciples' church, in which Mr. Felmly has 
held the office of president of the board of 
trustees. He is also a knight of the Ancient 
Essenic order, K. of P., and a member of 
the Protective Home circle. Mr. Felmly 
stands high for his integrity of character, and 
is a popular official, having, in every office he 
has tilled, done his full duty. 



'^Y'UNIUS FENN, a deceased farmer of 
m Brimfield township, Portage county, 
m J Ohio, was born in Watertown, Litch- 
field county. Conn., October 7, 18 14, 
and was a son of Archibald and Mabel (Beech- 
er) Fenn, both natives of \\'atertown, in the 
same state. Archibald Fenn was a wagon- 
maker by trade, and to his marriage \\ith Miss 
Beecher, who was a daughter of Isaac Beecher, 
were born two sons — G. B. , who died Decem- 
ber 30, 1893, and Junius, whose name opens 
this sketch. 

Junius Fenn, attended the common or pub- 
lic schools of his native town until twelve j-ears 
of age, when he entered the office of the In- 
(]uirer, and for three years worked at the print- 
ind business, and then, for three years, was 
employed in a clock factory, after which he 
went to New York, and for a short time worked 
as a carpenter. In 1835 he came to Ohio and 
located at Cuyahoga Falls, Summit count)-, 
and September 22, 1839, married Miss Mary 
B. Nettleton, a daughter of Nathan and Eliz- 
abeth (Morris) Nettleton, and this union was 
blessed with two children — Eoline and Joseph 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



255 



M. In 1840 Mr. Fenn came to Portage county 
and settled on a farm, in Brimfield township, 
on which his widow died July 21, 1897, and 
where his children were born. This place he 
converted into oneo the most productive farms 
in the county, and here he passed away June 
II, 1 88 1, a member of the Methodist church, 
and honored by the many friends he had made 
both in Portage and Summit counties for his 
strict integrity, charitable disposition, and for 
all the endearing qualities that so distinguished 
him as a husband, father, friend and citizen. 

Nathan Nettleton, father of Mrs. Fenn, 
was born in Bethany, Conn., September 24, 
1 79 1, was a shoe dealer, and married, Decem- 
ber 25, 1 81 7, Miss Elizabeth Morris, who was 
born June 4, 1791, a daughter of Asa and Mary 
(Bisco) Morris, and to this union were born 
two children — Mrs. Mary B. Fenn, who was 
born September 15, 1818, and Elizabeth, who 
died in 1 83 1 , at the age of eight years and nine 
months. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. 
Fenn was also named Nathan and was born in 
New Haven, Conn. ; he was a farmer by occu- 
pation, was for many years sheriff of his county, 
and married Miss Sophia French. Asa Morris, 
the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Fenn, also a 
native of New Haven, married Miss Mary Bris- 
co, a daughter of Isaac Brisco, became the 
father of five children, viz; Asa, Alonzo, Na- 
than, Orville and Elizabeth, and died July 10, 
1828, his wife surviving until August 3, 1840, 
when she died at the age of seventy-si.x years. 
The Nettleton family was of English origin, 
and the branch that settled in America came 
to the country about the year 1650. 

Mrs. Mary B. Fenn, who died at nearly 
four score years, retained her faculties to a re- 
markable degree, lived in the enjoyment of the 
esteem of all her neighbors, and was honored 
as a descendant of one of the oldest families of 
America and as being among the early pioneers 
of Brimfield township. 



aURTIS FENTON is one of the most 
substantial business men of Mogadore. 
and one of the best known and most 
highly respected men in Summit 
county. He is superintendent and treasurer 
of the Akron Standard Pipe company, of Mog- 
adore, and as a man of affairs and representa- 
tive of the business interests of the place i.-^ 
regarded very highly in the community. He 
is a son of Almos J. Fenton, who was born in 
Ogdensburg, N. Y. , a son of .^lonzo Fentun, 
a master potter. Almos Fenton inherited his 
father's trade as a potter, and for some years 
operated an extensive pottery plant in Cleve- 
land in partnership with H. Thorpe, to whom 
he finally disposed of his interests and bouglit 
the pottery plant at Mogadore. He was an 
excellent man and an upright representative 
citizen, and the town of Mogadore owes much 
to his energetic efforts at an earlier daj'. He 
was an" old-line whig, later a republican, but 
in his later years gave his personal support to 
the principles of the prohibition party. He 
was a constant attendant anil \alued contrib- 
utor to the Methodist Episcopal church. He 
married Miss Susan Lee, daughter of Alexan- 
der Lee, and the following children were born 
to them; Thomas H., William, Curtis J. il). 
deceased, and Curtis (II), our subject. 

The latter was born in Mogadore January 
22, 1853. He receiveti an excellent common- 
school education, which he supplemented by a 
thorough course at the Cleveland Business col- 
lege. As his father and grandfather before 
him had done, he grew up in the pottery trade, 
with all the details of which, even to the mi- 
nutest, he is thoroughly acquainted. His ex- 
cellent business capacity makes him certainl\ 
the right man in the right place in his respon- 
sible position as superintendent and treasurer 
of the company, which annually handles $50,- 
000 worth of pipe. In his business he has 
been successful, and is one of the most sub- 



'256 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



stantial citizens of the place. He enjoys good 
living and has one of the pleasantest homes in 
the place. In politics he is a republican, and 
takes a warm interest in the local affairs of 
his party. 

On January 7, 1875, Mr. Fenton married 
Miss Kate L. Ferguson, daughter of Dr. James 
C. Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson was a native of 
Summit county, born August 7, 1820, son of 
Samuel and Rosanna (Reynolds) Ferguson, 
of Scotch-Irish descent. He was a graduate 
of Cleveland Medical college and practiced in 
this county all his life. His wife was Mary 
\\'ard, daughter of Calvin and Lydia Ward. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton have the following 
children: James T., Mary F"., Marjorie, Harry 
W., James T. (deceased, January 7, 1878), 
and Mary F. , the latter an accomplished mu- 
sician and graduate of the Cincinnati college 
of Music. 



<>^ MTEK FLATH, the fashionable cloth- 
1 m ier and merchant tailor of Ravenna, 
^ Ohio, is a native of Hessen Darm- 

stadt, German}-, was born September 
17, 1829, and is a son of Philip and Catherine 
Elizabeth (Flath) I'lath, who were the parents 
of seven children, of whom three are still liv- 
ing, viz: Elizabeth, of (jermany, and Peter 
and George, now of the United States. 

Philip Flath, father of subject, was also a 
merchant tailor in his younger manhood, but 
later engaged largely in farming. He lost his 
wife in 1861, and his own death occurred in 
Germany in 1882, at the advanced age of more 
than eighty-two years. Both were de\oted 
members of the Lutheran church. The pa- 
ternal grandfather of Mr. I'lath was a wealthy 
farmer, had born to him si.\ sons and one daugh- 
ter by two marriages, and died at the age of 
eighty years; the matermal grandfather was a 
school-teacher. 



Peter Flath was educated in Germany and 
learned his trade under the instruction of his 
father. At the age of nineteen years he came 
to the United States, and after working at his 
trade si.\ weeks in New York city, came to 
Ohio, and for si.\ months worked in Ports- 
mouth, Scioto county; he then went back to 
the Empire state, and for nearly four years 
worked in Rochester; thence he came west 
again and was employed in Chicago, 111., until 
1854, whence he returned to New York city, 
remained there seven or eight months, and 
then once more returned to Ohio and located 
in Cleveland. 

Peter Flath was married, in Cleveland, in 
1856, to Miss Catherine Heimes, and this union 
has been blessed with one daughter — Mary 
Charlotte. On April 2, i860, Mr. Flath came 
to Ravenna, and here he entered the employ- 
ment of J. T. Green, as cutter. Five years 
and nine months later he bought the business 
from his employer. F"or two years, however, 
Mr. Flath had a partner in the person of L. 
W. Reed, who sold his interest to William L. 
Poe at the end of that time, but since April 
23, 1875, Mr. Flath has been alone in the 
business. That he thoroughly understands 
this, is shown by the positions he has held as 
a journeyman — principally as cutter — and by 
the uniformly steady progress he has made 
smce he has been in trade on his own account. 
Mr. Flath is a master Mason fraternally, and 
in politics is a democrat. He stands well so- 
cially, and as a business man his reputation is 
without a flaw. 



^^rj^ILLIAM KEAN FOLTZ, M. D., a 
MM I distinguished physician and surgeon 
Wj^il of Akron, Ohio, was born in Juniata 
county. Pa., a son of Moses and 
Sarah (Kean) Foltz, February 15, 1829. 

Dietrich Foltz, paternal grandfather of the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



257 



doctor, was a native of Dauphin county, Pa., 
but whether of German or Swiss descent is 
unknown, but it is certain that his ancestors 
settled in America prior to the war of the 
Revolution. Dietrich was a wagonniaker by 
trade, but in later life bought a farm in Jun- 
iata county, on which he passed the remain- 
der of his life. Those of his children who 
grew to maturity were named Moses, George, 
Betsy (Mrs. Harris), Samuel, Benjamin, John, 
Joseph and Kebecca. 

Moses Foltz, eldest son of Dietrich and 
father of Dr. Foltz, was born in Juniata coun- 
ty, learned wagonmaking from his father, and 
married Sarah Kean, a daughter of William 
Kean, of Scotch-Irish descent, and also a native 
of Juniata county. To this marriage were born 
ten children, of whom eight grew to maturity, 
viz: William K., Joseph M., John K., Hiram 
H. , Abner E. , Heber M. , Caroline ( Mrs. Frank 
B. Clark), and George K. In 1831 Moses 
Foltz came to Ohio, located in Wooster, 
Wayne county, and for four or five years fol- 
lowed wagonmaking and then engaged in car- 
penter work. Nearly every winter, however, 
from 1834, he taught a term of school, as the 
inclement weather precluded his working as a 
carpenter, and this course of life he followed 
until his death, which occurred in Smithville, 
Wayne county, in 1864, at the age of fifty- 
seven }ears, a highly respected citizen. 

William Kean Foltz, our subject, was 
reared in Wayne county, Ohio, from the age 
of two years, and was educated at Heidelberg 
college. At the age of eighteen years he be- 
gan the study of medicine, entering the office 
of Dr. C. H. Stauber, of Wooster, and in 
February, 1869, was graduated from the Ec- 
lectic Medical college, of Cincinnati, where he 
had finished his medical education. He had 
previously practiced a year in Lafayette, Me- 
dina county, and then in Sharon Center ten 
years, following which he had a lucrative 



practice of ten years in Ashland, Ohio. In 
1877 Dr. Foltz came to Akron, where he has 
ever since met with the most flattering suc- 
cess, standing now in the front rank of his 
profession. He is an honored and valued 
member the Ohio State Eclectic Medical so- 
ciety and of the National Eclectic Medical 
association; also of the Ohio .\cademy of Sci- 
ence and the Akron Scientific club. In politics 
he is a stanch republican. 

Dr. Foltz was united in marriage May 12, 
1856, with Miss Carrie Lehman, daughter of 
John and Nancy (Bear) Lehman, of Wa\ne 
township, Wayne county, Ohio, and this 
happy union has been blessed with one child, 
Kent O., a prominent oculist and aurist. 



KIRAM H. FOLTZ, a prominent citizen 
.of Akron, was born in Wayne count}'. 
Ohio, June 20, 1837, ^l son of Moses 
and Sarah (Kean) Foltz, whose gene- 
alogy is given in a preceding paragraph. He 
attended public school until seventeen years of 
age, when he began learning carriage painting 
in Wooster, where he carried on the business 
until August 9, 1862, when he enlisted in com- 
pany I, One Hundred and Second Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry, served until May 13, 1865, 
and was honorably discharged on account of 
sickness, with the rank of corporal — his dis- 
charge being by special order of the war de- 
partment. He then worked at his trade in 
Wooster and in Medina county a few months, 
and in March, 1866, came to .Akron, followed 
his trade, more or less, until 1885, and then 
filled the position of superintendent of the .Ak- 
ron Transfer line for a year. In 1887 he was 
in the directory business at Zanesville, Ohio, 
and in 1888 was appointed canal collector for 
the port of Akron, which position he filled in 
a most satisfactory manner for six years. In 
1894 and 1895 he was in the employ of the 



258 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Foltz Jewelry company of Cleveland, and was 
also connected with the same company in Ak- 
ron during 1 895-96. As a republican he served 
as a member of the Akron school board four 
years, and it was during his incumbency of this 
office that the principal school-houses of Akron 
were erected. 

Mr. Foltz was joined in v.'edlock in March, 
1862, with Miss Cynthia B. Hughes, daughter 
of William and Mary (Flora) Hughes, of Woos- 
ter, Ohio, the marriage resulting in the birth 
of three children — William, who died in in- 
fancy; Minnie (the wife of Frederick W. Davis), 
and Harry. Mr. and Mrs. Foltz are members 
of the Disciples' church, and their social stand- 
ing is very pleasant, as they have a large circle 
of estimable friends, by whom they are very 
highly respected. 



(D 



KS. MARY FOSDICK, of Cuyahoga 
I'alls, Ohio, is the proprietress of 
one of the most attractive summer 
resorts in northern Ohio, situated 
at the l^ig Falls of the Cuyahoga river, at the 
cave known as the " Old Maid's Kitchen," and 
has for the past twenty-two years kept a fa- 
mous hostelry, well known to Cleveland and 
Akron people. She is the widow of David 
Fosdick, who was born in New York city, 
came to Ohio when a young man, located at 
the present place in 1874, and built the hotel, 
it being one of the first summer resorts on the 
Cuyahoga river. Mr. Fosdick died in 1893 
and Mrs. Fosdick has since managed the hotel. 
They were the parents of four children, Marion, 
Myrtle, Arthur, and George (deceased, aged 
thirty-three years). Mrs. Fosdick has one of 
•the most attractive and romantic places on the 
Cuyahoga river, and makes a specialty of 
broiled chicken suppers for the best people of 
Cleveland and Akron, and also takes summer 
boarders. The Cuyahoga river, at this point, 



falls at a very rapid descent through a very 
rocky and picturesque glen, which it has worn 
through the solid rock to the depth of several 
hundred feet during countless ages of time. 
The rugged sides of this deep glen are covered 
with a great variety of native forest trees, and 
it is one of the most beautiful places in the 
whole west. In early times, this localit}' was 
a famous hiding place for the Indians and early 
hunters, and before the time of Boquet's expe- 
ditions, the sa\ages of the Cuyahoga secreted 
many white prisoners in its rocky nooks. The 
"Old Maid's Kitchen " is formed by the falling 
of immense blocks of sandstone from the walls 
of the glen, and well illustrates the powerful 
forces of nature. 

Mrs Fosdick is a lady of remarkable energy 
and strength of character and well calculated 
to manage her hotel, which is kept in the best 
of style. She caters only to the most respect- 
able people, and many come to this interesting 
place from all parts of the United States and 
other countries. Mrs. Fosdick is a notable 
cook and the fame of her viands has spread far 
and wide. She does her own cooking and 
concocts the daintiest of dishes, and her broiled 
chicken should be eaten to be appreciated. 



^"^EORGE K. FOLTZ, the leading jew- 
■ ^\ eler and optician of Akron, was born 
^^^M in Madisonburg, Wayne count}', Ohio, 
December 14, 1849, and is a son of 
Moses and Sarah (Kean) Foltz, of whom men- , 
tion is made in the biography of Dr. William 
Kean Foltz, on a preceding page. 

George K. Foltz received a fair education > 
in the public schools of Wayne county, which 
he attended until fourteen years of age, wiien, 
in 1864, he entered the Beacon office in Akron , 
and was a "printer's devil" for about si.\ ' 
months. August 14, 1865, he began an ap- 
prenticeship at the jewelry business in the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



-'59 



store of H. S. Abbey, served out the stipu- 
lated term, and remained as a journeyman 
until the death of Mr. Abbey, in 1872; later 
he continued in the employ of his former pre- 
ceptor's son, Henry E. Abbey, who subse- 
quently became one of the most famous theat- 
rical and operatic managers in the country. 
In 1875 Mr. Foltz formed a partnership with 
W. |. Frank in the jewelry business, under 
the firm name of Foltz & Frank, at No. 118 
Howard street, and in the spring of 1876 this 
concern was consolidated with Wait, Dewey 
& Ct). In the spring of 1877 Foltz & Frank 
absorbed the entire business and continued 
under the latter name until 1891, when Mr. 
Foltz disposed of his interest in the concern to 
Mr. Frank and went to Georgia, where he em- 
barked in the same line of business at Thomas- 
ville, and conducted a prosperous trade from 
January 5, 1891, until February 12, 1892, 
when he had the misfortune to lose his wife. 
He then returned to Ohio and was engaged in 
business alone at Cleveland from 1892 to June, 
1895, when he returned to Akron and became 
one of the incorporators of the Foltz company, 
for the purpose of conducting business as jew- 
elers and opticians, and opened trade in the 
same room in which he had begun his appren- 
ticeship thirty years previously, and of this 
company Mr. Foltz was the manager for two 
years. July 15, 1897, Mr. Foltz opened his 
present place of business, at 162 South Main 
street, under the firm name of the Foltz & 
Ewart compan}-, jewelers, opticians and deal- 
ers in artists' supplies. 

The marriage of Mr. Foltz took place Oc- 
tolier 27, 1874, to Miss Katie Gintz, daughter 
of Kasimer and Susan (Varrick) Gintz, of Ak- 
ron, of English and German descent — Varrick 
street. New York city, being named after one 
of her ancestors. The marriage of Mr. and 
Mrs. Foltz has been blessed with one child — 
Adelaide Louise. Mr. Foltz attends the Dis- 



ciples' church, to the support of which he con- 
tributes liberally, and in politics he is a re- 
publican. The F'oltz family, as may readily 
be supposed, are highly respected in the social 
circles of Akron. 



BREDERICK FOOTE, senior member 
of the well-known grocery firm of 
Foote & Reed, Kent. Portage coun- 
ty, was born in Wood county, Ohio, 
November 14, 1835, a son of Epaphroditu's 
and Charlotte M. (Smith) Foote, the former 
of whom was a native of Connecticut and the 
latter of New York — the genealogv of the 
Foote family having been traced back through 
generations in New England to the mother 
country, England herself. 

Epaphroditus Foote was born Jul\ 19, 
1 79 1, was reared a farmer, and first married 
Miss Eunice P>i.\by, who, on dying, left four 
children, viz.: Joel, who died in 1896 in 
Wood county, Ohio; Mary, who was married 
to James Blinn, and also died in Wood coun- 
ty; Sarah Ann, wife of John Arnold, died in 
Alamakee county, Iowa, and Epaphroditus, 
who died, also, in Wood county, Ohio. The 
second marriage of Mr. Foote took place in 
the state of New York, November 2, 1830, 
to Charlotte M. Smith, and in 1827 Mr. Foote 
came to Ohio and settled in Wood county. 
The brother, P'rederick, however, died in 
Cleveland. The father first located on a tract 
of timber, intermixed with prairie, and this 
property he improved considerably, but later 
sold, purchased another farm, improved this 
to nearly its full extent, and here passed the 
remainder of his life, dying October 26, 1857, 
and his wife December 16, 1882. They were 
the parents of eight children, nearly all of 
whom attained mature years, viz: Leroy, a 
farmernear Ottawa, Canada; Oscar, a teacher, 
\\ho died at the age of eighteen years; Fred- 



260 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



erick, the subject of this notice; Emily J., 
wife of Freeman Smith, of Fort Wayne, Ind. ; 
Eunice, married to John H. Matthews, of 
Wood county, Ohio; Martin V., a farmer of 
Benton county, Iowa; Josephine, who died at 
the age of seven years; and Harriet S. , wife of 
Frank Yost, of Wood county, Ohio. 

Frederick Foote, the subject, was reared 
on his father's farm in Wood county, and was 
educated in the common schools. Mr. Foote 
enlisted .as a member of company B, One 
Hundred and Forty-fourth O. N. G., and May 
2, 1864, he was mustered into the United 
States service at Camp Chase, Ohio, and 
served four months, was at the battle of Mo- 
nocacy Junction, Md., at the time of Jubal 
Early's raid on the city of Washington. He 
was honorably discharged in September, 1864. 
In 1864, also, he went to Tontogany, Wood 
county, and commenced his mercantile life as 
clerk in a dry-goods store, remaining until 
1 87 1, then engaged in the dry-goods trade on 
his own account in Haskins, in the same 
county, and in 1872 came to Kent, Portage 
county, and embarked in the grain and coal 
trade in partnership with E. A. Parsons. In 
November, 1873. he withdrew from this trade 
and became manager of the Kent Co-operative 
store until January i, 1882, when, leaving this 
concern in a most tiourishing condition, he 
formed a partnership with C. F. Sawyer, un- 
der the firm name of Foote & Sawyer and 
conducted a first-class grocery trade until 
1884, when Mr. Sawyer retired and Rob- 
ert Reed united with Mr. Foote under 
the style of Foote & Reed, and this firm 
stands to-day among the foremost grocers in 
the county of Portage and is the leading firm 
in its line in Kent. The block in which its ex- 
tensive business is carried on is the property of 
Mr. I'oote. 

The marriage of Frederick Foote took 
place September 2, 1872, with Miss Alice A. 



Underwood, who was born in Brimfield town- 
ship. Portage county, Ohio, June 25, 1843. a 
daughter of Freeman and Mercy A. (Lincoln) 
Underwood, and this union has resulted in the 
birth of three children — Ernest U. (deceased). 
Mary L. and Carl Freeman. In politics Mr. 
Foote is a democrat, and has served as treas- 
urer of Kent and Franklin township two 
terms, as member of the school board two 
terms — being president one year and treasurer 
one year — and has also served as a member 
of the city council. He has always taken a 
deep interest in the affairs of Ivent and has 
used his best efforts, in or out of office, to pro- 
mote its prosperity. Fraternally he is a 
knight templar Mason, and is likewise the 
worshipful master of Rockton lodge. No. 316. 
A. F. & A. M. ; he is also treasurer of the 
lodge of Royal Arcanum. In November, 1889, 
Mr. Foote was appointed a member of the 
Ohio Soldiers' Relief Commission, and still 
holds this position. Mr. Foote is respected 
as a gentleman of the strictest integrity, and 
his long business career is a proof that this re- 
spect is well founded. 



eLMER E. FRANCE, postmaster of 
Kent, Ohio, and a leading dry-goods 
merchant, was born in Portage 
county, April 22. 1863. a son of 
James and Martha (Littlewood) France, 
natives of England, who came to the United 
States early in the 'fifties, and later purchased 
a farm in Franklin township. 

James France was born in Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, in 1820, was a weaver by trade, was 
married in his native land, and on coming to 
America was comparatively a poor man, but 
by his industry earned the means with which 
to purchase his farm. After the close of the 
Civil war he sold his farm and moved to Hun- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



263 



tington, W. V'a., where for a time he was in 
the dry-goods trade, then came to Kent, 
where he dealt in real estate for some time 
and then engaged in the dry-goods business, 
in which he continued until 1883, when he re- 
tired from business in the broader sense of the 
word, attending only to his limited duties as 
vice-president of the City bank, of which he 
was one of the founders. His wife, who was 
born in 18 19, passed away on the 15th day of 
April, 1893, and his own health beginning to 
fail, he made a visit to his daughter Emily, in 
Denver, Colo., where he suddenly expired 
January 8, 1894. He was a man of excellent 
judgment and decided views, but liberal and 
generous both in mind and purse; he was not 
a member of any religious denomination, but 
was strictly moral and led an unimpeachable 
life; in politics he had been a republican until 
the nonn'nation of Horace Greeley for the 
presidency by the democrats in 1872, from 
which time forward he acted with the de- 
mocracy. He had accumulated considerable 
business and residence property, which he di- 
vided between the three children who grew to 
maturity of the five that were born to him, 
these three being Rhoda, born in England, 
and wife of William McKeon, of Kent; Emily, 
wife of F. C. Kendrick, of Denver, Colo., 
and Elmer E., whose name opens this bio- 
graphical sketch. 

Elmer E. France was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Kent, and at Eastman's Business 
college in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and began his 
business life as an assistant to his father in his 
dry-goods store, thoroughly learning the busi- 
ness. In 1883, with his sister, Emily, he 
succeeded his father in the business, and in 
1886 became sole proprietor, and has now 
the finest and the largest and best selected 
stock of goods in his line in Portage county. 
He is an excellent business man, affable and 
obliging, just in his dealings, and knows how 

G 



to retain the trade of a patron to whom he 
has an opportunity of once making a sale. 

Mr. France was most happily united in 
wedlock, August 4, 1886, with Miss Cora M. 
Haymaker, daughter of O. F. Haymaker, and 
this union has been blessed with two children, 
viz: Carl H., born June 8, 1887, and Mar- 
jorie, born in January, 1891. In politics Mr. 
France for twenty years has been active in the 
ranks of the democracy, and April i, 1896, 
was appointed postmaster of Kent, which 
office he has filled with iiis usual business 
ability and to the entire satisfaction of the pub- 
lic. Fraternally he is a royal arch Mason, is 
an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and 
as a citizen and business man bears an unim- 
peached and respected name. 



a APT. HERMAN O. FEEDERLE. 
' only son of Richard and Sophia 
(Speck) Feederle, was born at Akron, 
Ohio, May 15, 1866. Richard, the 
first born of Karl and Rosina (Stuckle) Fee- 
derle, was born at Hufingen Baden, May 23, 
1833, and at the age of eighteen years he 
came to this "land of promise," accom- 
panied by two younger brothers. 

May 25, 1852, at Cleveland, Ohio, he 
married Sophia Speck, daughter of Xavier 
and Catherine (Smithers) Speck, also a natives 
of Baden. Ten children were born of this 
union, of whom five died in early infancy. 
The surviving children are Mrs. G. A. Pari- 
sette, of New York cit\-, Mrs. M. D. Brouse, 
Miss F. Feederle and Miss .\ntoinette Fee- 
derle, all of Akron, Ohio. 

In 1885 Richard Feederle removed with 
his family to the village of .\kron, where he 
was employed by Webster, Taplin & Co., 
with whom he remained until the tumult of 
war threatened his adopted country, which 
enthused him to stir up the patriotism of hi.-^ 



264 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



German friends and company I, of the One 
Hundred and Se%'enth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
was the result, of which he was commissioned 
captain. However, after nine months of 
faithful service, he was obliged to resign on 
account of impaired health, and in 1867 went 
abroad to regain it, receiving much benefit 
from the mineral springs in Baden. On his 
return to Akron he opened a restaurant, at 
the same time conducting an agency for vari- 
ous German periodicals, and assisting in the 
editing of a local German paper. He was 
one of the charter niembers of the Akron 
Liedertafel and a singer of the male chorus of 
that organisation, serving as president at the 
time of his death; which occurred when he 
was again crossing the Atlantic in quest of 
health and to stock the German department 
of a book store he was about to open. He 
unfortunately was a passenger on the ill-fated 
steamship "Schiller" of the Anchor line, 
which, on May 7, 1875, ran out of its course 
among the Scilly islands, was. wrecked on 
Bishoff rock in a dense fog and fierce storm, 
during which 303 passengers went to the bot- 
tom, three only surviving to tell the tale. 

The bereaved widow and children con- 
tinued to reside at Akron, Ohio, where Her- 
man O. received a public school education, 
followed by a commercial course to qualif}' 
him for a business career, which he entered 
upon with R. R. Goodfellow, of Minneapolis, 
Minn., as clerk, and later as collector. This 
was followed by a position as salesman in the 
mercantile firm of Brouse & Co., of Akron, 
which position he occupied for five years, at 
the termination of which he engaged in the 
insurance and real estate business, becoming 
local agent of the New York Life Insurance 
company. The following year he formed a 
partnership with R. A. Myers, and the firm of 
Feederle & Myers continued for three years, 
at the expiration of which time Mr. Feederle 



continued alone as a leader in the life, fire and 
accident insurance business, combined with 
loan and real estate. He is identified as clerk' 
of the deputy state supervisors of elections for 
Summit county, and as a director of the Akron 
Salt company. In December, rS96, he was 
elected captain of company B, O. N. G. ;' 
receiving his commission January 25, [897. 
Politically Capt. Feederle has always been an 
active republican, and fraternally he is a mem-' 
ber of McPherson lodge, K. of P., of Nemo 
lodge, I. O. O. F., and of .Akron encampment- 
of the same order; he is also a member of thd 
Loyal Legions of the first class by inheritance, 
and is enrolled with the Sons of Veterans,. 
Akron camp, Ohio commander}-. 

Herman O. Feederle, was married to 
Delia Bowen Schoonover, daughter of the late 
Col. Jenas Schoonover and Mary Russell 
Schoonover, June 12, 1888. The union has 
been blessed with three children: Donna 
May, Carl Lamont and Dorris Lee. Together 
they reside at Rosedale place in the city of 
his birth. 

Capt. Feederle, it will be seen, has filled 
man\- positions of responsibility and trust, has 
always enjoyed, and still does enjoy, the entire 
confidence of his fellow-citizens, and well de- 
serves the high esteem in which he is univer- 
sally held. 

eZRA FOWLER, justice of the peace 
at Kent, was born in Portage countj', 
Ohio, May 7, 1840, a son of Abel and 
Ruth (Manning) Fowler, natives of 
Connecticut and early settlers in the Buckeye 
state. 

In the early part of the seventeenth cen- 
tury three brothers, William, Samuel and John 
Fowler, came from England, the land of their 
nativity, and settled in New England. Of 
these, William Fowler, the paternal ancestor 
of our subject, built a mill at Milford, Conn., 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



265 



and the site is still occupied b)' a building 
erected for the same purpose and the seventh 
in the order of construction. It bears the in- 
scription "Ye Fowler's Mill," and is still 
operated by William Fowler & Son — descend- 
ants of the original immigrant, William. In 
the tower of the bridge which spans the litttle 
Wepowege river at that point is a burrstone 
taken from the first mill erected there, and is 
now used as a seat. Many of the descendants 
of the immigrant W'lliani reached distinction 
in the various walks of life, and among them 
was Jonathan Fowler, the famous Baptist 
divine of Providence, R. I. The parents of 
Ezra Fowler, the subject, were married in 
Milford, Conn., where the father was a mer- 
chant, and shortly afterward came to Ohio. 
They first located at Poland, then moved to 
Randolph, Portage county, where the father 
kept store and also bought furs, next moved 
to a farm at Charlestown, and finally settled 
in Ravenna, where he conducted a grocery 
store until his death, in 1854, at the age of 
fifty- si.x years; his widow surviv.ed him until 
1885, when she died at the age of eighty-three. 
Mr. Fowler was a man of considerable intiu- 
ence in his day and had taken great interest 
in military affairs, being at one time colonel 
of a rifle regiment. To him and wife were 
born ten children, of whom eight grew to ma- 
turity. Of these, William was killed by the 
overturning of a mail coach between Allegheny 
and Cumberland, Pa. ; Amanda was married to 
I'rederick Caris, and is now deceased; Caroline 
is the wife of R. E. Patterson, of Garretts- 
ville; Mary was the wife of Rufus Thomas and 
died at Warren, Ohio; Manning, vvho was a 
major in the One Hundred and Fifty-first 
Ohio volunteers, died at Kokomo, Ind. ; Nancy 
was the wife of W. H. Gibson, and died in 
Voungstown, Ohio; Lucy is the wife of Will- 
iam Collins, a resident of Parsons, Kan., and 
Ezra is the subject of this memoir. 



Ezra Fowler was four jears old when his 
parents moved to Ravenna, and there he at-i 
tended school until 1854, when he went to 
Warren, and li\ed with his sister Mary, and 
until 1857 attended the school of that town. 
For, three years he drove stage between Ra-; 
venna and Newton Falls, then learned the 
trade of carriage trimmer in Ravenna, and aft- 
erward was in the grocery business for a short 
time. -Early in 1862 he enlisted in company 
D, Seventy-second Ohio volunteer infantry, 
took part in the battle of Shiloh, and was then 
detailed as courier to Gen. R. P., Buckland, 
for whom he was also private secretary, and 
filled out a total service of three years. After 
the war he was employed as a clerk in a dry- 
goods store in Fremont, Ohio, ne.xt at Gar-r 
rettsyille, ne.xt in driying a saleswagon, \vith 
Warren as his headquarters, and in 1876 con- 
ducted the Poe House in Ravenna; in 1878 he 
came to Kent, and since has been engaged in 
the hotel business. 

November 12, 1869, Mr. Fowler was united 
in marriage with Miss Kate D. Taylor, who 
was born in Palmyra, Ohio, July 30, 1851, a 
daughter of Salmon and Mary A. (Calkins) 
Taylor. Mr.. Taylor was a well-known grocer 
of Ravenna and died in that city in September, 
1862, at the age of fifty-four years, where, 
also, his widow died April 5, 1894. They 
were the parents of two children — Walter B., 
of Ravenna, and Mrs, Fowler. The latter was 
but three years of age when her parents settled 
in Ravenna; she was educated in the public 
schools and was a very apt scholar, became a 
teacher of music and also a church organist, 
and is to-day a highly accomplished and ami- 
able lady and an ornament to the social circles 
of Kent. Two children have blessed the mar- 
riage of Mr. and Mrs. Fowler, viz: Mary Ad- 
die and Elizabeth J. , the latter the wife of 
John Arighi, of Kent. 

Mr. Fowler in politics was a democrat un- 



266 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



til 1896, since which time he has been an ar- 
dent republican; is a member of the board of 
education, and in April, 1896, was elected a 
justice of the peace, which office he has filled 
with impartiality and to the entire satisfaction 
to the public and credit to himself up to the 
present hour. 




IRUMAN L. FIRESTONE.— As a 
commercial and manufacturing cen- 
ter, Akron commands a position which 
essentially calls for hotel accommoda- 
tions of good capacity and able management. 
In this regard the subject of this sketch will 
be found capable of maintaining a reputation 
equal to any other in the possession of a hotel 
that is unsurpassed in its accommodations. In 
support of this assertion, it is only necessary 
to visit the Windsor hotel, of which he is pro- 
prietor, to find it is not only one of the best 
hotels in northeastern Ohio, but of the entire 
state as well, in all that pertains to a strictly 
first-class hostelry. Ever since it has passed 
into the hands of Mr. Firestone, the ^^'indsor, 
has been regarded as not only one of the most 
pleasant and convenient resorts for the travel- 
ing public, but one of the most homelike and 
comfortable hotels in this or the adjacent 
states. 

Mr. Firestone descends from one of those 
sturdy German pioneers who were so promi- 
nent in the early settlements of eastern Penn- 
sylvania. Matthias Firestone, the great-grand- 
father of our subject, came to America about 
1750, and served in the war of the Revolution 
and subsequently settled in eastern Pennsyl- 
vania. Jacob, his son and grandfather of our 
subject, settled in Maryland after he grew to 
manhood, locating in Frederick county, where 
he died at the age of fifty-five. He was a 
farmer by occupation, served as a soldier in 
the war of 1812, and was in Fort McHenry 



when it was bombarded by the British. He 
married Mary Holt, a native of Maryland, and 
their family consisted of six sons. George W. , 
the fifth son and the father of Mr. Firestone, 
was born on the homestead in Frederick coun- 
ty, Md. , in 1 8 1 1 . He learned the millwright 
trade, and in 1835 settled in Wayne county, 
Ohio, where he followed his business until he 
was seventy years of age, erecting and repair- 
ing mills throughout the counties of Wayne, 
Stark, Homes and Ashland. He died at Fred- 
ericksburg, Ohio, in 1891, his wife having 
died in 1858. This lady bore the maiden name 
of Jane Hutchison, and was a daughter of 
James Hutchison, a native of Connecticut, 
who came to Ohio shortly after the war of 
1812. By this marriage the following children 
were born, Truman L., Eugene T. , and Mary 
J., wife of George Smith. 

Truman L. . Firestone was born January 
26, 1846, at Fredericksburg, Ohio. After the 
death of his mother he went to live with his 
uncle, David Fir.estone, in Licking county, 
where he was raised upon his farm, receiving 
a common-school education,- and where he re- 
mained until June 4, 1863, when he enlisted 
in company E, One Hundred and Twenty- 
ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, for six months, 
and ser\ed until March 4, 1864. Returning 
home, he again enlisted, April 4, 1864, in 
company H, One Hundred and Second Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry, and served until his regiment 
was mustered out in 1865, when he was trans- 
ferred to the One Hundred and Eighty-ninth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, and was stationed at 
Huntsville, Ala., and finally discharged in 
July, 1865. He participated in the following 
engagements: Cumberland Gap, Walker's 
Ford, and the three engagements at Decatur, 
Ala. After the close of the war Mr. Firestone 
located at Fredericksburg, Ohio, and learned 
the trade of a woodturner, serving an appren- 
ticeship of two years. In 1869 he located in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



267 



Akron and was engaged at his trade and vari- 
ous occupations until 1882, when he returned 
to Fredericksburg and engaged in the planing- 
mill business for nine years. In 1890 he went 
to Cleveland, where he remained for two years, 
working for the Gobielle Pattern company and 
C. E. Taft company; at the expiration of this 
time he came to Akron and engaged in the 
planing- mill business, which he conducted nn- 
til 1896, when he purchased the Windsor hotel. 
Politically he is a republican, and is a member 
of E. M. Mast post. No. 302, G. A. R. , of 
Fredericksburg, Ohio. 

Mr. Firestone was married in Maj', 1874, 
to Miss Nellie, daughter of Peter and Eliza- 
beth (DeLashmutt) Hanson, and by this mar- 
riage they have had two sons — Cloyd W. (de- 
ceased) and George Forest. 



^y'A AVID FRANK, a retired farmer, but 
I I still a dealer in agricultural imple- 
/^^_^ ments, pianos and organs at Copley, 
Summit count}', Ohio, is a native 
of the Buckeye state, and was born in Wayne 
county, November 14, 1829. 

Peter Frank, father of David, was born in 
Burgettstown, Washington county, Pa., Jan- 
uary 23, 1789, was of German descent, was 
there married, at the age of thirty years, to 
Miss Nancy Ball, of English extraction, and 
soon after came to Ohio with a capital of 
$200; here he entered 260 acres in Wayne 
county, but this claim he disposed of and 
moved to Stark county, David, the subject, 
being then three years of age, and there the 
family lived for seven years, when they came 
to Copley township, Summit county. Here 
the mother died March i, 1864, and the father 
February 9, 1872. They had a family of 
eight children, viz: William, born May 15, 
1826, died in infancy; Sarah, born in Wayne 
county. Ohio, January 7, [828, and now the 



wife of George Kuder, of Medina county; 
David, the subject, the date of whose birth 
has already been given; Hiram, born April 28, 
1832; Mary E., born in Stark county October 
31, 1834, and now the wife of Dan Collier, a 
Copley township farmer; Isaiah, born in Cop- 
ley township August 30, 1837, and now resid- 
ing in Wadsworth, Medina county; Henry A., 
born September 9, 1840, now a farmer of 
Copley township; Peter H., born May 20, 
1844, and killed by a cyclone in Sharon, 
Medina county, April 8, 1890. 

David Frank and his elder sister were 
rocked in their infancy in a sugar-trough, cra- 
dles proper being a scarce article of furniture 
in the backwoods of Ohio at the time of their 
birth. He assisted his father until twenty-two 
years of age, attending the pioneer schools 
meanwhile, and then began working out on 
his own account. He commenced life with 
only sixty dollars in money, which he earned 
by working his father's ground, and has cra- 
dled many a day with the old-fashioned four- 
fingered cradle at one dollar per day. Octo- 
ber 15, 1857, he married Miss Melissa Wit- 
ner, who was born in Summit county Feb- 
ruary 3, 1837, a daughter of Daniel and Susan 
(Wortz) Witner, who were the parents of the 
following children; George, Sarah (deceased), 
Urias, Hettie, Lucy, Eliza, Harriet, Manda, 
Marietta, Daniel, Melissa, Abraham and 
Adelia. After his marriage Mr. Frank con- 
tinued to work on a rented farm for ten 
years, when he became able, by hard work 
and the assistance of his estimable wife, to 
purchase a tract of eighty-five acres, his cap- 
ital being added to, at the death of his father, 
to the extent of $3,000. By careful manage- 
ment and much self-denial, he has been able 
to add seventy-two acres to his holding, and 
this farm is now improved with new, modern, 
up-to-date buildings. Here Mr. Frank still 
makes his home, but some five years since re- 



>J68 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



linqiiished activ-e fanning and engagedin busi- 
ness in Copley; as previously stated-. His 
children are riamed Jennie, who was born 
February 12, i860, was first married to Wash- 
ington Jones, and, after his death, to A. 
Kuder, of Akron; Grant H., born March 16, 
•1864; who farms his father's place; Ze Delle, 
born February 6, 1869, and married to J. P. 
Hale, a jeweler of Akron, and Fiena, born De- 
cember 10, 1 87 1, and now the wife of E. 
Brunskill, a butcher* by trade, also of Akron. 
Mr. Frank is a democrat in politics and 
cast his first presidential vote for James K. 
Polk, and he and his wife are members of the 
German Reformed church. He has been a 
hard-working, upright man, has made his own 
fortune, and is now considered to be one of 
the substantial citizens of Summit county. 
He enjoys the confidence and respect of all 
\vho know him, and his well-spent life fully 1 
entitles him to the esteem in which he is held. 



m 



AXWELL G. GARRISON, county 
treasurer of Portage county, Ohio, 
was born in Franklin township, this 
county, April 12, 185 i, and is a son 
of James and. Hannah (Walker) Garrison, the 
former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, 
and the latter in Summit county, Ohio, and 
were the parents of six children, viz: Will- 
iam )., who died in the army; Charles A., a 
veterinary surgeon of Ravenna; Alice, wife of 
William J. Grubb, of Kent, Ohio; Frances, 
married to H. I). Minnick, of Wellsville, Ohio; 
Majiwell G., the subject, and Edward F., a 
physician, who died of <liphtheria at Suffield, 
Portage county. 

Joseph Garrison, paternal grandfather of 
^laxwell G., was a native of Pennsylvania, 
Was an iearly settler- of Portage county, Ohio, 
was the father- of -fourteen, children, was a 
farmer, and died at about the age of si.xtj' 



years. William Walker, maternal grandfather 
of subject, was born in Virginia, was quite 
young when brought to Ohio by his parents, 
who settled in Stowe township, Summit coun- 
ty, where he was reared a farmer, was mar- 
ried, and died between sixty and seventy years 
of age. 

James Garrison, father of Maxwell G. Gar- 
rison, was a child when brought to Ohio by 
his parents, who settled in Deerfield township, 
Portage county, where he was reared to man- 
hood. After reaching his majority he removed 
to Stowe township. Summit county, where he 
was married, but later returned to Portage 
county and settled in Franklin township, and 
here died December 26, 1872, at the age of 
fifty-nine years, an elder in the Disciples' 
church at Kent; his widow is a resident of 
Kent, is a member of the satne church, and is 
highly respected by all who know her. 

Maxwell G. Garrison, whose name opens 
this biography, was reared on his father's farm 
in Franklin township, and received his rudi- 
mentary education in the district schools. He 
next attended the high school at Hudson, and 
later entered Hiram college. He was an apt 
scholar, and was noted for his rapid progress 
in his studies. He early embraced the polit- 
ical faith of the republican party, became very 
popular .with its members, was earl\- elected 
city treasurer of Kent, and afterward treasurer 
of Franklin township, serving for a number of 
years to the entire satisfaction of the public, 
and, consequently, with credit to himself. 

Mr. Garrison began the study of law in the 
office of D. L. Rockwell, a prominent attorney 
of Kent, and was admitted to the bar in 1876; 
He was shortly afterward elected city solicitor 
of Kent, and continued in the acti\e practice, 
with marked success, in that city, until 1881, 
when, on the organization of the City bank, 
he entered that institution as its cashier, held 
the position until 1894, when, ha\ing been 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



269 



elected county treasurer, he removed to Ra- 
venna and entered upon the duties of his office. 
To this responsible office he was re-elected in 
the fill of 1895, and is now filling his second 
term. This latter fact is in itself ample evi- 
dence that the citizens of Portage are well 
pleased with their choice. 

Mr. Garrison was ■united in marriage July 
'9- '8/3, with Miss Sarah L. Peck, daughter 
of Rufus H. and Sarah (Lappin) Peck, and 
this happy union has been blessed by the birth 
of three sons and tWo daughters, viz: Ruth, 
Bessie, Charles, Guy and Iliff. Of these, 
Ruth is married to Harry Callihan, a car- 
.builder of Kent, and is the mother of one child 
—Robert Ma.xwell Callihan. Mr. and Mrs.' 
Garrison are consistent members of the Disci- 
ples' church, and fraternally Mr. Garrison is a 
Freemason, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of 
Pythias. He is still one of the directors of 
the City bank of Kent, and is also a director 
jn the Portage county Building & Loan asso- 
ciation of Ravenna. His happy home is on 
East Main street, and few men in Portage 
county stand higher in the esteem of their fel- 
low-citizens than Maxwell G. Garrison. 



e MANUEL FRANKS, a well-to-do 
farmer of Green township, Summit 
county, Ohio, is a native of this town- 
ship and was born July 21, 185 i. He 
was educated in the Greensburg academy and 
reared to farming, which has been his life-long 
pursuit. 

Jacob Franks, great-grandfather of Eman- 
uel Franks, was a native of Alsace, France, 
and emigrated to Pennsylvania in the days of 
William Penn. His son. Jacob Franks, Jr., 
was born in Washington county. Pa., there 
hiarried Elizabeth Dice, a native of the same 
county, and soon afterward came to Ohio and 
settled in Trumbull county. He was a soldier 



in the war of 18 12, and was serving within 
hearing of Perry's cannonade in the famous 
naval action on lake Erie. His children were 
born in the following order: .Samuel, Andrew, 
John, Henry, George, Isaac, Jacob, Elizabeth 
(Gates) and Jonas. 

Isaac Franks, father of subject, was born 
in Mahoning county, Ohio, Februar\' 21, 18 17, 
and became a highly reispected and substantial 
fanner of Green township, Summit county, 
owning here, at one time, 280 acres, but the 
greater part he has donated to his children, re- 
serving, for his own, 1 17 acres. He settled in 
this township when a young man and married 
Miss Catherine Miller, of Mahoning county, 
June 13, 1850. This lady was born March 5, 
1833, and is a daughter of John and Susan 
(Stambaugh) Miller, well known residents, for- 
merly, of Ellsworth, Mahoning county. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Franks have been born two chil- 
dren. Viz: Emanuel, our subject, and Mary 
E., now the wife of L. M. Kepler. Mr. 
Franks has always been a very industrious 
farmer, and all his possessions resulted from 
his personal exertions. He and his wife are 
consistent members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, are liberal in its support and act- 
ive in its work, and well deserve the high 
esteem in which they are held. 

Emanuel Franks was united in marriage 
November 21, 1876, with Miss Ella Frances 
Cox, who was born .April 15, 1853, a daugh- 
ter of Henry and Charlotte (Horner) Cox, and 
this marriage has been blessed with three 
children, viz: Lloyd M., born June 25, 1879; 
Bertha, November 6, 1885, and Russell O., 
November 18, i888. Mr. Franks has a hand- 
some farm of 160 acres, which he has im- 
proved with all modern conveniences and man- 
ages with consummate skill. In politics he is 
a true and faithful republican, and as a citizen 
he is wide-awake, progressive, open-hearted 
1 and greatly respected. 



270 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



J 



OSIAH GAYLORD, one of the sub- 
stantial farmers and respected citizens 
of Stowe township. Summit county. 
Ohio, springs from an ancestor who 
came from England to America in old Puritan 
times. 

Stewart fiaylord, grandfather of Josiah 
Gaylord, was born in Connecticut, near Wind- 
sor, was there married, and became the father 
of the following children: Samuel, [ohn, 
Stewart, [osiah, Betsey and Clarissa. Stew- 
art Gaylord was a soldier in the Revolution- 
ary war, in the commissary department, and 
served as meat packer. He was a cooper bj' 
trade and came to Stowe township with his 
sons. Stewart and Josiah. in 1809. making the 
journey with a yoke of cattle and one horse, 
being forty-four days on the way, and sleeping 
in the wagons. There was not a frame build- 
ing in Cleveland, except the post-office, twelve 
feet square. He was an old man when he 
came with his family to Ohio — too old, in 
fact, to open a farm. He died at the resi- 
dence of his son, John. 

Stewart Gaylord, father of subject, was 
born in Windsor, Conn., October 25, 1780, 
and married, at Middletown, Conn., Mary A. 
Cramer, daughter of a sea captain in the 
China trade. Mr. Gaylord was a ship carpenter 
by trade and worked on lake Erie. He had a 
sub-contract and built two of the vessels that 
were in action in Perry's fleet, in the battle on 
that lake. These vessels were built in the Cuya- 
hoga river at old Portage. Mr. Gaylord had been 
importuned by the Commercial land compan)' 
to settle in ("leveland, where land was worth 
betw'een $4 and $5 per acre, but he would not 
do so, and settled with his wife and one child 
in Stowe township. He cleared up this farm 
from the woods and made a good home. The 
Indians were in the surrounding country and 
frequently visited the log house and would 
often sleep b}' the fireside. They were friendly. 



and even during the war of 181 2 did no mis- 
chief. Mr. and Mrs. Gaj'lord were members 
of the Congregational church, were among its 
earliest members, and in politics Mr. Gaylord 
was a whig. He was a soldier in the w-ar of 
1 81 2 and served three months. His children 
were Mary, John, Stewart, Almira, George, 
William, Josiah, Hiram and Robert, all now 
deceased e.xcept Josiah, the subject of this 
sketch. Mr. Gaylord died October 20, 1840. 
He was an industrious man and well-to-do, 
was respected by all. and brought up an ex- 
cellent family. 

Josiah Gaylord, son of Stewart, last men- 
tioned, was born September 8, 1824, on his 
present farm in a frame house still standing, 
and which was a very good house for those 
days. He received a common-school educa- 
tion in the district school — first in a log school- 
house — and has always been a farmer. He 
married, at the age of thirty-six years, June 
14, 1 86 1, in Stowe township. Laura Beckley, 
who was born September 19, 1832, in Stowe 
township, a daughter of Noel and Margaret 
(Lindsey) Beckley. Noel Beckley was a son 
of Selah, who was the son of Elias, mention of 
which family will be found in the biography 
of 'Squire Noel Beckley. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Gay- 
lord settled on the Gaylord homestead and 
have since lived here. They have iprospered 
and added to their land and have a fine farm, 
upon which they have built a substantial two- 
story residence. Their marriage has been 
blessed with four children, viz: Mary (died 
at twenty-two years), Willis W., Noel and 
Norman. Mr. Gaylord was first a whig in 
politics, but on the formation of the republican 
party joined its ranks, and has ever since been 
loyal to its doctrines. Mrs. Gaylord is a con- 
sistent member of the Episcopal church, and 
the family are among the most respected of 
the old pioneer stock of the county. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



271 



BREDERICK GEIDLINGER, justice 
of the peace, of Suffield, Portage 
county, and a most highly respected 
citizen, was born in Lake township. 
Stark county, Ohio, February 7, 1856, a son 
of Frederick and Phebe (Ginthel) Geidlinger, 
natives of Germany. The father was a tailor 
by trade, and on coming to America settled 
in Stark county, where he followed his trade 
until the end of his dajs, which were abridged 
by death in Janviary, 1856, and where his wife 
died October 18, 1886, aged fifty-seven years, 
six months and twenty-eight days — both mem- 
bers of the Reformed church. 

'Squire Geidlinger was educated, primarih', 
in the public schools of his native count}', and 
completed his education at Mount Union col- 
lege. He also attended a commercial college 
and the Ada normal school, in Hardin county, 
pursuing his studies during the summer months, 
and teaching school during the winter season. 
As the squire was a posthumous child, he was 
necessarily reared under the care of his 
mother, with whom he remained until about 
eighteen years old, up to which time he as- 
sisted her on the home farm. In 1882 Mr. 
Geidlinger came to Portage county and en- 
gaged in the dry -goods trade in Suffield, which 
for three years was conducted in partnership 
with a brother, under the firm name of Geid- 
linger Bros. In 1885 Mr. Geidlinger bought 
out the interest of his brother, and continued 
the business alone until the spring of 1896, 
when Dallas F. Kelle became a partner and 
the firm name now is Geidlinger & Co. The 
's(iuire is also the owner of a fine farm, over 
which he keeps a personal supervision, and 
realizes therefrom a handsome income. 

In politics an active democrat, Mr. Geid- 
linger was elected township treasurer and 
filled the office with entire satisfaction to 
his party and his fellow-citizens for three 
terms. Under President Cleveland's first ad- 



ministration Mr. Geidlinger was appointed 
postmaster of Suffield and filled the office four 
years. In 1890 he was elected justice of the 
peace, and is now serving his third consecutive 
term, and during this period has adjudicated 
or administered several estates. Fraternally, 
he is a member of Knights of Pythias lodge, 
No. 568, of Suffield, of which he was one of 
the charter members, and in which he has filled 
all the chairs. 

The marriage of 'Squire Geidlinger took 
place January 3, 1883, at Union Town, Stark 
county, Ohio, to Miss Amanda E. Frank, 
daughter of John and Margaret (Lepper) Frank, 
of whom further may be read in the sketch of 
P. Lepper, of Springfield township. Summit 
county. The birth of Mrs. Geidlinger occurred 
October 20, 1861, and she has blessed her 
husband with two children — Edna and Olive 
B. Mr. and Mrs. Geidlinger are members of 
the Reformed church, to which they contribute 
quite freel}' in aid of its work for good in this 
and the coming world. Mr. Geidlinger, as his 
career shows, has been a very popular and 
useful citizen, and he and wife stand in the 
center of a wide and constantly increasing cir- 
cle of warm personal friends. 



^'^^EORGE GEYELIN, an ex-soldier of 
■ ^^ the Civil war and a respected citizen 
\^W of Tallmadge, Summit county, Ohio, 
was born in Glarus, canton of Glarus, 
Switzerland, February 22, 1825, a son of 
George and Barbara (Spitteler) Geyelin. 

George Geyelin, father of our subject, was 
a native of Muellhausen, Alsace, France, but 
now a province of Germany, and was born in 
1768. He was a calico designer and colorer, 
for which he received a large salary, and was 
the owner of considerable property. To his 
marriage with Miss Spitteler were born four 
children: Georgeina, Rosali, Benjamin and 



272 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



George. His later years were passed in Gla- 
rus, Switzerland, where he died in 1826. His 
widow afterward married Jacob Keller, a car- 
penter, and to this union were born John, Ju- 
dith and Casper, of whom Judith and Casper 
came to America. Casper served in the Civil 
war, in the same company with George Geye- 
lin, our subject, and, although the shortest 
man in his regiment, was a good soldier. 

George Geyelin, our subject, was but one 
year old when his father died. His mother 
then removed with her children to Zurich, 
where she lived with her father, Casper Spit- 
teler. In that city George attended .school 
until fifteen years of age, then learned saddle 
and harness making and worked at his trade 
until about thirty years of age, when he em- 
barked at Havre de Grace, F"rance, on board 
the sailing vessel Irena, and forty-si.\ da\s 
later, December 31, 1854. landed in New York 
city. He at once went to Pittsburg, Pa., 
where he worked at his trade from January 6 
until March 5, 1855, when he came to Ohio 
and located in Ravenna May i; then went to 
Lawrence, Kans., where he passed nine months 
during the troublous times of the anti-slavery 
agitation, and then returned to Ra\enna, where 
he enlisted, April 25, 1861, in Capt. F. A. 
Seymour's company G, Seventh Ohio volun- 
teer infantrj', for three months, and assisted 
in building Camp Dennison. After 'having 
filled out his term of enlistment he re-enlisted 
in the same company, took part in the battles 
of Cross Lane, Port Republic, Cedar Mount- 
ain, Antietam, Winchester, and on scout dut\' 
around Charleston. At Port Republic, June 
9, 1862, he was struck on the head by a piece 
of shell, but did not leave the field, although 
he lost a great deal of blood. After the battle 
of Winchester, while on a ''double quick," he 
w^as ruptured and was obliged to go to the 
hospital at Frederick City, Md., and was 
finally honorably discharged at Bolivar Heights, 



Va. , November 26, 1864. He was always 
prompt and cheerful in the discharge of his 
duty, and made an excellent military record. 
After his return from the arm\' Mr. Ge\e- 
lin for some time worked at his trade in Ra^ 
venna, and later opened a shop in Rootstown^ ; 
Portage county, Ohio, where he lived until 
1870, when he came to Tallmadge, and here 
he has since resided. He is a hard-working, 
straightforward man, is a good workman and 
honest in all his dealings, and stands high in 
the esteem of his fellow-citizens. In politics 
he is a republican. 



"^VOSEPH L. GILBERT, a prominent 

M farmer of Stowe township. Summit . 
A 1 county, Ohio, descends from an old , 

colonial family, and was born in Litch- 
field, Conn., June 30, 1S25. 

Orrin Gilbert, father of subject, was also 
born in Litchfield county, Conn., November . 
17, 1785, a son of Abner and Lydia Gilbert; , 
and married, in Connecticut, Mary Barber; 
who was born in the same state, januarx' 9,1 , 
1786. To this marriage were born ten chil- j 
dren, in the following order: Emily Lamira^ | 
October 2/, 1807: .\lbert Lewis, June 29,1 | 
1809; Henry Semore, June 10, iSii; Mary • 
Ludalle, July 20, 1813; William Wallace. 
October 23, 1815; Harriet Lucretia, July 4. * 
1817; Edwin Barber, March 2, 1819; Abigail 
Maria, October 11, 1823; Joseph Lyman. 
June 3C(', 1825; and Louisa Ann, March 8. 
1827. Of this family Orrin Gilbert, the father, 
died, aged si.xty .\ears, July 13, 1846; Louisai 1 
Ann died October 28, 185 i, aged twenty- four ' 
years; Henry S. died in 1871, at the age o{ 
sixty years; Mary Ludalle died August 8, 1886, 
oged seventy-seven years, and Emily Lamira 
died November 26, 1887, aged eighty years. 
Orrin Gilbert was a farmer, owned a farm in 
Connecticut, and in the autumn of 1828. came 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



27fJ 



to Ohio, bringing all his children. He came 
by. Erie canal to Buffalf) and by lake to Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and then by canal to the old Port- 
age, four miles west of which he settled on 
the farm where our subject now lives. Here 
he bought 200 acres of land and forty acres in 
Litchfield township, Medina county. He had 
made an exchange of his farm with the Con- 
necticut Land company before leaving the 
east, for his property here, and had come out 
in 18 I 2 to view his land. There was a small 
tract of about fifty acres cleared, and a log 
house and barn built. The original settler 
was a Mr. Daily. Mr. Gill)ert, assisted by his 
sons, cleared up a good farm, made a fine pio- 
neer home, and about 1831 built a substantial 
frame house of two stories. This house is 
stillin a good state of preser\ation, and the 
original windows, with old-fashioned panes, 
are still in place. The lock and latches are 
the same as when built, and neither the ex- 
terior nor the interior has been changed. Mrs. 
Lydia Gilbert, mother of Orrin Gilbert, came 
out at a later period, and died in Solon, Ohio. 
Orrin Gilbert and wife were members of the 
Episcopal church at Cuyahoga Falls, of w hich 
Mr. Gilbert was one of the founders, and 
which he assisted to Ijuild, and of which he 
was one of the vestrymen. Mr. Gilbert was 
first a whig in politics, later a republican, and 
filled the offices of justice of the peace and 
township trustee. He was industrious, and 
one of the substantial men of his township. 
He was one of the early members of the Ma- 
sonic fraternity of Litchfield county, Conn. 

Joseph L. Gilbert was about two and a half 
years old when he came with his father's fam- 
ily to Ohio in the fall of 1828, but can remem- 
ber some incidents of the trip. He received a 
good education for that early day, became a 
farmer, and married, when twenty-five years 
old, in Buffalo, N. Y. — when passing through 
that city on a visit to Connecticut, October g. 



1850 — Harriet .\. Hall, who was born ]anuar_v 
13, 1828, in South .Adams, Mass., a daughter 
of Asa and Hannah (^King) Hall. Asa Hall 
was of sterling luiglish stock on both sides, a 
carpenter by trade, and his children were 
Laura, Arvilla, Orrin, Salomie and Sophronia 
(twins), William, Harriet and Asa. Mr. Hall 
settled in Buffalo, N. Y., about 1827, and 
built the first special dry-goods house in that 
city. Mr. Hall moved to La Grange, N. Y., 
about 1835, and died about 1837, a member 
of and deacon in the Baptist church. Mr. and 
Mrs. Gilbert settled on the old Gilbert home- 
stead, and Mr. Gilbert still owns the old home 
stead and forty acres of the original farm. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert have been born Elsie 
Electa, November 14, 1851; Edward Everett, 
January 22, 1853; Alice Louisa, August 3; 
1854; William Austin, January 23, 1856, and 
Dillie Bell, March 24, 1867. In politics Mr. 
Gilbert is a republican, and has been a mem- 
ber of the school board for many years, taking 
great interest in having good schools. He has 
always been an upright and respected citizen 
and has reared an excellent family and has al- 
ways stood high for his integrity of character. 



fiEV. AMBROSE GRAHAM, pastor of 
Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic 
church at Kent, Ohio, was born in 
Cookstown, county Tyrone, Ireland, 
January i, 1852, a son of Charles and Agnes 
(Devon) Graham, who were the parents of 
four sons and four daughters, of whom the 
sons all entered the learned professions — that 
is to say, William is a priest at Darlington, 
in the north of England; Robert, who was also 
a priest; died in Belfast, Ireland, in 1885; 
Ambrose, the subject, and Joseph, who is a 
physician of London, England. The father of 
the family was a well-to-do merchant of Cooks- 
town, and neither he nor any of his children. 



274 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



excepting Ambrose, the subject, ever left the 
Emerald isle for America. 

Rev. Ambrose Graham received his literary 
education in the Cookstown academy and then 
passed a year in an institution of learning in 
England. His theological studies were pur- 
sued in Saint Paul's college, Dublin. Ireland, 
and at Blair's college, Aberdeen, Scotland. 
He was ordained priest February 2, 1876, and 
his first appointment in his holy calling was as 
assistant at Saint Mary's church, Glasgow, 
Scotland. 

In January, 1880, he was appointed pastor 
of Saint Mary's church, at Irvin, Ayrshire, 
Scotland, but August 22, 1880, resigned his 
charge and came to the United States, and on 
September 20. 1888, was appointed to his pres- 
ent charge which, to the present time, he has 
filled to the great satisfaction of his loving and 
revering flock. 

Saint Patrick's church at Kent was organ- 
ized in 1867 by Rev. P. H. Brown, at 
that time pastor of the Catholic church at 
Hudson, Summit county, with an out-mis- 
sion at Kent comprising about forty fam- 
ilies. The Saint Patrick church edifice was 
erected in 1868 at a cost of $12,000. The 
edifice was quite imposing and a cemetery 
was very tastefully laid out, and Father Brown 
officiated as priest until succeeded in consecu- 
tive order by Fathers W. J. Gibbons, J. P. Car- 
roll, J. D. Bowles, F. J. O'Neill, James Maloy 
( 1880-81), Louis Brairie, J. F. Cahill and 
George Leming. D. D., all good and faithful 
pastors and earnest in their work. Father 
Graham was now appointed to the charge, and 
diligently set to work to improve the edifice 
and add some necessary accessories, for which 
he secured contributions amounting to $2,000, 
but the worthy father was careful not to over- 
tax the financial ability of his devoted children, 
and the congregation is now entirely free from 
<lebt. Through the zealous efforts of Father 



Graham, Saint Patrick's church now numbers 
within its fold over 120 families and its pa- 
rochial school, taught by four sisters of the 
order of Saint Dominic, has an enrollment of 
fully eighty pupils. Naturally enough. Father 
Graham is fully satisfied with the approval he 
has met with from the superiors of the church 
for his zealous work, but the need of approval 
from laymen, even beyond the pale of his 
church, must be gratifying to even one in 
hol\' orders. 



*Y— rf ENRY C. GRANT, a well-known resi- 

WT "% dent of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, was 

J . " born in New Haven, Conn., February 

3, 1836, a son of William T. and 

Esther F. (Treat) Grant. 

Henry C. Grant received his education in 
the public school, also attended the academy 
at Orange, Conn., and became a farmer. He 
was in a market in New Haven three years 
when young. In 1855 he came to Ohio and 
lived a short time in Cuyahoga Falls, and in 
March, 1856, went to Lawrence, Kans. This 
was in the exciting times of the Kansas 
troubles over the slavery question. Mr. Grant 
was accompanied to Kansas by Samuel Wood, 
a prominent lawyer and settler in Kansas, who 
was later dri\en out of the then territory by 
border ruffians. Mr. Grant worked awhile at 
farm work for a Mr. Emery, of Maine. The 
committee of safety, of Lawrence, Kans., or- 
ganized for the defense of the freesoilers, and 
the young men were armed with Sharp's rifles 
and organized a campaign. Mr. Grant joined 
company B in April, 1856, and resisted an 
attempt to arrest Samuel Wood, made by 
Sheriff Samuel Jones, a border ruffian from 
Missouri, growing out of the Branson rescue. 
As this attempt did not succeed, another was 
made to arrest Samuel Wood, aided by a com- 
pany of United States dragoons, and that night 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



275 



Sheriff Jones was shot in his tent and badly 
wounded, and these events led up to the Kan- 
sas war. Early in June Lawrence was sacked. 
Gov. Robinson's residence was burned and 
the hotel destroyed by fire. The city and 
even the private residences were plundered. 
These events covered the entire summer, and 
Mr. Grant was under arms during the entire 
time. At one time he was in camp with the 
famous John Brown, near Osawatomie. Mr. 
Grant was in several skirmishes with the 
border ruffians, at one time under the cele- 
brated Jim Lane, who aided in the capture of 
a block-house five miles from Lawrence, in 
which attack several were killed and wounded. 
The block-house was burned, and fifty men 
with all their arms and one piece of artillery 
were captured. He was also in an attempt to 
capture border ruffians under Henry Clay Pate, 
nine miles from Lawrence. This band had 
murdered David S. Hoyt, a noted freesoiler, 
while on a visit to their camp by invitation 
and under promise of protection. He was a 
prominent Mason. The freesoil men, Mr. 
Grant being one, destroyed this camp. He 
was also with a party who attacked a block- 
house near Lecompton, Jim Lane being in 
command. They also broke up a nest of 
border ruffians and horse theives under Col. 
Titus, suffering some loss. Mr. Grant remained 
under fire with the freesoilers until the fall of 
1856. when, the Kansas troubles being quieted, 
he returned to Ohio. 

Mr. Grant worked at farm work in Summit 
county until the war, when he enlisted, Sep- 
tember I, 1861, at Cuyahoga Falls, in com- 
pany D, First regiment, Ohio light artillery, to 
serve three years, if not sooner discharged; 
later he re-enlisted, as a veteran, at Strawberry 
Plains, Tenn., in same organization, to serve 
three years or during the war, and served until 
<lischarged as first lieutenant at Camp Chase, 
Columbus, Ohio, August 31, 1865. He had 



been promoted, for meritorious conduct, to 
first sergeant and then to second lieutenant, 
and was assigned from company D to com- 
pany A, and afterward promoted to first lieu- 
tenant and assigned to company G, from which 
he was mustered out. During November, 
1 86 1, in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, 
under Gen. Nelson, he was in several battles, 
and at Green I-liver Bridge, Ky. , the entire 
force surrendered to Gen. Bragg, later were 
paroled, and sent to Ohio and e.xchanged. 
The regiment was re-organized and sent into 
Kentucky, and was in the fights from Lexing- 
ton to Kno.wille and at the investment of 
Cumberland Gap, where 2,000 prisoners were 
taken; and he was in the siege of Knoxville, 
and the assault, when invested by Gen. I^ong- 
street, and at Blaine's Cross Roads. He took 
part in the great Atlanta campaign, and was 
in the battles of Dalton, Resaca and Pumpkin- 
vine Creek, Peach Tree Creek, Dallas, Ivene- 
saw Mountain and general assault on Atlanta. 
He was also at Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station. 
During this remarkable campaign, Mr. Grant 
was under continuous fire with his comrades 
for 119 days. After the fall of Atlanta his bat- 
tery followed Hood, and he was in the battles 
of Columbia, Spring Hill and Franklin, and 
was in the battle of Nashville when Hood's 
army was destroyed. After this he was in 
camp at different places in Alabama and Ten- 
nesse until June, 1865, when his corps was 
ordered to New Orleans. Mr. Grant was al- 
ways an active soldier, was sick in hospital 
but one mouth, at Lookout Mountain, and 
was in all the campaigns, marches, skirmishes 
and battles in which his battery took part. 

In the beginning of the war, September 
10, 1861, he married, at Tallmadge, Ohio, 
Sarah M. Sackett, who was born May 15, 
1837, at Avon, Livingston county, N. Y., a 
daughter of Aaron and Hulda (Tanner) Sack- 
ett. After the war .Mr. and Mrs. Grant settled 



276 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



on the home farm, consisting of 150 acres, 
which he has improved and cleared from \ery 
heavy timber. To Mr. and Mrs. Grant have 
been born si.\ children: William B. , Harry S. , 
Charles T. , Walter S., Theodosia (died aged 
nine years) and Dorothy. Mrs. Grant is a 
member of the Congregational church and in 
politics Mr. Grant is a stanch republican and 
one of the founders of the party, taking part in 
the early struggles and casting his first vote for 
Abraham Lincoln on his first nomination for 
the presidency. He was an ardent abolition- 
ist and fought for the cause on Kansas soil and 
from the beginning to the end of the Civil war. 
Mr. Grant is a well known man of integrity of 
character, and his family is well educated; his 
two sons are graduates of colleges — Charles of 
Princeton, N. J., and Walter S., of Middle- 
bury, Vt. 



^^>^EORGL H. GREEN is one of the 
■ ^\ most progressive farmers of Franklin 
^^^W township, Portage county, Ohio, and 
in this township he was born on the 
parental farm November 26, 1S51, a son of Sen- 
eca and Mary A. (Holt) Green, relative to 
\vhom a digression may here be made. 

Seneca Green was born in Hampshire 
county, Mass., October 3, 1808, and was a 
son of Clark and Submit (Hastings) Green. 
He was reared on his father's farm until his 
fourteenth year, and was then apprenticed for 
six years at shoemaking. After learning his 
trade he worked for a year as a journeyman in 
North Lee, and then engaged in business on 
his own account in South Lee, Mass., and 
realized in this line considerable profit. In 
the autumn of 1836 he disposed of his busi- 
ness in South Lee and came to Ohio, pur- 
chased the farm in Portage county on which 
our subject, George B. Green, was born, and 
became one of the most prosperous and influ- 



ential farmers of Franklin township. He first 
married, October 3, 1832, Miss Sarah Spell- 
man, of Monterey, Mass. , but this lady was 
called away May (^. 1834, and February 29, 
1836, Mr. Green married Miss Mary A. Holt, 
of Austerlitz, N. Y. This latter union was 
blessed wirh.six children, viz; Sarah, wife of 
H. L. Russell; Stephen, of Streetsboro, Ohio; 
Spellman, of Franklin township; Ann, wife of 
G. H. Taylor, of Lansing, Mich.; Mary A., 
married to A, A.. Ross, of Kent, Ohio, and 
George B., whose name opens this biograph- 
ical sketch. Mr. Green, in his politics, was a 
whig in his early days, but on the formation 
of the republican party became one of its most 
ardent supporters. Death took from him his 
devoted wife June 6, 1877, '^^ the age of sixty- 
eight years, and his own death occurred May 
g, 1887, at the age of seventy-eight. But few 
citizens of Franklin township ever attained a 
higher degree of esteem than this honored 
pioneer from New England, who used the best 
energies of his active life in the development 
of Franklin township. 

Clark Green, the father of Seneca Green, 
was born in Massachusetts, April 11, 1776, 
almost on the eve of the grandest and most 
successful revplutioriary event recorded in the, 
vyorld's history. To his marriage with Miss 
Submit Hastings were born nine children, of 
whom two still survive, Salome and Clara. 
The deceased were named Billings, who diec^ 
August 17, 1865, at the age of sixty years; 
David, who diec^ December 22, 1863, at the 
age of sixty-two; Eunice, whose death took 
place September 8, 1S52, aged fifty-three; 
Seneca, the date of whose death is given 
above; Porter, born May 9, 18 13, whose 
death took place in 1893, at the age of 
eighty, and Hannah, who died October 17, 
1842, at the age of thirty-nine years; George, 
born June 19, 181 1. The father of this fam- 
ily passed away November 2/, 1848, at the age 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



L>77 



of seventy-two years, and his wife followed 
iiini t(j the grave April I2, 1863, aged eighty- 
tive years. 

Morris Holt, the maternal grandfather of 
George B. Green, was born April 13, 176S, 
and Sallie, his wife, was born December i, 
1770. Their marriage resulted in the birth of 
seven children, viz: Horace, February 14, 
1794; Stephen, January 15, 1796; Betsey, 
April. I, 1798 — died May 4, 1858; Sallie, born 
July 29, 1800 — died April 9, 1865; Mercy, 
born June 29, 1802; Desire, born August 11, 
1804 — died August 2, 1864, and Mary Ann, 
born July 13, 1809 — died June 6, 1877. All 
the above-named children have passed away, 
but in some instances, it will be perceived, the 
dates of death are not on record. Mr. Holt 
departed this life March 19, 181 5, at the age 
of forty-eight \'ears. 

George B. Green, the subject of this biog- 
raphy, passed his early life on the home farm, 
assisting his father until he reached the age of 
twenty-one years, when he engaged in farming 
on his own account. His marriage took place 
at Earlville, Ohio. October 21, 1874, to Miss 
Clara L. Haymaker, daughter of James and 
Mary (Olin) Haymaker, and this marriage has 
been blessed with three children, viz: Mabel 
A., James S. and Walter H. In conjunction 
with general farming, Mr. Green deals exten- 
sively in live stock, and ranks as one of Port- 
age county's up-to-date agriculturists. In pol- 
itics he is a rigid republican, in his fraternal 
relations is a Knight of Pythias, and his relig- 
ious dexotions are ])aid at the Universalist 
church. 

Mrs. Clara I^. (ireen, wife of George B. 
Green, was born August 30, 1850, in Earlville, 
and obtained her education in the district school- 
house near the "gravel bank," and after leav- 
ing school taught a term. Some sixteen years 
after her marriage she was taken seriously ill 
(in 1 890) and for a year or two was a confirmed 



invalid, and scant hopes were entertained for 
her recover}', but she eventually recuperated 
and is now enjoying excellent health. 

James D. Haymaker, father of Mrs. Green, 
was a son of Frederick and Rachel (Davis) 
Haymaker, and was bora in F"ranklin town- 
ship. Portage county. Ohio, September 2, 1809, 
in a little log cabin near the historical site of 
Brady's Leap. About ten days after his birth 
his mother died, thus leaving him to the care 
of his father, who took him to Pennsylvania, 
leaving him to the care of his grandfather, 
with whom he remained until he reached his 
tenth }ear, and then returned to his father, 
who had in the meantime married again, and 
was living in Beaver county, Pa. In 1823 his 
father returned to Franklin Mills (now known 
as Kent), Ohio, and there James D. obtained 
all the education he ever received. After stay- 
ing in Franklin two years, he entered a woolen 
factory to learn a trade ; after having four years' 
experience there, he embarked in the business 
of making wooden pails, tubs and wooden ware. 
This employment he followed for the next two 
years, and then removed to Fairport, Ohio, on 
lake Erie, where he opened a hotel, or, as it 
was then called, a "tavern." Here he con- 
tinued business for t\vo years, and then, re- 
turning to Portage, county, he purchased a 
farm, in 1834, on which he spent the remain- 
der of his life. It consisted of eighty-eight 
acres of new land, but Mr. Haymaker went 
bravely to work to prepare for himself a habi- 
tation, and on the 6th day of June, 1S35, his 
house and barn were raised — this "raising" 
bemg famed throughout this section as the first 
temperance, or "cold-water raising," that had 
been known. November 29, 1835, in the pres- 
ence of neighbors and friends, James D. Hay- 
maker and Mary Rosetta Olin took upon them- 
selves the vows of matrimony; thirteen children 
have been the fruit of this union, nine of whom 
survive, viz: Oscar F. ; Rachel, wife of Mc- 



278 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Kendree Norton; Arvin; James; Clara, wife of 
our subject; Almira, wife of Theodore H. Kin- 
dice; Amelia, wife of M. G. Norton; William 
J., and Abbie, wife of E. W. Case. Those 
who have passed away were Franklin, who 
died in 1850, aged fourteen years; Cora, who 
died February 2, 1859, aged nine months; 
Mary R. , who passed away July 27, 1866, aged 
twenty years, and Ann, who died May 11, 
1893, aged fifty years. James, fourth son of 
James Haymaker, Sr. , served in the Civil war, 
having enlisted January 12, 1865, in the One 
Hundred and Ninety-third regiment, Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry, at Cleveland, Ohio. James 
and Mary Haymaker celebrated their golden 
wedding anniversary November 29, 1885, when 
friends and neighbors, to the number of two 
hundred, gathered to congratulate the aged 
couple on having reached the zenith of half a 
century of wedded life. 

January 31, 1889, Mr. Haymaker laid down 
life's burdens to exchange "The cross for the 
crown. " He left to his posterity that priceless 
inheritance, an irreproachable character and a 
stainless name. Mrs. James (Olin) Haymaker 
is the daughter of Arvin and Betsey (Bennett) 
Olin, and was born in Perry, Wyoming coun- 
ty, N. Y. , February 22, 1820. She removed 
with her parents to Ohio, and here was mar- 
ried to James Haymaker. 

Arvin Olin, grandfather of Mrs. Green, 
was a son of Ezra and Ruth (Green) Olin. He 
was born in Shaftsbury, Vt., July 13, 1797; 
was married March 9, 1817, to Betsey Ben- 
nett, who was born in Bennington, Vt., Feb- 
ruary 6, 1 80 1, and to them thirteen children 
were born. Arvin Olin died June 7, 1870, 
and Mrs. Olin followed him January 5, 1872, 
aged seventy years and eleven months. Ezra 
Olin, great-grandfather of Mrs. Green, was 
born in Rhode Island March 23, 1772, the son 
of John Olin, Second. In the month of March, 
1 79 1, he was married to Ruth Green, daugh- 



ter of Samuel and Ruth Green, who was born 
in Rhode Island November 10, 1770, and died 
May 19, 1847. To this union were born ten 
children. In 1848 Ezra Olin, married, for his 
second wife, Mrs. Booth, of Orangeville, N. Y., 
who died in 1855; Mr. Olin died November 5, 
1 8 58, aged eighty-six years seven months and 
twelve days. John Olin, second, great-great- 
grand-father of Mrs. Green, was born in Rhode 
Island in 17 14, son of John Olin, first, and 
Susannah (Spencer) Olin. He was married 
in East Greenwich, R. I., to Susannah Pierce, 
daughter of Jeremiah Pierce, December 9, 
1734. To them were born seven children. 
John Olin, second, died in January, 1797. 
aged eighty-three years; Susannah, his wife, 
died in February, 1S02, aged eighty-seven. 
John Olin, the first, great-great-great-grandfa- 
ther of Mrs. Green, emigrated to America from 
Wales in 1700, settling near Greenwich, R. I., 
and is said to have come to this country at the 
age of fourteen years. He was married, in 
East Greenwich, October 4, 1708, to Susannah 
Spencer, daughter of John and Susannah Spen- 
cer, natives of Wales. John Olin, the first, 
died at Newport, R. I., June 10, 1725, aged 
sixty-one jears. 

Here ends the genealogical record of Mrs. 
Green's family, on the maternal side of the 
house, as far as it is possible to trace it. So 
we will leave Mr. and Mrs. Green living in 
their comfortable home pleasantly situated on 
the road leading from Kent to Hudson, which 
is now known as the Hill Side Lawn farm. 
They are cheered by the presence of their 
three children, of whom Mabel A., born Au- 
gust 28, 1875, graduated from the Kent high 
school, in 1894, and has since been engaged 
in teaching. James S. was born May 5, 1880, 
is also a Kent graduate of the class of 1897, 
and Walter H., born February 26, 1889, is 
still attending school. Mr. Green and family 
are among the most respected of the residents 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



283 



of Franklin township, and Mr. Green's repu- 
tation as a farmer and stock raiser is wide- 
spread and well deserved, while his business 
name stands without a blemish, and he is, at 
present, trustee of Franklin township. 



eDWARD HELLER, of Ghent, Ohio, 
is one of the most substantial and 
influential farmers in Bath township. 
He was born in Northampton county. 
Pa., May 23, 1826, son of Abraham and Eli- 
zabeth (Evenrider) Heller, the former a native 
of Bucks county. Pa., and the latter of Le- 
high count}', the same state. His father was 
a miller liy trade, and by his frugal and indus- 
trious habits accumulated considerable prop- 
erty, possessing large land holdings in connec- 
tion with his extensive milling interests, and 
operating largely in the timber aud lumber 
way. He died in 1852, his wife surviving him 
some years. They were the parents of the 
following children: Elizabeth, Joseph, .\nn, 
Adleman, George, Edward and Poll}'. 

Edward Heller, the subject of this sketch, 
spent the early part of his life with his father 
in the mill and upon the farm, remaining there 
until he was past twenty-five. In 1851 he 
was married to Miss Julia A. Dutt, who was 
born in Northampton count}'. Pa., in 1827. 
The following year Mr. Heller and his bride 
came to this county and located in Copley 
township on a farm of sixty acres which they 
purchased. Mr. Heller cleared half of this 
tract and erected a comfortable home, where 
they resided for nearly twenty years. In 
1870 he traded this farm for the mill prop- 
erty west of Ghent, the largest and best steam 
and water power grist and saw-mill in the 
western part of the county. He also bought 
a mill half a mile east of Ghent and twenty- 
one acres of hue land in the township. De- 
ciding to retire from the milling business he 



afterward traded his mill properties for the 
excellent farm of 1 54 acres upon which he 
now resides. This is known as the Hershey 
farm, from its former owner, A. Hershey. 
Mr. Heller has made large and notable im- 
provements upon this place in the way of 
modern buildings and up-to-date appliances, 
and has an admirable home. 

Mr. Heller comes from vigorous and hardy 
stock, it being a boast that the average age in 
his family is eighty years — a family, too, 
strongly grounded in its religious faith and 
rigid in its observance of its tenets. He is a 
member of the Evangelical church, and is a 
pillar in that denomination. During his resi- 
dence at Copley he was superintendent of the 
Sunday-school. He is a man upright in 
his business dealings, consistent in his 
christian walk, courteous in his manner — a 
gentlenian who enjoys the unbounded confi- 
dence and respect of the entire community. 
A very sore bereavement to the Heller house- 
hold was the death, November 4, 1885, of 
of the wife and mother. Mrs. Heller was a 
noble woman, devoted to her family, and a 
practical, earnest helpmate. Her memory is 
cherished socially in the household and is not 
a thing that dies. Following are the children 
of this family: Ouintus A., Benjamin F. , 
Amanda E., and Emma D. 



'^VOHN GRETHER, ex-auditor of the 
■ county of Summit, Ohio, was born in 
A 1 the Fourth ward of the city of Akron, 
February 21, 1857, and this has been 
his home since his birth. He is the eldest of 
the six children born to John G. and Barbara 
(Doersch) Grether, the other five being George, 
a blacksmith, in the employ of the Akron Salt 
works; Fred, receiving and shipping clerk for 
Strong, Copp & Co. , wholesale druggists of 
Cleveland; Emma, in Akron; Charles, druggist 



284 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



of Akron, and Amelia a stenographer, who 
was an assistant to her brother, John, when 
he was county auditor. 

Jcjhn Grether, the subject, was educated 
in the high school of his native city of Akron 
and also took a course in a business college. 
From the age of sixteen he assisted his father 
in his grocery until nineteen years of age, 
when he entered the employ of E. Steinbacher, 
wholesale and retail dealer in groceries, drugs, 
oils and paints, and during the six years and 
four months he was in the employ lost but 
twenty-one days. Mr. Grether then purchased 
the Palace drug store, which he conducted six 
years and eight months, when he disposed of 
the concern and turned his whole attention to 
the real estate business, having already made 
some investments in realty. In 1887 the real 
estate firm of Motz tS: Grether was formed at 
Kokomo, Ind., where they did an extensive 
business for three or four years, when Mr. 
Grether withdrew. In 1890 he organized the 
Kokomo luiameling works in that city, and in 
the same year organized the Globe Sign works 
in .Akron, of which he is president. This plant 
is in South .Akron, and furnishes oil-cloth and 
muslin signs for all parts of the United States. 
It is 40 X 160 feet, ground plan, and three 
stories high, and employs from sixteen to 
eighteen hands. 

In 1890, also, the Grether & Pfeiffer real 
estate firm was formed, and at once began 
making additions to the city of Akron — four 
on North Hill and three on West Hill — the 
entire acreage being sixty-three. The exten- 
sitjnof the Akron Electrical street-car railroad, 
from the Little Cuyahoga river and Howard 
street to the Cuyahoga Falls road, on North 
Hill, was largely brought about b}- Grether & 
Pfeiffer, they turning over their road to the 
.\kron street-car company, on condition that 
both be operated as one. 

In 1892, Mr. Grether was elected county 



auditor of Summit county on the democratic 
ticket and filled the office three years, proving 
himself to be in every way worthy of the trust 
reposed in him, and was probably one of the 
most efficient officers that ever served the peo- 
ple of Summit county. On leaving this office 
he resumed his real estate transactions. He 
is also the manufacturer of the Buckeye Cop- 
per Polish, which has a most extensive sale 
throughout the whole country; he was likewise 
one of the founders of the Marion Keely insti- 
tute of Marion, Ind., of which he is president. 
Fraternall}', he is a member of Atolia lodge, 
K. of P., No. 2 1 , as well as of the uniform 
rank; member of the B. & P. O. Elks, which 
he joined in February, 1897; also of the 
Red Cross, the Turnverein and other German 
societies; he is a director of the German- Amer- 
ican Building & Loan association, and has his 
office under the Buchtel hotel. His religion is 
found in the faith of the German Reformed 
church. Mr. Grether has been one of the 
most active of the business men of Akron and 
has done as much for the development of the 
city as probably any other of its native-born 
residents, and is in consequence duly honored 
by all. 



>Y*LDGE NATHANIEL PERKINS 
■ GOODHUE, recently clerk of courts 
A 1 of Summit county, son of Hon. Na- 
thaniel W. Goodhue, and his wife, 
Nancy W., was born in Akron, Ohio, August 
6, 1853, and was educated in the public 
schools of the city. From December, 1872, 
to July, 1878, he was deputy clerk in the 
United States court at Cleveland, Ohio; from 
September, 1878, until February, 1882, he 
was a traveling salesman for Kellar & Good- 
hue, wholesale dealers in boots and shoes, at 
Rochester, N. Y. ; from February 8, 1882, to 
Februar)-, 1891, he was deputy probate judge 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



285 



of Summit coiint\', having read law under his 
father, and from February 8, iSyi, to August 
2, 1897, served as clerk of courts of Summit 
county, having been elected on the republican 
ticket. 

April 4, 1883, Mr. Cioodhue was united in 
marriage to Miss Mary Kent McNaughton, 
daughter of Finley and Ella (Kent) McNaugh- 
ton, but no children have blessed this union. 
Mrs. (joodhue was born in .Akron October 31, 
1858, her parents having formerly been resi- 
dents of this city, but now residing in Youngs- 
town. Ohio. 

Hon. Nathaniel W. Goodhue, father of 
Nathaniel P. Goodhue, was elected probate 
judge of Summit county in October, 1881, 
and acceptably filled the office until his sud- 
den death in September, 1S83, when his son 
and deputy continued to act in the same ca- 
pacity under Charles R Grant, who was ap- 
pointed by Gov. Foster to fill the vacancy of 
judge caused by the death of Nathaniel W. 
<ioodhue. 



B GRACE G. GRIFFIN, sheriff of Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, is a native of the 
Buckeye state, and was born in Geau- 
ga county October 8, 1840, a son of 
Seth B. and Huldah (King) Griffin, natives, 
respectively, of Pennsylvania and Ohio. 

Seth B. Griffin was a farmer by vocation, 
was active in politics, national, state, county 
and township, was a well-informed gentleman 
and a counselor for his neighbors in all mat- 
ters of dispute, and a member of the Masonic 
order in high standing, having gone to Canada 
to receive his last degree. He was the father 
of four children, born in the following order: 
Theressa, the deceased wife of Oscar Watts, 
of Geauga county, who is also deceased, hav- 
ing been killed in the battle of Chancellors- 
villo; Charlotte died in childhood; Horace G. 



is the subject of this memoir; Lester is a con- 
tractor and builder of Cleveland. 

Horace G. Griffin was reared on his father's 
farm, was educated in the common and select 
schools of Geauga county, and enlisted, Sep- 
tember 10, 1 86 1, in company G, Forty-first 
regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and gal- 
lantly performed the duties of a soldier until 
mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., June 26, 
1864. After his return he was for about a 
year on the sick list, and was then employed 




by Budlong & Stokes to conduct a cheese fac- 
tory on a large scale at Charndon. but two 
years later this concern changed hands, and 
Mr. Griffin then started, for L. J. Randall, of 
Charndon, the first creamery ever established 
in Ohio, and this he operated for two years. 
He was then employed by a company in Ver- 
sailles, Ky., to start a cheese factory at that 
point — the first in Kentucky — and for two and 
a half years conducted it with profit and to 
the satisfaction of all concerned. He then 



28« 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



returned to Geauga county, Ohio, and engaged 
in mercantile business in Fowler's Mills, but 
sold out within a few months and went to 
Painesville, Lake county, and re-engaged in 
merchandising, which he followed for two 
years, then disposed of his stock and came to 
Akron to fill a contract with the Valley Rail- 
road company, then in course of construction, 
to complete the grading from Akron to Union 
Town. After filling his contract he again en- 
tered the mercantile trade, and for five years 
did business in Akron under the firm of Viall 
& Griffin. The firm having sold out, Mr. 
Griffin at once engaged in business on his own 
account, in the Si.xth ward, on Market street, 
where he now carries a full line of groceries, 
notions, etc., and is among the solid men of 
Akron. 

An ardent republican, Mr. Griffin has al- 
ways taken an acti\'e part in the politics of the 
city and count}'; for eight years consecutively 
he was a member of the board of education — 
being the first in Akron to fill three successive 
terms — and during his incumbency the high 
school building and three common school 
buildings were erected. Without solicitation 
he was appointed by Gov. Foraker a member 
of the board of elections, and served four 
years, or during the life of that board; he also 
served six years as a member of the board of 
city assessments. In the fall of 1S94 he was 
elected sheriff of Summit county, and at the 
expiration of his term he returned to the mer- 
cantile business. In all the offices he has held 
his efficiency has made itself self-evident, and 
in every case his constituents have consented 
to release, only to advance him, to positions of 
higher honor. Fraternally, Mr. Griffin is a 
member of Middlebury council, No. 969, Royal 
Arcanum; Spertian lodge, No, 126, K. of H. ; 
Buckley post. No. 12, G. A. R. ; American 
Legion, No. 428, and J. O. U. M., Pride of 
Akron, No. 343. 



The marriage of Mr. Griffin occurred in 
Geauga county, Ohio, December 22, 1864, 
with Miss Harriet Taylor, daughter of Rev. 
Justice Taylor, and this union has been blessed 
with two children, viz: Lizzie T., wife of Dr. 
H. H. Jacobs, of Akron, and Lucy H., a stu- 
dent at Granville seminary, but residing with 
her parents. The family attend the Baptist 
church, and have their pleasant home at No. 
Ill Forrest street, when Mr. Griffin is not at- 
tending his duties as sheriff, when, of course, 
his residence is at the count}' jail on Broad- 
way, Akron. Mr. Griffin began at the bottom 
of the ladder as a business man, and by his 
own ability and industry has reached his pres- 
ent eminence. He is courteous and genial in 
his bearing, and has made friends in all parts 
of the country where it has been his fate to live. 



a APT. WILLIAM GRINNELL, promi- 
nent as a business man, public official 
and citizen of Ravenna, Ohio, as well 
as an ex-soldier of the Union arm\', 
was born in Allegany count}', X. Y., June 
28, 1839. His parents, James and Julia A. 
(Luce) Grinnell, were respectively born in 
Oneida county, N. Y.. in iSio, and in Cat- 
taraugus county, in the same state, in 181 3. 
They were married in their native state, and 
about 1849 came to Ohio and settled on a farm 
in Franklin township. Portage county, where 
the mother died and where the father still 
lives at the adxanced age of eighty-seven 
years. Of their family of three sons and one 
daughter the captain is the eldest, and can 
trace his genealogy back to Auld Scotia. 

Capt. Grinnell was a lad of twelve years 
when brought by his parents to Portage coun- 
ty, and in Franklin township was an attendant 
at the public schools until about the age of 
fifteen years, when he found employment in a 
store at Kent. In the spring of 1859 he went 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



28< 



to Hardin count}', K\., where, for a time, he 
worked on a farm, but soon secured a position 
as clerk in a general store in Elizabethtown, 
in the same county. While thus employed, 
he was approached, in the winter of 1860-61, 
by a committee, who urged him to join a mil- 
itary company of prospective Confederates 
then being formed, but this he declined to do, 
the consequence being that his stay in the state 
would be hazardous, and so, in the spring of 
1 86 1, he returned to Kent and re-engaged as 
a salesman in a store. In 1862 he enlisted in 
company I, One Hundred and Fourth Ohio 
volunteer infantry, was mustered in as fifth 
sergeant, and passed through the various grades 
of promotion until commissioned first lieuten- 
ant. .\t the siege of Knoxville, Tenn., Novem- 
ber 29, 1863, he received a wound so serious 
that it disabled him for life, and he was fur- 
loughed home. He was never able to return to 
his command, and was eventually discharged 
on account of disability, although in the mean- 
time, for gallantry in the face of the enemy 
and for meritorious conduct in the line of 
duty, he was promoted to the captaincy of 
company D, of his own regiment, the duties 
of which office his injury precluded him from 
performing. 

May 30, 1863, Capt. (irinnell was united in 
marriage with Miss Rachel A. Phillips, a na- 
tive of Portage county and daughter of Benja- 
min Phillips. Mr. Phillips was at one time a 
member of the state legislature of Massachu- 
setts, from which state he came to Ohio and 
settled on an e.\tensive farm in l-Vanklin town- 
ship. Portage county, where his wife ended 
her days. Mr. Phillips attained great prom- 
inence, locally, after coming t(j this county. 
and died in Ra\ eniia, honored b\ all who ever 
knew him. Mr. and Mrs. Grinnell have had 
no children born to them, but have adopted a 
son, William P. (irinnell, now seventeen years 
of age and attending school in Hudson. 



Soon after his marriage Capt. Grinnell was 
appointed deputy county auditor of Portage 
county, which position he was ably filling 
when elected county auditor in 1868, and this 
important and responsible office he held for 
twelve consecutive years — a recognition by the 
public of ability and integrity seldom accorded 
to official incumbents. In 1883 the captain 
was appointed, by the governor of the state, a 
member of the ta.x commission created to re- 
vise the tax laws, but impaired health did not 
permit his acceptance of the onerous and deli- 
cate office. 

Capt. Grinnell has been an important fac- 
tor in the material progress of Ravenna. He 
was one of the founders and builders of the 
Ravenna Flint Glass works, and was secretary 
and treasurer of the company until 1884; he 
drafted the original bill to authorize the erec- 
tion of the present court house, which bill was 
approved by the state legislature, and the 
county commissioners instructed to issue 
bonds and proceed with the work, Capt. Grin- 
nell being appointed a member of the building 
committee by the court of common pleas. 
The captain was also the author of the present 
system of water-works in Ravenna, which were 
constructed in 1885-86, the captain having in 
charge the interests of the city as its agent; 
for nearly nine \'ears he was a member of tlie 
board of trustees of these works, and for sev- 
eral years the secretary of the board. In 1890 
the captain was one of the incorporators of 
the Ravenna Brick iS: Tile Manufacturing 
company, of which he has ever since been the 
secretary and treasurer. The capital stock of 
this company is $15,000, and it gives constant 
work to a force of eighteen employees. 

In politics Capt. Grinnell is a republican, 
and an active one. He has served a number 
of years as chairman, secretar\' and treasurer 
of the republican county committee, and in 
1888 was a'delegate to the national convention 



288 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



which nominated Benjamin Harrison for the 
presidency of the United States. In 1890 he 
was appointed, without his knowledge, a mem- 
ber of the state board of equahzation, the 
jurisdiction of which extended over the five 
counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage 
and Summit; about the same time he was ap- 
pointed .supervisor of the Eighth census dis- 
trict, comprising twelve counties — both of 
which positions he filled with consummate 
ability. The captain has also served as a 
member of the board of deputy state super- 
visors of elections under the precisions of the 
Australian ballot law, and has been a member 
of the Soldiers' relief commission ever since 
its formation. 

In religion, Mr. and Mrs. Grinnell cling to 
the faith of the Congregationalists and are both 
active in the work of their church. Frater- 
nally, the captain is an Odd Fellow and a 
zealous member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, being a charter member and com- 
mander of the first post organized in Porlage 
county (at Kent) and a charter member of the 
David Mcintosh at Ravenna, of which he is 
past post commander. The social standing of 
the captain and his wife is most enviable, 
forming, as they do, the center of a constantly 
widening circle of admiring friends. 



m 



'ILLIAM T. GRUNDEL. the well- 
known cigar manufacturer of Ra- 
\enna, Ohio, was born in the king- 
dom of Prussia, Germany, Febru- 
ary 24, 1828, and is a son of John and Louisa 
Josephine (Lucke) Grundel, both of whom 
have long been deceased. The father de- 
scended from a representative German family 
that for generations had held offices of trust 
under the government; the father of subject's 
mother was captain and owner of a merchant 
vessel, and was engaged in trading with all the 



cities on the coast of the North sea, and other 
of her relatives are now holding offices under 
the government. There were six children 
born to John and Louisa J. Grundel, viz: 
Henrietta, Robert, Adolph, William, The- 
odore, Albert and Albertine, all now de- 
ceased, excepting Adolph and \\'illiaiii Theo- 
dore, the last named being the subject, whose 
name opens this paragraph. Adolph, who 
served as a sharpshooter in the arm\ , still re- 
sides in Prussia, in retirement. 

William Theodore Grundel, the subject, 
received a sound literary education in his 
native country, and after lea\ing school was 
employed by the government in its revenue de- 
partment — a year and a half on land and about 
eight months on board of a revenue cutter. 
In 1848 he came to the United States, landed 
from the steamer Herman in New York city, 
where he remained about three months, thence 
went tt) Boston, Mass., returned to New York, 
and next went to Richmond, Va. , where he 
served an apprenticeship of two years at cigar- 
making. He then \isited all the cities of any 
importance along the Atlantic coast from 
Maine to Texas, and finally married, in 1S56, 
Miss Adeline Adams, of Connecticut, a daugh- 
ter of Lorenzo and Susan (Woodworth) Adams, 
of whom the former was a native of Massa- 
chusetts and the latter of the' Nutmeg state. 
.Mrs. Grundel was educated in the public 
schools and the Ladies' seminary of Suffield, 
Conn., and at the time of her marriage her 
father was the proprietor of the Enfield 
Bridge hotel, at Enfield, that state. This 
lady, who was born in 1836, died in Ivavenna, 
Ohio, October 16, 1884, the mother of three 
children, viz; Albertine, Willie and Bertha. 
Of these, Albertine is the wife of the Rev. J. 
M. Van Horn, who was formerly pastor of the 
Christian church of Ravenna, but is now pas- 
tor of the Disciples' church of Warren, Ohio, 
and has under considerati(jn a recent call to 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



289 



the pastorate of the West London tabernacle. 
England; Bertha is the wife of S. R. Metzger, 
of Cleveland, Ohio, and Willie died October 
20, 1S72, his remains being interred in Maple 
Grove cemetery, Ravenna. 

After his marriage Mr. Grundel resided in 
Suffield, Conn., until 1859, when he came to 
Ohio and secured a position in Elyria. He 
had been there about a year and a half when 
Lyman Moses, a well-known cigar manufacturer 
of Ravenna, Ohio, but formerly of Suffield, 
Conn., where he and our subject had worked 
together, hearing of Mr. Crundel's presence in 
Elyria, wrote to him and offered him a more 
remunerative situation in Ravenna, which was 
accepted, and for twenty years Mr. Grundel 
was in the employ of Mr. Moses, to the entire 
satisfaction of both parties. In 18S0 Mr. 
Grundel rented a storeroom in the Otto Sontum 
block, north of the court house, Ravenna, and, 
with a borrowed capital of $400, purchased a 
stock of tobacco and smokers' articles and 
entered on the first business venture of his life. 
Inside of one year he so prospered that he 
was able to refund the borrowed money; from 
time to time he added to his stock and fi.xtures, 
and by hard work and close attention to busi- 
ness eventually reached the foremost position 
in his line in Ravenna. He to-day enjoys a 
lucrative trade, both wholesale and retail, 
manufacturing some of the most favorite 
brands of cigars now used in the city and 
county, including the Perfectos, at ten cents 
each; the Golden Keys and Cubanas, at five 
cents each, and numerous other brands of 
equally good quality, but not, as yet, equally 
popular, yet destined to become so, as he 
never sends out an inferior article. In politics 
Mr. Grundel is a republican and a stanch 
friend of protection of American industries. 
He has served as a member of the Ravenna 
city council, resigning the latter position to 
accept the office of corporation, township and 



school treasurer, still holding that of town- 
ship treasurer. Fraternally he is a Free- 
mason, having been made such in Norfolk 
(Va.) lodge in 185 i, and is a charter member 
of Crescent lodge, Knights of Pythias, at 
Ravenna. His name as a business man is 
without a stain, and the high esteem in which 
he is held as a citizen is the just reward of his 
personal merits. 



HLBERT HALE, one of the most in- 
fluential farmers of Springfield town- 
ship and secretary of the Summit 
county Agricultural society, was born 
July 7, 1845, at the old homestead near Moga- 
dore, which has witnessed the development of 
three generations of Hales. He is of Welsh 
descent, and traces the arrival of his paternal 
ancestry in this country to the year 1636. 
His great-grandfather, Samuel Hale, was 
reared in Connecticut, and about the year 
1802 settled in Suffield, Portage county, Ohio, 
being one of the pioneers of that region. He 
died there in 1809. He was the father of the 
following children : Thomas, Samuel, Orestes, 
who died of small-pox shortly after his arrival 
in Portage county, and Mrs. Martin Kent. 
Thomas, the eldest son, acquired a considera- 
ble education for that place and period, and 
became one of the pioneer school-teachers. 
He also interested himself largely in politics, 
and was also a land owner of considerable 
note about Suffield Center, .\bout the year 
1831 he moved to Mogadore and continued 
his vocation of teaching. He was for many 
years a justice of the peace, and was a man 
of much prominence and great personal influ- 
ence in the community. His wife was Laura 
Moore, a native of Connecticut. Her father, 
Nathan Moore, was a surveyor and civil engi- 
neer, who settled in Canfield, Ohio, about 
1799, and in 1806 located in Springfield town- 



290 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ship, Summit count}-. He was a giant in size 
and strength, being six feet six inches in 
height. He cleared and improved what is 
now known as the Christ farm, and was con- 
cerned in all the original sur\'eys of this region. 
He was a noted hunter in his day, and one of 
the best known and most influential pioneers. 

To Thomas and Laura (Moore) Hale was 
born but one child, Austin Moore, father of 
our subject. He was born May 2, 1814, on 
the farm in Springfield township. He became 
the pioneer nurseryman of Summit county, 
and conducted this business successfull}' until 
his death, which occurred Februar}' 25, 1S89. 
He was married twice, his first wife being a 
daughter of Ephraim Bellows, a native of 
Connecticut, who bore him four children — 
Thomas, Albert, Laura (Mrs. Henry H. Stahl), 
and Mary (Mrs. Frank Hoff). His second wife 
was Laura, daughter of Erastus Brown, of 
Weymouth, Medina county, Ohio. To this 
union was born one daughter, Nellie. 

Thomas Hale was known for man}' years 
as an ultra-abolitionist of the radical sort, who, 
from the passage of the fugitive slave law in 
KS52 until the war, refused to take an oath to 
support the constitution of the United States; 
was one of the most active conductors on the 
underground railroad in da\s when axowed 
kindness to runaway slaves involved much 
personal risk, and was a direct \iolation of the 
law as it then existed. 

All)ert Hale was given a careful education 
in the common schools and grew up to a thor- 
ough acquaintance with the details of the nur- 
sery business, in which he was engaged with 
his father until the latter's death in 1889. He 
has always taken an active interest in the 
county's agricultural prosperity, and since 1882 
has been a director in the Summit count}' Ag- 
ricultural society, and since 1889 the secretary 
of that influential association. He is keenly 
alive to the county's best interests, and par- 



ticularly to those of Springfield township, hav- 
ing unselfishly devoted much of his time to 
public affairs. For fifteen years he ser\ed as 
a member of the Mogadore school board, in- 
teresting himself largely in educational matters, 
and for nine years was justice of the peace. 
Politically he is an earnest republican. He 
has been a member of Akron lodge, No. 83, 
F. & A. M., for nearly thirty years, and is a 
charter member of Springfield grange, P. of H. , 
of Springfield; also a member of the state 
board of agriculture. 

On September 28, 1871, Mr. Hale was 
united in marriage to Ella, daughter of Henry 
and Mary (Gilbert) Smyth, earl\- settlers of 
Sufifield. Portage county, Ohio, and to them 
have been born five children, viz. : Ernest T., 
Florence, Amy, Warren M. and Constance. 
Ernest T. is now at Otterbein uni\ersity, 
Westerville, where he has been for three years 
pursuing his studies in the classical course. 
Florence is pursuing a musical course, and has 
spent one year at Hiram college. Both are 
graduates of the Mogadore high school; the 
others are still at school at Mogadore. 



*y ^ ON. CHARLES OVIATT HALE, ex- 

I'^^V state representative from Summit 

\ , r county in the Ohio general assembly, 

and a prominent farmer of Bath 

township. Summit county, was born on the 

farm he now owns and occupies March 14, 

1850, and is a descendant of one of the oldest 

families of New England. 

The first authoritative record of the Hale 
family in America is traced to Samuel Hale, 
who was a soldier in the Pequot war of 1639 
and supposedly came from Wales, where the 
name was well known and the male members 
of the family noted for their immense physical 
proportions and great strength, and the female 
members for their great beauty and refinement 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



291 



of manners. Samuel Hale was a landed pro- 
prietor in Hartford, now in Connecticut but 
originally an adjunct of the Massachusetts col- 
ony, and died November 9, 1693, the father of 
the following-named children: Martha, Samuel 
(2d), John, Mary, Rebecca, Thomas, Ebene- 
zer and Dorothy. The second Samuel Hale 
served in the legislature of his state for a num- 
ber of years and died November 18, 171 1, the 
father, by his first wife, Ruth Edwards, of the 
following-named children: Samuel(3~), Mary 
and Ruth; and by his second wife, Mary 
Welles, of Jonathan, David, Joseph and Ben- 
jamin. Of the children born to the marriage 
of Samuel (2) and his wife, Marv ^^'elles, Jon- 
athan had but one child, Theodore, who was 
born February 6, 1735, and died Ma\ 14, 1807, 
father of the following children : Rachel, Lucy, 
Jehiel (1st), Ruth, Jehiel (2dj, Theodore, 
Sarah, Samuel, Solomon, Jonathan (2d), and 
Abigail. 

Jonathan Hale (2d) grandfather of subject, 
was born in Glastonbury, Hartford county, 
Conn., April 23, 1777, married Merc\- S- Piper 
July I I, 1S02, and in i8iOcame to Ohio. To 
this union were born Sophronia, William, Pa- 
melia, .Andrew, Abigail and James M. The 
mother, Mrs. Mercy S. Hale, was called away 
October 16, 1829, and the father next mar- 
ried, November 2, 1830, Mrs. Sarah (Cozad) 
Mather, and to this union were born Jonathan 
D.. Mercy A. and Samuel C. The grandfa- 
ther of suljject, Jonathan Hale f2d), was the 
first actual settler in Bath township, and it 
was at his suggestion that the township re- 
ceived its name when it was organized in 1818. 
He was a man fully six feet in height, weighed 
180 pounds, and was, therefore, proportion- 
atel\' well formed. He was not given to gar- 
rulousness, although he was well educated for 
his day and was a constant reader and passion- 
ately fond of music. He was deeply religious, 
and his habits were such as to show that re- 



ligion with him was no affectation. He was 
a husbandman by vocation and alse a skilled 
brickmaker, and in the latter capacity burned 
the brick for and built the dwelling, in 1826- 
27, which is now occupied by the subject of 
this memoir. Mr. Hale died May 14, 1854, 
and his mortal remains lie interred in the 
cemetery originally on the old homestead, 
where a beautiful granite monument marks his 
last resting place. 

Andrew Hale, son of Jonathan (2d) by his 
first marriage, was born in Bath township, 
December 5, 181 1, and was the first white 
child to open its eyes within its limits at the 
time of birth. He here grew to manhood, re- 
ceived his education in the pioneer school and 
was reared to farming on the homestead his 
father had hewn from the wilderness. April 
12, 1838, he married Miss Jane Mather, who 
was born in Northfield township, and who bore 
her husband six children, viz: Pamela L. , 
wife of W. C. Oviatt, now a resident of Flor- 
ida; Sophronia J., who is married to S. J. 
Ritchie, of Tallmadge township. Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio; Clara, now Mrs. L. H. Ashman, 
also of Tallmadge township; Charles Oviatt, 
the subject of this biography; Alida, wife of 
Truman Humphrey, of Richfield, Summit 
county; and John P., a jeweler in .^kron. 
The father of these children was a life-long 
member of the Congregational church and in 
politics was a stanch republican, and upon its 
birth he ardently expoused its principles and 
exercised his franchise for every candidate of 
the part}- till his death. He was a genial gen- 
tleman, a true friend and and kind neighbor; 
a strictly honest man, a useful citizen and an 
affectionate husband and father. His death 
occurred July 29, 1884, on the farm on which 
he was born, and was deeply deplored, not 
only b}' his own famil}-, but by the entire com- 
munit}- in which he had passed all his pure 
and unsullied stay on earth. His widow, now 



L'92 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in the declining years of life, is being filially 
and affectionately cared for by her eldest son, 
Charles Oviatt, the subject of this sketch. 

Charles Oviatt Hale, by inheritance and 
the purchase of the rights of the other heirs, is 
now the sole owner of the original Hale home- 
stead in Bath township. This farm contains 
200 finely tilled acres and is situated in the 
beautiful Cuyahoga bottom, and here the sub- 
ject was reared to manhood. He passed 
through the usual cominon-school course, also 
attended the preparatory school at Oberlin, 
and graduated from the commercial college. 
He has been an omnivorous reader, and public 
affairs, political economy and popular juris- 
prudence have been his favorite studies. In 
politics he is a republican and has been an act- 
ive factor in engineering the success of his 
party in local elections. He has never missed 
voting at a state election since attaining his ma- 
jority, and has probably represented his town- 
ship in more county conventions than any 
other man of his age in Summit county. He 
has officiated three years as township trustee, 
several years as school director, was elected 
to the state legislature in 1891, and was re- 
elected at the close of his term, so satisfactor- 
ily had he served his constiuency, and has filled 
out his second term. 

Hon. Charles O. Hale cast his first presi- 
dential \ote for U. S. Crant, and has ever 
since served the republican party with unswerv- 
ing fidelity. He was the fourth representative 
of Summit county who served two consecutive 
terms in the state assembly, a fact indicative 
of his personal popularity. He is also secre- 
tary of the Summit county Sunday-school 
union. Mrs. Hale was a daughter of William 
T. and Mary (Drushel) Cranz, and was born 
November 22, 1846, and is one of thirteen 
children — six sons and seven daughters — of 
whom eleven reached maturity. Her father 
was a native of Germanv, came to America 



about 1834, located, first, in Holmes county, 
came to Summit county in 1863, and here died 
in 1895, a devout member of the Cierman Re- 
formed church, and in politics a democrat. 
Mrs. Cranz is a native of Westmoreland coun- 
ty. Pa., was born June 22, 1826, and now re- 
sides in Bath township, a member of the Con- 
gregational church at Hammond's Corners, 
and also a member of the King's Daughters. 

Mr. Hale was united in marriage. May 20, 
1875, with Miss Pauline Cranz, but no children 
have come to add to the happiness of his home 
and to perpetuate his honored name. He is a 
deacon in the Congregational church and for 
years has served as superintendent of the Sun- 
day-school at Bath. His public services have 
won for him the esteem of the entire commu- 
nity, and his upright aud conscientious walk 
through life has won him universal respect. 



HW. HALL, one of the best-known 
men in Summit county, and the jun- 
ior member of the firm of Myers & 
Hall, operating a large and flourish- 
ing pottery at Mogadore, was born in Roots- 
town township. Portage county, Ohio, August 
15, 1844. His father, Robert Hall, was born 
in Armstrong county, Pa., in 18 12, son of 
John Hall, a wealthy farmer of that region. 
While Robert was yet a young man he came 
to Mogadore and engaged in the sale of gen- 
eral merchandise on a scale which was consid- 
ered quite extensive for that time and place. 
After two years of this business he married 
and moved to Portage county, where he set- 
tled on a farm in Rootstown township. His 
wife was Mary Warner, a native of Howard 
county, Md. , whose parents, Jacob and Marj' 
(Clary) W^arner, came to Ohio from Maryland, 
first locating in Stark county, afterward com- 
ing to Mogadore, where they passed the re- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



295 



iiiainder of their days, Mr. Warner being a 
strong pillar in the Methodist Episcopal church 
at that place. Our subject's father was a man 
of more than ordinary business ability, and 
was widely reputed in the community. He 
was a stanch old-line whig, and both he and 
his wife were zealous in the work of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church. To them were born 
the following children: Edwin D., deceased; 
Albert W. ; Mary J., wife of Edwin Taylor, 
and A. W'., our subject. Mr. Hall died No- 
vember lo, 1 85 1, and his good wife followed 
him to the grave in March of the following 
year. 

In his youth A. W. Hall received the ad- 
vantages offered by the Oshkosh (Wis. ) city 
schools and an excellent select school. In re- 
sponse to his country's call, and while yet a 
mere lad, he enlisted in company F, Seventh 
Ohio volunteer infantry, the date of his en- 
listment being April 24, 1.S61. At the end of 
the three months he re- enlisted in the service, 
going out with company G, Twenty-ninth Ohio 
volunteer infantry, in which regiment he saw 
service in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Georgia and Alabama, and participated in 
some of the most important engagements of 
the war, among which were the battles of 
Winchester, Chancellorsville, Lookout Mount- 
ain, the Atlanta campaign and others of a 
notable character. At Chancellorsville he was 
struck by a bursting shell and fell to the earth 
stunned, and while lying thus he was made a 
prisoner and sent to Belle Isle, and thence to 
Libby prison. .\fter three months here he 
was paroled and sent to Annapolis, Md., where 
he remained another three months. While 
here he was detailed as commissary sergeant 
in the camp of the paroled prisoners, a very 
responsible position, the duties of which he 
faithfully performed. He later rejoined his 
regiment at Lookout Mountain, engaging in 
"the battle above the clouds. " He was in all 



the forty days' campaign and engagements at- 
tending the downfall of Atlanta, and continued 
on with Sherman's hosts to the sea. He re- 
ceived his honorable discharge in December, 
1865. Mr. Hall does not draw a pension. 

In March, 1869, Mr. Hall was united in 
marriage to Miss Helen J. Warren, who was 
born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1845, the 
daughter of \N'illiam H. and Phcebe (Proper) 
Warren, natives of New Hampshire. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Hall were born a son, Harry R., and 
a daughter, Eva A., the latter of whom lives- 
at home. Harry R. Hall is a young man of 
e.xceptional business and executive capacity, 
and possesses a well-trained mind, being a 
graduate iA the Cleveland high school and of 
the university at Columbus, Ohio, receiving 
his diploma from the latter institution in 1892. 
His excellent business ciualifications have been 
recognized in a flattering manner and he occu- 
pies the responsible position of general super- 
ntendent of the Carbon Iron & Steel compa- 
ny's works at Mauch Chunk, Pa., and seems 
to have a very promising future. 

A sad bereavement to this family was the 
death, on October 22, 1894, of the wife and 
mother. 

Mr. Hall has been in business at Mogadore 
for twenty years, and is one of the town's most 
influential and respected citizens. In addition 
to his business affairs here he is trustee for his 
late wife's estate, a valuable property of eighth- 
acres near Cleveland. He is one of the wheel 
horses of the republican party in this county, 
and has recei\'ed nominations for count) of- 
fices. He is a member of R. W. Hall post. 
No. 218, G. A. R., and was the first post 
commander. He is also a member of Apollo 
lodge. No. 61, I. O. O. I'"., and is ncnv trus- 
tee of Springfield township. Mr. Hall has 
been a resident of Mogadore for almost half a 
century, and his sterling integrity as a business 
and social light has made hini \'cry prominent. 



•->1>4 



PORTRAIT AND P^IOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



aURTIS A. HAT.I. springs from an old 
colonial lonnocticnt family of Scotch 
di-scont. tine of his ancestors, Ly- 
man Hall, was a signer of the decla- 
ration of independence, and the family were 
among the founders of Wallingford. Conn., 
where they lived for many years. 

Dr. .\ndrew C. Hall, grandfather of our 
subject, was born at W'allingford. Conn., mar- 
ried Lydia Cooke, who was a descendant of 
Francis Cooke, who came with the Pilgrims in 
the Mayflower in 1620. The children of Dr. 
Hall were .Andrew. P'ranklin B.. Alexander 
and Sarah. Dr. Hall was killed by an acci- 
dent, when a young man of thirty-tive years, 
at Wallingford. Conn. .Alexander Hall was 
born at Wallingford. lonn., 1809. He 
learned the trade of a tanner and first married, 
in Madison. Conn.. Matilda E. Wilcox. After 
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hall settled in Had- 
dam. Conn., where they lived a few years and 
then moved to Wallingford and thence to 
Waterbury, Conn., where he was engaged in 
the iron business; thence to Philadelphia. Pa., 
where he was engaged with his brother Frank- 
lin in the manufacturing of britannia ware. 
He was burned out at the time of the great 
fire in Philadelphia, and lost all the property 
he had. His wife died in New Haven. Conn., 
and Mr. Hall moved to Youngstown, Ohio, 
where he engaged in the drug business, and 
was afterwards in the foundry business. He 
came to Cuyahoga Falls in 1851. and moved, 
five years later, to Niles. Mich., where he kept 
hotel four years. He then returned to Cuya- 
hoga Falls, where he kept hotel four years, 
and died in December, 1S63. His children. 
by his first wife. were Sarah M. and Curtis A,, 
who lived to mature years. His second mar- 
riage was to Ann Douds, in Youngsfown, Ohio, 
and to this union was born one child -Anna 
W. Fraternally Mr. Hall was a Mason, and 
in religion was a member of the Congrega- 



tional church. He was a fine singer and led 
the choir in the Congregational church at Phil- 
adelphia for several years. He was a highly 
respected man. had many friends, and it was 
said, at the time of his death, that he had no 
enemies. 

Curtis .A. Hall, our subject, was born at 
; Haddam, Conn.. .August ii, 1838. He at- 
1 tended school in Philadelphia and the high 
i school at Youngstown, Ohio, and gained a very 
I fair education. He came to Cuyahoga Falls 
when he was fourteen years old, and when 
about eighteen went to Chicago, and worked 
I for a large oyster firm — afterwards for the 
I American Express company, and for an ice 
company, and was next in Michigan with his 
father at Niles for three years. In 1S61 he 
went to Chicago anil worked in a planing mill. 
June, 1862, he enlisted at Chicago in Capt. 
Judson Reed's company D, Sixty-seventh regi- 
' ment, Illinois volunteer infantry, to serve three 
months. He served four months, however, and 
was hcinorably discharged, as fifth corporal, at 
Chicago, in September. His services were at 
Chicago guarding prisoners, at Camp Doug- 
las, where 10,000 rebel prisoners were con- 
fined, and it required 450 soldiers to mount 
guard every evening; he also did guard duty at 
Johnson's Island. He was also sent to Vicks- 
burg. Miss., to make exchanges, and says that 
the prisoners were healthy and in good condi- 
tion, with good clothing, which had been fur- 
nished by the United States government. 
They were in far better condition than the 
L'nion soldiers when they were returned. 

Mr. Hall married, at Liverpool. Medina 
county. Ohio. July 20, 1864, Miss Catherine 
Mahle (born at Liverpool, Ohio, December i, 
1S43I, daughter of Gotleib and Catherine 
Mahle. Her parents were from \\'urtemberg. 
Germany, and were early settlers of Liver- 
pool, Ohio. Mr. Mahle was a farmer and died 
a joung man. His children were Frederick, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



295 



Gotleib, Catherine and Louisa, and the family 
were Lutherans in religion. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hall settled 
in Cuyahoga Falls and Mr. Hall conducted the 
hotel there a short time. He then worked in 
a still-house, later at the butcher business and 
in iron works at different places, including 
Akron, Pittsburg, and Erie, and has now been 
janitor of the public schools of Cuyahoga Falls 
for the past fifteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Hall 
are the parents of William C, Charles ("died 
aged four years), Laura M. and Fred C. Mr. 
Hall is a member of the G. A. R. , Eadie post, 
of Cuyahoga Falls, and has held the office of 
junior vice-commander. Fraternally he is a 
Mason, has been secretary of Starr lodge and a 
member thirty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Hall at- 
tend the Methodist church and assist liberally in 
its support. Mr. Hall is in politics a republican, 
and at present is a member of the town coun- 
cil. He is a much respected citizen, and has led 
an industrious and temperate life, has been 
thrifty, and now owns his residence and four 
building lots beside. 



a leading farmer 



>^ACKSON A. HALL 

m of Norton township, Summit count}', 
A I Ohio, was born in the neighborhood of 
his present place April ii, 1847, ^ son 
of John \V. and Annie (Newlin) Hall, natives, 
respectively, of Buffalo, N. Y., and of the state 
of Pennsylvania. 

John W. Hall learned the carpenters trade 
in his native city and came to Norton town- 
ship when a single man. He here bought a 
tract of fifty acres of timber land, which he 
cleared up and improved and converted into a 
comfortable home, but which he afterward dis- 
posed of to John Thomas. He married Miss 
Newlin in this township, and to this union 
have been born the fqllowing children: Cath- 
erine, who was first married to Levi Heun- 



cicker, and after his death to William Fink; 
Mary, who was first the wife of David Cole- 
man, but is now Mrs. Peter Hoovler; Mary, 
deceased; Jeremiah; Lydia, wife of Jonas Bit- 
ner; Levina, wife of Benjamin Snyder; Sarah, 
wife of David Grub; Harriet, deceased at 
eighteen years; Jackson A., our subject, and 
Jacob L. The father of this family is a .strict 
member of the Lutheran church, in which he 
is an elder, liberally aiding in building the first 
church of that denomination in his township. 
In politics he is a Jacksonian democrat, and a 
hardworking and much respected citizen. 

Jackson A. Hall remained on the home 
farm until fifteen years old, attending the dis- 
trict school in the meantime, and then was 
apprenticed for three years to Mann Snyder, 
wagon and carriagemaker, and this trade he 
followed fourteen years. In 1876 he pur- 
chased his preeent farm of 108.65 acre?, 
which he has highly improved with a substan- 
tial dwelling and barn and out-buildings to cor- 
respond, chiefly planned by himself, and has. 
altogether, one of the most delightful homes 
in the township, which has been earned by his 
own personal labor. In religion he is a Re- 
formed Lutheran, was for six years a deacon, 
and has always aided his church in a most lib- 
eral manner financially. In politics he is a 
sound democrat, has served as township trus- 
tee six years, and fraternally is a member of 
Wadsworth lodge. No. 385, F. cS: A. M. 

August I, 1867, Mr. Hall was united in 
marriage with Miss Elmira Kemmorrer, who 
was born in Northampton county. Pa. , March 
15, 1849, a daughter of Rudolph and Julia 
(Laubach) Kemmorrer. The father of Mrs. 
Hall, Rudolph Kemmorrer, was born in 
Northampton county. Pa., March 5, 1805. and 
his wife was a native of Lehigh count}-. Pa. In 
185 I they came to Norton township. Summit 
county, Ohio, and settled on a farm where they 
passed the remainder of their lives, the father 



>96 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



dying in April, 1893. He was a prominent 
man in the township, a pillar of the Reformed 
church, and in politics a stanch democrat. He 
and wife were parents of the following chil- 
dren: Sarah, deceased wife of Rufiis Myers; 
Aaron W. ; Emeline C, deceased; Joseph T. ; 
Da\id, deceased; Richard, and Elmira — the 
last named being Mrs. Hall. The paternal 
grandfather of Mrs. Hall was David Kemmor- 
rer, a substantial farmer of Northampton 
-county, Pa., a member of the German Re- 
formed church, and a democrat, and he, in 
turn, was a son of David, a native of Hobo- 
ken, Germany. The marriage of Mr. and 
Mrs. Hall has been blessed with two children, 
viz: Ada ]., who died August 16, 1886, and 
Ellsworth. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are highly re- 
spected b\' the people of Norton township, 
and certainly a more worthy couple does not 
live within its limits. 



I 



V-T-'OSEPH W. HALL, one of the oldest 
M and most experienced farmers of Brim- 
/• 1 field township, Portage county, Ohio, 
is native here and was born June 11, 
1829, a son of Jacob and Lydia (Osborn) 
Hall. 

Jacob Hall, father of Joseph W., was 
born in England and came to America in 181 2, 
<luring the war with Great Britain, and was 
made a prisoner by the American officials, who 
intended to return him to his native land, but he 
made his escape and finally settled in Portage 
county, Ohio, and engaged in farming. To 
his marriage with Miss Osborn were born 
eight children, of whom three survive, viz: 
Elizabeth F. , widow of Anthony Swartwout; 
Emerette, widow of Joseph Mack, and Joseph 
W. , the subject of this biography. The de- 
ceased were named Hannah; Lewis, who died 
in September, 1866, at the age of thirty- 
three years; Elias A., who was a member of 



the Seventh regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, 
and was killeql in the first battle of Winches- 
ter, Va. , in 1863, at the age of thirty-five 
years; Rossetta, wife of Adolphus Swartwout, 
and Thomas. The mother of these children 
was called from earth March 9, 1856, when 
sixty-five years old, and the father passed 
away, at the age of seventy-seven years, July 
8, 1858. 

Joseph W. Hall was reared on his father's 
farm and received such education as could be 
obtained in the primitive schools of his early 
boyhood. At the age of twenty-two years he 
began farming on his own account, and the 
following year was first married, November 
2, 1852, to Miss L. Lamphare, daughter of 
Abner H. and Sophia (Moulton) Lamphare, 
to which union no children were born. Mrs. 
Hall departed this life December 5, 1866, at 
the age of forty-three years, and the second 
marriage of Mr. Hall took place October 20, 
1868, to Miss Catherine Burdge, daughter of 
Moses and Elizabeth Burdge. 

In politics Mr. Hall is a democrat and has 
been active in his work for the advancement 
his party's interest, ha\ing also been honored 
by the same through election to several offices. 
At the early age of twenty-one he was elected 
constable and served one year; in 1859, he 
was elected trustee of Brimfield township, 
served two years, and was re-elected; in 1868 
he was elected township assessor, and twice 
re-elected, serving in this office, in all, three 
years. He has been a successful farmer, and 
he and his wife are among the most respected 
of the residents of Brimfield township. 



^V^ETER HAMMEL, founder and pro- 
Ik W P'ietor of Hammel's Business college, 
J Akron, Ohio, was born in Saint Clair 

county, 111., December 29, 1853, a 

son of Christian and Eustine (Schwinn) Ham- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



297 



luel. both now deceased. These parents were 
born near Baden, Germany, and were single 
when brought to this country by the parents 
with their respective families. The father of 
subject, who was a farmer, died in 1856, leav- 
ing his widow with seven children, viz: Jacob, 
a farmer of Belleville, 111. ; Margaret, wife of 
Adam Keck, of Saint Clair county, 111. ; Mary, 
wife of Henry Walkerling, of Donaldson, 
Montgomery county. 111. ; Caroline, wife of 
Philip Schumacher, of Saint Louis, Mo. ; 
Christian R. ; a child that died young, and 
Peter, the subject. The mother of this family 
died February, 1876. 

Peter Hammel was reared on a farm, but 
was early apprenticed to a machinist in Saint 
Louis, Mo. , and afterward attended Bryant & 
Stratton's business college of that city, and 
after his graduation was retained as a teacher 
for eighteen months; he then attended the 
Spencerian commercial college of Cleveland, 
Ohio. Thence he went to Cincinnati, and for 
two years was a teacher in the commercial 
department of the Nelson business college; he 
then became bookkeeper for the Cincinnati 
Coffin company; then for the Mosler & l^augh- 
man Safe & Lock company; later, for the 
W. E. Dibble & Co. book publishing company, 
all of Cincinnati. In 1881 Mr. Hammel came 
to Akron and purchased a half-interest in the 
Akron business college, and, associated with 
O. S. Warmer, carried on this institution for 
six months, when the co-partnership was dis- 
solved. Mr. Hammel then established the 
now well-known Hammel's business college, 
which he has since conducted with so unpar- 
alleled success and made one of the leading 
institutions of the kind in the state of Ohio. 
Here he gives thorough instruction, assisted 
by a competent corps of professors, in all 
branches pertaining to a business carriculum 
and for placing the student in a condition to 
be able to accept any position in the business 



world. The line of tuition maj- briefly be 
summarized as follows: Business arithmetic, 
practical penmanship, practical letter writing, 
commercial law, short hand, type writing, 
banking, commission, transportation, etc. Day 
and night sessions are held the year round. 
The college is located in the new Wilcox 
building, Nos. 228, 230 and 232 South Main 
street, and contains every modern improve- 
ment. 

Mr. Hammel was first married, in Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, in 1S80, to Miss Mary Gunn, the 
union resulting in the birth of four children, 
viz: Hattie, Helen, Bessie and Jennette. Mrs. 
Hammel died, a member of the Episcopal 
church, in 1893. The second marriage of Mr. 
Hammel took place in June, 1896, to Miss 
Julia E. Hitchcock, of Greentown, Stark 
county, Ohio. 

Mr. Hammel is an active republican and is 
one of the most progressi\e }oung residents 
of Akron, esteemed most highly by all who 
know him. 



vy^ ENJAMIN HARDING, of the firm of 
■ (''^ Harding cS: Wright, wholesale butch- 
g^^^^J' ers and packers of Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Somersetshire, 
England, March 4, 1844, a son of Samuel and 
Louisa (Newman) Harding, and in February, 
1854, was brought to America by his parents, 
who landed in New York city, whence they 
went to Rochester, N. Y. , where they lived 
three months, and then moved to Kent, Ohio, 
at that time a mere village. Here he attended 
school one term, adding to the information he 
had already acquired at the school in his na- 
tive village, and then learned butchering under 
his father's instruction. For three years he 
was employed in varied lines of business in 
Fostoria, Ohio, but since then has devoted his 
entire attention to slaughtering of cattle and 



2V)8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the packing of meats. His plant is located 
about a mile and a half east of Kent, on the 
Ravenna road, and it is the largest establish- 
ment of its kind in Portage county. Mr. 
Harding is the only butcher within the limits 
of the county who cures meats all the year 
round, summer included, and has achieved a 
well-grounded reputation of handling the best 
meats only, and for his skill in preserving 
them. 

March 12, 1866, Mr. Harding was united 
in marriage, in Franklin township, with Miss 
Elmira Fosnight, a native of Schuylkill county. 
Pa. , the result of the union being two children, 
viz: Rhoda A., wife of Frederick T. Wright, 
and Benj. F. , who died March 14, 1877, at 
the age of three years, two months and twenty 
days. Fraternally, Mr. Harding is a Knight 
of Pythias, in which order he has filled every 
office, and in religion he affiliates with the 
church of the Disciples, with which he united 
in Kent, when a young man, and in which he 
has filled the positions of deacon and trustee 
for the past two years, and has been an elder, 
and is also superintendent of the Sunday- 
school. 

William Harding, paternal grandfather of 
Benjamin Harding, was a sturdy farmer in 
England, and reared a family of eight chil- 
dren, viz: William, Benjamin, Samuel, Jane 
(wife of M. Alexander), Louisa, Caroline, Ann 
and Rhoda. Samuel Harding, father of Ben- 
jamin, the subject, was born April 12, 1817, 
was a butcher by trade, and for one year was 
a constable in England. He married, July 10, 
1842, Miss Louisa Newman, who was born 
July 17, 1824, a daughter of James and Jo- 
hanna (Heise) Newman, to which marriage 
were born four children, of whom Benjamin, 
the subject of this sketch, is the sole survi\'or; 
Louisa and Ann died in early childhood, and 
an infant died unnamed. The father of this 
family died November 28, 1S59, at forty-one 



years of age, a member of the Episcopal church 
and the owner of a nice property: his widow 
has attained the age of seventy-four and makes 
her home with the subject. 

James Newman, maternal grandfather of 
Benjamin Harding, the subject, also a native 
of England, was a carpenter by trade, and 
was also for many years director of the poor 
and overseer of the poorhouse, as well as 
school-teacher for a term of years. To his 
marriage with Johanna Heise were born five 
children, of whom two are still living, viz: 
Louisa, mother of subject, and Thomas G., a 
resident of San Francisco, Cal. The deceased 
were Alfred, who died on the Rock of Gibral- 
ter; Henry, a Methodist minister, died in Eng- 
land, and George C. died of yellow fe\er on 
the coast of Florida. James Newman, the 
father of this family, died in England in 
1844, at the age of forty-one years, a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church, and subsequently 
his widow came to Portage county, Ohio, and 
made her home with the subject, Benjamin 
Harding, until her death, which occurred Oc- 
tober 6, 1886, at the age of eighty-six years, 
in the Methodist faith. 

Mrs. Elmira (Fosnight) Harding was born 
January 3, 1843, a daughter of John and 
Sarah C. (Faust) Fosnight. Her father had 
been employed in various capacities in Penn- 
sylvania, such as mining and farming, and for 
a time was lock-tender on the canal in Schuyl- 
kill county, and also a canal-boatman. In 
1859 became to Ohio and engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits in Stark county, but subse- 
quently came to Portage county. To his mar- 
riage with Miss Faust, which took place in 
Schuylkill county. Pa. , were born twelve chil- 
dren; four of whom are still living, viz: El- 
mira (Mrs. Harding), Simon G., Hiram and 
Laura (wife of Mirven Corl.) Five of those 
who have passed away were named John, Ed- 
win, Kate, Abraham, Delilah, and three died 



i 




y/^/(^^^ MA 




^^■'■'i:: Ci-^^',l 



FAIR OAKS VILLA, 



CUYAHOGA FALLS. OHIO 



CONDUCTED BY 

A. B. HOWARD M. D. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



303 



in infancy. The death of the father took 
place in Portage county in April, 1883, at the 
age of sixty-seven years, and that of the 
widow occurred June 27, 1894, when she was 
seventy-five years old. Both had long been 
consistent members of the Evangelical church. 



HDAMS B. L. HOWARD, M. D., a 
leading physician of Summit county, 
Ohio, and proprietor of the Fair Oaks 
Villa, at Cuyahoga F"alls, an institu- 
tion founded in 1894, for the treatment of 
patients afflicted with mental or nervous dis- 
orders, was born in Boston, Mass., January 7, 
i860. He received his medical education at 
the Wooster Medical university of Cleveland, 
Ohio, from which he graduated in 1891, and at 
once commenced practice in that city, but was 
soon appointed, by the Ohio state board of in- 
sane, as third assistant physician of the state 
hospital for the insane at Cleveland, with 
which institution he held connection for two 
years, and during this period was successively 
promoted to second and first assistant physi- 
cian, in recognition of his superior merit and 
skill. 

In the winter of 1893-94 Dr. Howard 
came to Cuyahoga Falls and purchased the 
elegant brown stone villa known as Fair Oaks, 
originally erected and occupied by the wealthy 
Newberry family, and converted it into a san- 
itarium for the treatment of mental disorders — 
the interior of the house being large and well 
adapted for the purpose, with all the modern 
improvements, including steam heat, electric 
light, baths, etc. It is to all intents and pur- 
poses a "Family Home," where everything is 
made as homelike as possible — intelligent men 
and women being employed as attendants and 
companions for the patients. 

The feeling of social degradation that is 
commonly felt by patients in retreats and pub- 



lic institutions is not experienced here. The 
utmost possible liberty is permitted under suit- 
able guardianship to all the patients, and each 
one is regarded and treated as a member of a 
private family. Each case receives the atten- 
tion and study given to private practice, and 
when needed the ablest medical talent in the 
country is called into consultation. The 
drives in the vicinity are considered delightful, 
and for healthfulness of location Fair Oaks is 
unsurpassed. The walks are well shaded and 
secluded. Silver Lake, a beautiful sunmier re- 
sort, is less than two miles distant, and Brady's 
Lake about five miles. A conveyance is kept 
for the pleasure and use of the patients, and 
no pains are spared in affording each patient 
all the happiness and recreation possible. 
One excellent feature to be considered by 
all is the limited number of patients, not 
more than fifteen being cared for at any time. 

Dr. Howard has been remarkably success- 
ful in his specialty, and, being advanced in his 
views on mental ailments and experienced in 
their treatment, he contemplates making fur- 
ther improvement at Fair Oaks by the erection 
of isolated colleges at pleasant spots in its 
grounds, in which the inmates will have every 
home comfort and each individual be treated 
in quiet .and seclusion, as his judgment may 
select. The entire establishment marks an 
age of progress, and it is gratifying to see that 
persons suffering from mental and nervous 
disorders can find a home in this humane insti- 
tution and be treated in a kind and rational 
manner and restored to health at a moderate 
cost. 

Fraternally, Dr. Howard is a member of 
Cuyahoga Falls lodge, F. & A. M., No. 117, 
Washington chapter of Akron, and Akron 
commandery, and also of the Cleveland Med- 
ical society and of the American Psychological 
society. He is a consistent member of the 
Baptist church, and is esteemed wherever 



30-t 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



known for his philanthropic and trul}' humane 
impulses, as well as for his more than ordinary 
degree of professional skill. 



aHARLES R. HAMMOND, of the 
tirni of Hammond Brothers, breeders 
of and dealers in live stock, with their 
farm in the southwest part of Copley 
township, Summit county, Ohio, was born in 
this township September 27, i860. 

James Hammond, father of Charles R. , 
was a native of Yorkshire, England, was born 
April 6, 181 I, and was a son of Thomas and 
Ann (Barton) Hammond, to whom were born 
the following-named children: Mary, George, 
Joseph, John, Edward, Elizabeth, James, 
Thomas and Charles. Of these, James was 
married, June 30, 1838, to Miss Elizabeth 
Spensley, who was born October 4, 18 19, a 
daughter of James and Nancy Spensley, who 
reared a family of nine children, viz: Ann, 
Thomas S., George, James E., William A., 
Elizabeth, Frank P., Charles R. and Alice D. 
In 1848 James Hammond came to the United 
States, landing in New York June 20, with $26 
in his pocket and his wife and five children to 
care for. He found his way to Sharon, Medina 
county, Ohio, where he worked a year in a 
paint-mill, and then came to Western Star, 
Summit county, and was the first milk peddler 
in the village; thence moved to the village of 
Akron and was employed at dri\ing a milk- 
wagon until 1854, when he came to Copley 
township and purchased a small farm, on which 
he lived live years and then sold, and pur- 
chased a larger place in the southern part of 
the township, and here, by hard work and good 
management, secured a competency. Although 
he had not attended school after his fourteenth 
year, he became quite well informed, and in 
1868 was elected president of the Summit 
c nnty Agricultural society, and on his retire- 



ment from the office, six years later, was pre- 
sented by the members of the society with a 
gold watch and chain in recognition of his 
services. He was a very popular and public- 
spirited gentleman, and although frequently 
solicited to accept public positions, would never 
accept anything higher than township offices, 
several of which he filled with great credit to 
himself. His death took place in August, 1 88 1 , 
and no more respected citizen ever lived in 
Copley township. 

Charles R. Hammond remained with his 
father until the death of the latter, when he 
and his brother, Frank P., purchased their 
present stock farm, which comprises 326 acres 
of fine land, 180 acres of which were bought 
fnim the other heirs to the Hammond estate. 
In 1S90, Charles R. Hammond, who had re- 
ceived a very fair education in the Copley 
schools, entered the ' Toronto (Canada) Vet- 
erinar\' college, studied there one year, and 
then entered the National Veterinary college 
at Washington, D. C. , from which he grad- 
uated March iQ, 1893, being thus fully prepared 
for conducting his present business. Frater- 
nally, he is a charter member of tent No. 204, 
K. O. T. M., of Copley. 

Frank P. Hammond, an elder brother of 
Charles R. , and his business partner, was 
born in Copley township April 15, 1857, ^^- 
quired his education in the Copley district and 
high schools, and has been a farmer and stock 
raiser all his life. September 23, 1884, he 
married Miss Florence Bodine, who was born 
February 8, 1862, a daughter of Samuel and 
Mary (Taylor) Bodine. The father was born 
in W'ayne county, Ohio, May i, 1827, and the 
mother, a native of England, was born Jan- 
uar\' 13, 1830, and came with her parents to 
the United States at the age of thirteen years. 
They were married March 28, 1850, and had 
born to them the following children: Maud, 
August 4, 1852, now the wife of S. A. Boroes, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



305 



an attorney of California: Rollin, April i. 1856, 
and now a resident of Canton, Ohio; Flor- 
ence, the wife of Mr. Hammond; Sadie, wife 
of Sherman Tobes, of .\shtabula county. May 
2<S, 1864, and one child that died in infancy. 
The father, who wa.s a farmer, died July 31, 
188S, and the mother, January 18, 1894, both 
expiring at the home of the Hammond broth- 
ers. The marriage of Frank P. Hammond 
has been blessed with two children, viz: Her- 
bert, born March 6, 1886, and James G., born 
December 23, 1889. 

The Hammond Bros, conduct a very pros- 
perous business, are well known over a large 
e.xpanse of territory, and hold about three 
public stock sales per year, which are attended 
by buyers from many states. The brothers 
are greatly respected for their integrity and 
fair dealing, and are liberal in their support of 
every project designed for the promotion of 
public prosperity. 



<>^ OBERT J. HARPER is a native of 

I /^ the Buckeye state and was born in 

M . r Trumbull, Ashtabula county, June 

13, 1875, his parents being Robert 

D. and Theressa (Wintersteene) Harper, also 

natives of Ohio. 

When a mere boy, Robert J. Harper was 
taken by his parents to Cleveland, where he 
received his preliminary education in the pub- 
lic schools; he later attended the Spencerian 
Business college, from which he was gradu- 
ated in i89r, and then went to Chargin Falls, 
and for two years was employed by S. M. 
Armour as clerk, for which position his educa- 
tion had fully qualified him. At the conclu- 
sion of his faithful term of valuable service 
with Mr. .\rmour, Mr. Harper came to Ra- 
venna and here accepted a clerkship in the 
extensive grocery house of J. S. Smith & 



Sons, with whom he remained a little more 
than two years, when he returned to Cleve- 
land, where he was proffered, and accepted, a 
situation in the large clothing establishment 
of J. L. Hudson & Co., in the Wilshire block, 
on Superior street. With this firm he re- 
mained until the spring of 1896, when he 
caine back to Ravenna, and in April of the 
same year rented the spacious storeroom at 
No. 124 Chestnut street, opposite the court 
house, and opened an elegant billiard parlor. 

Mr. Harper is a member of the Methodist 
church, and his father, who is also a resident 
of Ravenna, affiliates with the Odd Fellows' 
lodge of the city. In politics Mr. Harper has 
always been a republican. Still young in 
years, Robert J. Harper has shown himself to 
be a shrewd business man, and his energy and 
keen perception of the affairs of life well en- 
title tiim to the high esteem in which he is 
held 

June I, 1897, he sold out his business and 
since then has been in the emplo}' of the A. 
C. Williams' iron works. Mr. Harper was 
married June 9, 1897, to Nina G. Bean. 



@EORGE W. HART, a retired farmer 
of Stowe township. Summit county, 
Ohio, and a respected citizen, is a 
descendant from an old colonial fam- 
ily of New England. 

Rufus Hart, grandfather of George W. 
Hart, was born in Litchfield county, Conn., 
and moved to Batavia, Genesee county. N. Y., 
at an early day. He was a major in the war 
of 181 2, but ranked as lieutenant at the bat- 
tles of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and the 
burning of Buffalo. He was a farmer, came 
to Summit county, Ohio, in 1815, and pur- 
chased a farm one mile south of Akron, which 
he cleared up from the woods. Maj. Hart 



306 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



had a good farm of 312 acres. In old age he 
retired on his farm, where he died at about 
the ape of eighty years, a member of the Uni- 
versahst church and the father of the follow- 
ing children: Clarissa, John C. , Lucretia, 
Lucinda and Edward. 

John C. Hart, father of George W. Hart, 
the subject, was born April 17, 1798, at 
Cornwall, Litchfield county. Conn. He was 
at the blowing up of the fort at Buffalo, in 
1 8 12, at the age of fourteen years, and was 
engaged in carrying news from one point to 
another. He enlisted when but fourteen or 
fifteen years old in the cavalry service, and 
was with his father at Newark, Fort George, 
and other contested points. On the evacu- 
ation of Fort George he suffered great hard- 
ships, as they had no tents, no blankets, nor 
clothing, and slept on the ground. He was at 
Black Rock, and was employed as a bearer of 
dispatches, when the British attacked Fort 
Erie in 18 14. He came to Ohio in May, 181 5, 
with his father, and when they located in Mid- 
dlebury, East Akron, there were but three or 
four log houses in what is now a thriving city. 
When he was but twenty-one years old he went 
south for employment, and traveled on foot to 
Steubensville, Ohio, floated down the Ohio 
river on a raft, which lodged on an island, and 
made his way as best he could to Cincinnati, 
where he bought a skiff and paddled his way 
to Shawneetown, but, not finding employment, 
he boarded his skiff and went to St. Louis, 
and there worked in a mill two months and 
then in a brick yard, but, being taken sick 
with fever and ague, returned home the fol- 
lowing year, and purchased fifty acres of land 
south of Middlebury, built a house and barn, 
and cleared his land, and married, February 
12, 1 83 1, Margaret A. Sterling (born Decem- 
ber II, 181 1), a daughter of John Sterling. 
They had six children: George \V., John S., 
Charles S., Elizabeth, Fannie, and Hiram J. 



Mrs. Hart died May 17, 1863, and Mr. Hart 
next married Mrs. Mary Sterling — a widow, 
whose maiden name was Tod. 

Mr. Hart prospered and bought more land, 
until he owned over 300 acres, and for manj- 
years owned and managed three difierent ho- 
tels at Akron and Middlebury, and was also a 
large mail contractor, and at his death left a 
large estate. He was a colonel in the old state 
militia, and was very highly respected among 
the pioneers, and his advice was much sought 
after. He died August 20, 1880, aged eighty- 
two years, four months and three days. 

George W. Hart, whose name opens this 
memoir, was born July 12, 1832, in East Ak- 
ron, Ohio, and received a common education. 
He married, August 18, 1853, in .\kron, Han- 
nah Anna Beardsley, who was born July 18, 
1832, a daughter of Talmon and Temperance 
(Spicer) Beardsley. Talmon Beardsley was 
born December 15, 1799, at Delhi, Delaware 
county, N. Y., a son of Daniel and Hannah 
(Bailey) Beardsley. Daniel Beardsley was 
born in Connecticut, of Welsh descent; first 
settled at Delhi, N. Y., and then came to 
Ohio, when an old man, settled in Licking 
county, but died at Akron, a member of the 
Methodist church. Talmon Beardsley came 
with his parents to Licking county, Ohio, and 
assisted his father to clear up his farm from 
the woods. He received a good education 
and walked to Middlebury, Summit county, 
the summer of 1818, and found employment 
in the old Cuyahoga furnace, owned by Lodd 
& Norton. In 18 19 he entered the employ of 
Henry Chittendon, a well-known business man, 
being a hotel keeper, farmer and canal con- 
tractor, and worked for him fourteen years. 
October 27, 183 1, he married Temperance 
Spicer, fourth daughter of Maj. Minor Spicer. 
and settled on seventy-five acres of land in 
Middlebury. This land he sold in 1833, and 
bought 100 acres in Coventr}' township, and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



307 



which is now a part of Akron. Here he Hved 
until 1864, when he retired to Akron. His 
children were Hannah Anna, Emily (died aged 
twenty-onej, Mills H.. Avery S., Harriet D. 
and Louisa J. He held the office of township 
clerk, was justice of the peace about twenty 
vears and tried many cases, and was a well 
informed and very intelligent man. His death 
took place at the ad\anced age of ninety-two 
years. 

Maj. Minor Spicer was born at Groton, 
Conn., May 29, 1776, and there married Cyn- 
thia Allen in 179S, came on horseback to Ohio 
in 1 8 10, and bought 200 acres, where Akron 
and Buchtel college now stand. In J une, 1 8 1 1 , 
he sent for his family, who came by ox-teams, 
accompanied by Capt. Amos Spicer and Paul 
Williams. They arrived in 181 1, being the 
first actual settlers of Portage township. He 
built a small log cabin forty rods southeast of 
Spicer and Carroll streets, was one of the or- 
ganizers of the township, and a typical pio- 
neer, and was a justice of the peace many years. 
In the war of 1812 he \\as a major of the state 
militia. He was an active an honored citizen. 
His wife died aged fifty years, and he died 
September 11, 1855, aged seventy-eight years, 
three months and three days. After marriage 
Mr. and Mrs. George \V. Hart settled in Stowe 
township on 140 acres, partly cleared. They 
now have a fine farm — a famous summer re- 
sort, as it includes Crystal lake, a beautiful 
body of water, where they have a cottage for 
a summer residence. This property adjoins 
Randolph park. To Mr. and Mrs. Hart have 
been born the following children: Frederick 
C, Elizabeth, deceased at fi\e years, Emma 
F., Georgianna, died at twelve years, Clarissa, 
and Maggie M. (died aged three months). 
Clarissa Hart was married September 4, 1883, 
to l-ieuben D. Morgan, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
and to this marriage ha\e been born Anna 
Eouisa, June 24, 1884, and Lewis, October 



24, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are members of 
the Episcopal church, in which Mr. Hart holds 
the office of vestryman. In politics he is a re- 
publican and has served as street commissioner 
twelve years. 

In 1882 Mr. Hart removed to Cuyahoga 
Falls, bought a pleasant residence property on 
Newberry street, and is now retired. He is a 
member of Starr lodge, F. & A. M., Cuyahoga 
Falls, and belongs to a Masonic family — his 
father and paternal grandfather having both 
been Masons and likewise Mrs. Hart's grand- 
father. Maj. Spicer, was a gentleman of the 
old school — a man of great dignity of charac- 
ter and of fine appearance. 

Hiram [. Hart, brother of subject, was a 
soldier in the Civil war, company A, Nine- 
teenth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, in 
which he had enlisted for three years' service, 
and died from typhoid fever. He was the sec- 
ond man to enlist from Akron. He was in 
several battles, among which were Rich Mount- 
ain and Vicksburg. 



* m rf ENRY A. HAUSMAN, the genial, 
■'''^V popular and successful hardware 
I P merchant, of Clinton, Summit county, 
Ohio, was born on his father's farm 
in Franklin township, this county, July 19, 1840. 
Henry Hausman, grandfather of subject, was 
born in Pennsylvania, of German parentage, 
was married in his native state to Elizabeth 
Mussen, a daughter of Philip and Catherine 
(Shuck) Mussen, in 1838 came to Ohio, and 
settled in Franklin township. Summit county. 
He was a charter member of the first Lutheran 
church at Doylestown, Wayne county, and in 
Summit county reared the following named 
children: John, Catherine, Christina, Jacob, 
Philip, Michael, Sarah, Annie, George, Mag- 
dalene, Andrew and Jonas, Of these, the 
fourth enumerated, Jacob, was the father of the 



308 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



subject, was born in Franklin township, and 
married Catherine Brougher, about 1838. 

Henry A. Hausman Hved on the home 
farm until twenty years of age, receiving in the 
meanwhile a good common-school education, 
and then for a few years clerked in a store in 
Manchester. For the next ten years he car- 
ried on business on his own account, and in 
1870 was appointed superintendent of the 
Franklin Coal Mine company, which position 
he filled very satisfactorily several years, or 
until 1875, since when he has been engaged in 
his present business in Clinton, carr3'ing an ex- 
tensive and well selected stock of general 
hardware. 

In 1862, Mr. Hausman was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Margaret Sisler, of Manches- 
ter, of whom further mention is made in the 
biographies of Dr. Adam and John Sisler, on 
another page, and to this marriage two chil- 
dren have been born — Nellie and Fannie. 
Mrs. Hausman was in her early womanhood a 
successful school-teacher, and, indeed, Mr. 
Hausman has himself had some experience in 
this vocation. In politics, Mr. Hausman is a 
stanch republican, and as a business man he is 
progressive, obliging, and fully abreast of the 
times, and most liberal in his ideas, as well as 
his actions. 



<>^HILIP HAWK, a successful farmer 

I, M of Suffield township. Portage county, 

J Ohio, is a native of the county, was 

born October 2, 1840, and is the son 

of Philip and Leona (Dock) Hawk, the father 

now deceased. 

The parents of Mr. Hawk were natives of 
Germany, the father having been born in 
Alsace January i, 181 5. He came to .America 
with his parents about 1835 and settled in 
Portage county, and here met his country- 
woman, Leona Dock, daughter of Frederic 



Dock, whom he married. To this union were 
born four children — Daniel, Philip, Frederick 
and Lewis. After farming in Suffield township 
fourteen years, Mr. Hawk removed to Spring- 
field township. Summit county, where he fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits until his death, 
which occurred .\ugust 13, 1895, '" the faith 
of the German Reformed church, at the age 
of seventy-nine years and five months. His 
widow, now hale and hearty, at the age of 
seventy-two years, still resides on the home- 
stead in Summit county. 

Philip Hawk, the grandfather of subject, 
was one of the earliest settlers of Portage 
county, followed farming all his life, and 
reared a faniilj' of five children, of whom two 
are still li\ing — Daniel and Michael; the three 
deceased were named Abbie, Kate and Philip 
(father of subject). Frederick Dock, the ma- 
ternal grandfather of subject, was also a na- 
tive of Germany, and on coming to America 
lived a few years in Portage county, as a 
farmer, and then moved to Indiana, where he 
and his wife passed the remainder of their 
days. 

Philip Hawk, the subject of this biograph- 
ical notice, was reared to farming on his 
father's homestead and attended the public 
schools. At the age of twenty-fi\e years he 
began farming on his own account in Spring- 
field township, Summit county, but four years 
later removed to Talhnadge township, where he 
followed the same vocation for six years. In 
1885, Mr. Hawk bought his present farm in 
Suffield township from John Pero, and in the 
spring of the same year took possession, and 
this has ever since been his home. 

The marriage of Mr. Hawk was solenmized 
in Stark county, Ohio, February 14, 1875, 
with Miss Elvina Ginder, who w'as born April 
27, 1840, a daughter of Adam and Margaret 
(Keller) Ginder, and this union has been 
blessed with four children — Mary, Frederick, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



3U9 



Maggie and Albert — all still under the parent- 
al roof. Adam Cinder and wife were both 
born in Cermany, and now live in Stark 
county; they have had born to them ten chil- 
dren, of whom four still survive, viz: Elvina 
(now Mrs. Hawk), Mary, Adam and Caroline 
(wife of Albert Moore). 

Mr. and Mrs. Hawk are members of the 
Reformed church and have fully lived up to 
its teaching;s, and in this faith they have 
reared their family. In politics, Mr. Hawk 
has given his allegiance to the republican 
party, and although never desirous of public 
office, has yet consented to serve his fellow- 
citizens as a school director a;nd as supervisor 
of his township. He has always been an in- 
dustrious husbandman and an excellent man- 
ager, and has one of the best-improved farms 
in Suifleld township, where he and his family 
enjoy the respect of a large circle of friends 
and ac(]uaintances. 



eUCENE A, HAWKINS, a well-known 
agriculturist of Copley township. 
Summit county, Ohio, is a native of 
this township and was born June 28, 
1854. His grandparents, George and Ann 
Hawkins, came to the township in 18 14 from 
Vermont, and were among its earliest pioneers, 
and here the grandfather entered a farm, of 
which he cleared up 100 acres, and here reared 
a family of four children — Madison, Joseph, 
Andrew and George W. He at one time con- 
tracted to do some work on the canal then in 
course of construction, and while thus em- 
ployed was taken sick and died in 1825. 

George Washington Hawkins, father of 
Eugene A., was the first white child born in 
Copley township, the date being December 
29, 1S15. At the age of fourteen years, four 
vears after the death of his father, he was 



placed in charge of the home farm, which 
comprised 100 acres, and which he managed 
until 1834, when his mother was married to 
Samuel Hawkins, a relative of her first hus- 
band, and this gentleman bought out the in- 
terest of the heirs. In January, i S40, George 
W. Hawkins married Miss Matilda Hubbard, 
who was born in Batavia, N. Y., No\ember 
5, 1818, a daughter of Reuben Hubbard, and 
to this union were born five children, viz: 
Adelia, born June 4, 1845, died in infancy; 
Eliza, born June 4, 1845, was married to W. 
Miller, and died November 13, 1871; Alice, 
born September 14, 1847, is the wife of Dr. 
Huntley, of North Bloomfield, Ohio; George 
W., born September 2, 1851, died Novem- 
ber 30, 1876, and Eugene A., the subject, 
whose natal day is given above. Five \ears 
after his marriage, George W. Hawkins set- 
tled on a tract of forty acres he had purchased 
in 1844, improved his farm with comfortable 
buildings and placed it under a good state of 
cultivation. Here Mrs. Hawkins was called 
to her final repose, December 5, 1S86, dying 
a Methodist in religion, and January 5, 1891, 
Mr. Hawkins married Louisa .\verill. Mr. 
Hawkins was an active democrat, held se\- 
eral township offices, was public-spirited and 
generous, and died an honored man, May 2 1 , 
1896. 

Eugene A. Hawkins has lived in Copley 
township all his life, and received his educa- 
tion in the district schools. January 1, 187S, 
he married Miss Juvie Colson, who was born 
February 24, 1858, a daughter of Oren and 
Vilucia (Clark) Colson, natives, respectively, 
of New York and Connecticut, and this mar- 
riage has been blessed with three childnn, 
viz: Jessie, born December 3, 1879; Mabel, 
January 17, 1882, and Ruth, .\pril 28, 1887. 
The two girls, Jessie and Mabel, are students 
at the Copley high school, and Jessie will 
graduate in the class of 1 899. 



310 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins have a beautiful 
home in Cople\' township, about nine miles 
from Akron. Their farm is well cultivated. 
At his marriage Mr. Hawkins purchased the 
old homestead, on which he has made numer- 
ous improvements. In politics Mr. Hawkins 
is a stanch republican and cast his first pres- 
idential vote for R. B. Haj'es, and for several 
, \'ears has been a member of the school board. 
He and wife are members of the East Granger 
Disciples' church and socially they stand 
among the leading citizens of Copley township. 

Mrs. Hawkins father was a native of 
Connecticut, and was educated in the common 
schools, and learned the trade of a harness- 
maker and saddler. He emigrated to Ohio 
and died in 1878. The mother was a native 
of New York, and she is also deceased, dying 
in I 894. There were five children in the fam- 
ily. The eldest is Mrs. Hawkins; Lora is the 
wife of Fred Miller; Estelle is the widow of 
Dwight Moody, of Medina county; Homer is 
a resident of Summit county, and is married; 
Henry died in Michigan. 

Mrs. Hawkins was educated in the com- 
mon schools. Mrs. Hawkins has for years 
been connected with the \V. C. T. U., and has 
been an ardent supporter of all true temper- 
ance works. 



aHARLES J. HAZEN, real estate and 
loan agent. No. 120 South Main 
street, Akron, Ohio, was born in 
Sharon, Medina county, November 
4, 1866, a son of Henry J. and Emma (Lyon) 
Hazen, of Elnglish and German descent re- 
spectively. The father is the son of a farmer 
and is himself a merchant, and to him and 
wife have been born two children — Charles 
J., and Nettie, the wife of C. Coddingham, of 
Sharon, Ohio. 

Charles J. Hazen was reared and educated 



in his native town and learned the butcher 
business under his father. For eight years 
the subject was a professional base-ball play- 
er, beginning with the year i888, and in this 
athletic pursuit made for himself a high repu- 
tation as third baseman and as an officer, as 
will be found in the following brief record of 
his career in this, the national game: His 
first engagement was with the Topeka, Kans. , 
team for one season; his ne.xt was with the 
Hutchison, Kans., club; in 1890 he became a 
member of the Akron, Ohio, team; in 1891 he 
joined the Jamestown, N. Y., team; in 1892 he 
was a member of the Mobile, Ala., team; in 
1893 he was with the Akron, Ohio, and Johns- 
town, Pa., teams; in 1894, with the Hazelton, 
Pa., team; in 1895, was with the Fort Wayne, 
Ind., and Columbus, Ohio, teams, and in 1896 
managed the Youngstown, Ohio, team until 
August. During these various engagements 
he was manager of the Akron and Youngstown 
clubs during his connection with them, and 
captain of the Hazelton, Johnstown and Fort 
Wayne teams while under engagements to 
them respectively, and always pla\ed as third 
baseman. In 1896 he retired from the base- 
ball field permanently, to engage in his pres- 
ent business. 

The firm of Willford & Hazen was formed 
in April, 1896, by Charles S. Willford and 
Charles J. Hazen for the purpose of handling 
real estate, and effecting loans in all parts of 
the county of Summit, city or country, or both 
realty and chattel security, but in December, 
1896, Mr. Wilford withdrew from the firm. 

To revert to the personal history of Mr. 
Hazen, it must mentioned that he has made 
his permanent home in Akron since 1890; 
that he was here married, January 11, 1893, 
to Miss Lottie C. Berger, daughter of D. F. 
Berger, and that two children have blessed 
their union — Ruth and Harold. The residence 
of the family is at No. 141 Crosby street. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



311 




• HEODORE F. HEATH, M. U., is 
one of the leading and is the oldest 
practicing physicians in Summit coun- 
ty, having practiced his profession 
here for the long period of forty-five years. 
He was born April 29, 1828, in Sharon, Conn., 
and springs from an old New England fam- 
ily of colonial stock — his remote ancestors 
on both sides having landed at Plymouth at 
about 1640. 

Thomas E. Heath, the paternal grandfa- 
ther of the doctor, was a soldier in the war of 
the Revolution, and the maternal ancestor, 
Isaac Chamberlain, was an officer in that war. 
Dr. Heath is a son of Stephen, who was a son 
of Thomas Heath, a farmer and blacksmith of 
Sharon, Conn., where he was born. Stephen 
Heath was also a blacksmith and farmer, and 
married Hannah Chamberlain, daughter of 
Isaac Chamberlain, a Revolutionary soldier. 
Stephen Heath moved, in i<S35. to Geneseo, 
Livingston county, N. Y., where he lived on a 
farm of 240 acres until 1868, when he died, 
aged eighty- five years. He was a trusted man 
and held the offices of superintendent of the 
poor and supervisor — the latter an office 
equivalent to that of county commissioner in 
Ohio. He was also justice of the peace and a 
highly respected man. His children were 
Jane, Frederick, Martin L., Harriet and 
Theodore F. This is the proper order of 
birth, and all were born in Sharon, Conn. 

Dr. Theodore F. Heath, at the age of 
seven years, went with his parents to Geneseo, 
N. Y., and received an academic education at 
the Geneseo academy, and among his teach- 
ers were Prof. H. N. Robinson, who wrote 
several text-books on mathematics which were 
adopted at West Point, and also Judge Sam- 
uel Treat, afterwards of the supreme bench of 
Mi.ssouri. Our subject then began the study 
of medicine in Geneseo, N. Y., in 1847, under 
Dr. \V. E. Lauderdale and Dr. Daniel H. Bis- 



sell as preceptors, and in the fall of 1848 at- 
tended the Berkshire Medical college, Pitts- 
field, Mass.; in the fall of 1849, he attended 
the college of Physicians & Surgeons of New 
York, and received his diploma in 185 1; he 
then practiced medicine while continuing his 
study in the office of Dr. Gurdon Buck, and 
Dr. Robert Watts, who were hospital sur- 
geons, in the cit}- of New York, and thus had 
the advantage of the experience of these skill- 
ful ph\sicians. The same year, 1851, the 
doctor settled in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and 
soon established a large and lucrative practice. 
He bought out a drug store, and in company 
with his brother, Frederic S. Heath, now con- 
trols the largest drug business in Summit 
county with but one exception, that of a drug 
store established some years ago in Akron, 
and for many years it was the only store of the 
kind in Cayuhoga Fhlls. The doctor's prac- 
tice, in his more active days, extended far and 
wide throughout the surrounding country. He 
is a member of the Northeast Medical associa- 
tion, and has always been a patron of the 
leading medical periodicals and has accumu- 
lated a \'aluable medical library. 

Dr. Heath married, in 1854, Miss Emma 
A. Bruce, born August 22, 1834, in Troy, 
Geauga county, Ohio, a daughter of Franklin 
and Elethea (Lamb) Bruce. The Bruce fam- 
il}- is an old American family of Scotch an- 
cestry. Jesse Bruce, grandfather of Mrs. 
Heath, was a farmer of Vermont; Franklin 
Bruce, her father, was married in Troy, 
Geauga county, Ohio, went to Michigan at an 
early day and was accidentally killed in the 
west. He was father of Chester, Lester D., 
Frank, Delia, Emma A. and George. To Dr. 
and Mrs. Heath have been born Frank T., Ar- 
thur T. and Grace L. Mrs. Heath has for forty 
years been a member of the Congregational 
church. Dr. Heath is a member of the Royal 
Arcanum, in which he has held the office of 



312 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



regent. Dr. Heath is an honored citizen and 
was township trustee before the incorporation 
of Cuyahoga Falls. He has been a member 
of the town council and president of the 
board of education many years and is promi- 
nently connected with all public enterprises. 
In politics he was first a whig, but later be- 
came a republican. He is a substantial citi- 
zen, owning valuable real estate. 



>^OSEPH HEIGHTON, an experienced 
m and wi^U-known farmer of Franklin 
/• I township, Portage county, Ohio, is a 
native of Northamptonshire, England, 
was born February 4, 1827, and is a son of 
Thomas and Sarah (Goodes) Heighten, who, 
about the year 1828, came to the United 
States, lived about three years in Philadelphia, 
Pa., and in 1831 came to Portage county, 
Ohio, locating in Edingburg. 

The boyhood daj-s of Joseph Heighton were 
passed mostly in Edinburg, where he received 
a common-school education only, but at the 
age of twenty-three years was qualified to 
teach singing school, and at the same age was 
elected a school director and held the office 
many years. At the same age, also, he began 
lecturing on temperance, and in this field his 
services, for a long time, were in frequent de- 
mand. He has himself never handled nor 
tasted alcoholic beverages, nor has he used 
tobacco in any form. He was also, for about 
twenty-three years, a teacher of vocal music 
in Sumrriit and other counties of the state. In 
1 863 he settled in Franklin township and en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits until 1879, when 
he abandoned his original farm and moved to 
his present place, where he has principally 
been engaged in fruit culture, in conjunction 
with general agriculture. 

The marriage of Mr. Heighton took place 
July 19, 1848. to Miss Olive Case, a daughter 



of Ariel and Minerva (Colton) Case, and this 
union has been blessed with four children, viz: 
Marius; Ann, wife of N. E. Olin, of Kent; 
Parker H. and Lloyd B. The parents of Mrs. 
Heighton were born in Tolland county. Conn. , 
the father, Ariel, in 1804 and Minerva, the 
mother, in 1805. .'\riel Case was brought to 
Portage county in 1 809 by his parents, who 
settled in Rootstown township, was reared a 
farmer, and was married December 7, 1824, 
and had born to him four children, of whom 
two still survive, viz: Olive, now Mrs. Heigh- 
ton, and .\shley M., who resides on the old 
Case homestead at Rootstown; the other two 
children died in early infancy. The father 
died May 21, 1884, at the age of eighty years, 
and the mother May 26, of the same year. 
aged seventy-nine. 

Ariel Case, the paternal grandfather of 
Mr. Heighton, also a native of Connecticut, 
and of Scotch descent, came to Portage county, 
Ohio, in 1809, settled in Rootstown township, . 
and later took part in the war of 1 8 1 2. He was J 
twice married, his first wife having been Betsey 
Porter, who bore eight children, viz: Porter. 
Horace, Ariel, .Augusta and Erastus (twinsj, 
Hibbard, Truman and Harvey. Mrs. Betsey 
Case died at the age of forty-one years, and 
for his second wife Mr. Case married Mrs. 
Persis Case, nee Steward, and to this union 
were born two children — Benjamin and Pt;rr\ . 
Ariel Case died at Rootstown in 1854, at the 
age of seventy years, and the death of Mrs. 
Persis Case occurred at the same place. 
Stephen Colton, the maternal grandfather of 
Mr. Heighton, was a native of Vermont and 
settled in Rootstown, Ohio, in 1805. was a 
farmer, and married Miss Mary Russell, who 
bore him eight children, viz: Chelsea, Roswell, 
Mernen, Warren, Josephus, Mar}-, Prosper 
and Alva. Mr. Colton was very popular in • 
his township and for a number of years held 
the office of township trustee. He and wife 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



'SIS 



were consistent members of the Disciples' 
ciiurch, and in this faith he died in 1845, at 
the age of seventy-five years, and his wife in 
1 849, aged seventy-three. 

In politics Mr. Heighton is a republican 
and is very popular with his party. He has 
been successful through life, and stands very 
high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. 



l^^^ILLIAM A. HELPER, the well- 
■ ■ I known florist and proprietor of the 
mjL^ Imperial greenhtnise, Akron, Ohio, 
is a native of this city, was born 
July 24, i860, and is the son of George H. 
and Rebecca (Luce) Heifer. 

The grandparents of subject, Christopher 
and Lydia (Helman) Heifer, were natives of 
Pennsylvania of Scotch and German descent 
respectively, and in 1820 settled in Millbrook, 
Wayne county, Ohio, where, and in Congress 
township, Christopher Heifer followed his 
trade of shoemaking for about twenty years, 
and then purchased a farm in Congress town- 
ship, on which he and his wife resided the 
remainder of their lives. Their children were 
named Mena (Mrs. Royce Somerton), George 
H., Mary fMrs. Stephen Collins), Melinda 
(Mrs. Parker Campbell). Daniel, and Sophia 
(Mrs. Joseph Sharp.) 

George H. Heifer, father of subject, was 
born in Bellefonte, Pa., January 25, 1820, 
and the same year was brought, in a covered 
wagon, to Wayne county, Ohio, by his par- 
ents. He received a common-school educa- 
tion, and at the age of fourteen years began 
clerking in a general store, followed this 
calling until 1843, and then engaged in the 
dry-goods business on his own account in 
Congress township, as a member of the firm 
of Pancoast & Heifer. In 1847 he pur- 
chased his partner's interest and continued 
alone in Congress township until 1849, when 



he sold out his store and came to .\kron, 
where, as a member of the firm of Heifer & 
Sechrist, he embarketl in general business. 
In 1867, Mr. Sechrist sold his interest in this 
store to Clinton, a son of Mr. Heifer; the 
firm name was then changed to Heifer & Son. 
and so remained until 1877, when the father 
sold his interest to the son, who has since 
continued in the business alone. Mr. Heifer, 
the father, who was a stockholder in the 
Akron Iron company, now engaged himself 
with this concern as shipping clerk, and for 
twenty-one years filled this responsible posi- 
tion, when he retired from acti\e business. 

George H. Heifer was twice married. His 
first wife, who bore the maiden name of Mar}- 
Elgin, was a daughter of Walter and Eliza- 
beth Elgin, of Congress township, Wayne 
county, and bore her husband fi\c children, of 
whom the only survi\or is Clinton E., the 
popular druggist mentioned in the preceding 
pargraph. The second marriage of Mr. Heifer 
was with Miss Rebecca Luce, daughter of 
Jonathan and Elizabeth Luce, of Wayne coun- 
t\', Ohio, and to this marriage have also been 
born five children, of whom four still survive, 
viz: William A., Emma (Mrs. Clarence Ru- 
dolph), Edwin W., and Minnie B. (Mrs. Henry 
Adams). In his politics Mr. Heifer is a stanch 
republican, and, as may easily be inferred 
from the foregoing rectird, is one of the sub- 
stantial and most respected citizens of Akron. 

William A. Heifer was educated in the 
public schools of .\kron, his native cit)', and 
was here reared to manhood. As a young 
man, he entered the employ of the Akron Iron 
company as a workman, was promoted t<> the 
shipping desk, and later became general fore- 
man of the polishing department, remaining 
with the company five years. From 1885 un- 
til March i, 1897, he carried on a ver\' suc- 
cessful retail coal trade, but during this inter- 
val, in April, 1896, broke ground for the erec- 



.•514 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



tion of his floricultural plant at Nos. 861-63-65 
South Bowery. Having sold his coal office at 
the date named above, he has since given his 
whole attention to his greenhouse, which pos- 
sesses every modern appliance for the genera- 
tion and cultivation of floral and ornamental- 
leaf plants. This conservatory, however, be- 
came so popular, that in the spring of 1897 
Mr. Heifer was compelled to extend its capac- 
ity, and it now consists of five divisions or 
houses, being the largest and most complete 
industry of its kind in Summit county. 

William A. Heifer was united in marriage, 
June 26, 1893, with Miss Hattie May Roth- 
rock, a daughter of William H. and Sarah A. 
(Messer) Rothrock, of Akron. Politically. Mr. 
Heifer is a stanch republican, and fraternally 
is a member of the Knights of Pythias. As a 
citizen he stands high in the esteem of the 
people of Akron and Summit count}-, and so- 
cially he and his wife mingle with the select 
circles of Akron. 



KASPAR HELM LING (deceased farm- 
er of Snftield township, Portage coun- 
ty, Ohioj. was born in Germany, 
July 9, 1834, a son of Peter and 
Margaret (Knapp) Helmling, was educated in 
the public schools of his native land, and in 
October, 1S57, came to the United States and 
settled in Summit county, where he found 
employment in a pottery, having learned the 
trade in Germany. After working at this art 
for three years he engaged in farming, and in 
1864 settled on the farm where he passed the 
remainder of his life, d\ing October 5, 1896, 
at the age of si.\ty-two years, a devoted mem- 
ber of the Catholic church and a most highly 
respected citizen. In politics he was a demo- 
crat, had served as township trustee and also 
as a member of the grand jury, and his whole 
life was one of intelligent usefulness. 



The marriage of Mr. Helming took place 
in July, 1856, to Miss Sophia Adolph, daugh- 
ter of Enos and Elizabeth (Saul) Adolph, and 
born in Baden, Germany, September 22, 1837. 
The parents of this Iad>- came to America in 
1845, ''"d settled in Randolph township. Port- 
age county, Ohio, where the father is engaged 
in farming. Mr. and Mrs. Adolph had a family 
of ten children, seven of whom still survive, 
viz: Katherine, wife of Joseph Zeller; Sophia, 
widow of our subject; Adam, Elizabeth, Mi- 
chael; Mary, wife of D. L. Baldin, and Mag- 
gie. Those deceased were named Philip, Bal- 
zer (who died in the army), and one who died 
in infancy. Mr. Adolph, the father of this 
faiiiily, was called away in 1875, a member of 
the Catholic church, and later his widow re- 
moved to Ravenna, where she died, in the 
same faith, in 1884. 

To the marriage of Kaspar and Sophia 
(Adolph) Helmling, were born thirteen chil- 
dren, of whom ten are still living, viz: Adam; 
Lizzie, married to Frank Snider; Annie, wife 
of Nicholas Burnam; John; Clara, now Mrs. 
Adam May; George; Josephine; Maggie, wife 
of George Danber; Charles and Rosie. Of 
the three deceased, George died December iG, 
1 86 1, aged five years; Otto died April 26, 
1875, aged one year, ten months and twent)'- 
two days, and Louisa died at the age of two 
years, January 25, 1886. 

Mrs. Sophia Helmling still resides on the 
homstead, an honored lady and a de\out mem- 
ber of the Catholic church, in which all ihe 
family were reared. She is in comfortable 
circumstances and still keeps a supervising 
oversight over the farm, in the care of which 
she has the assistance of her unmarried sons, 
Charles, however, being her chief reliance in 
this respect. The entire family stand well in 
the eyes of the community in which they live 
and are well deserving of the high esteem in 
which thev are held. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



315 



>Y*OHN HERSHEY, one of the most 
M prosperous farmers of Bath township, 
A J Summit county, Ohio, was born in 
Lebanon county, Pa., February 2, 
1834, and is a son of Jacob and Sarah (Boltz) 
Hershey, who were respectively born in the 
same county, July 12, 1812, and December 
25, 1812, were married in 1830, and four years 
later came to Ohio, locating, first, in Wayne 
county, where they resided until 1848, when 
they came to Bath township. Summit county, 
and passed the remainder of their lives, the 
father dying in 1882, and the mother in 1883. 
Their children were five in number, and were 
born in the following order: Sarah, in Octo- 
ber, 1832; John, the subject of this sketch, 
the date of whose birth has been mentioned; 
Jacob, born in 1838, died in 1863; Abraham, 
born in 1844; and Henry, in 1846. 

Both the Hershey and Boltz families were 
of Swiss origin and settled in America in the 
colonial days, and in the war of the Revolu- 
tion the paternal great-grandfather of our sub- 
ject took an active part in securing the inde- 
pendence of the colonies. The grandfather 
of subject, Abraham Hershey, served in the 
war of 1812, came to Ohio in 1830, and set- 
tled in Wayne county, where he lost his wife 
in 1834, and where his own death occurred in 
1850, leaving ten children, viz: Jacob, Re- 
becca, Abraham, Lydia, Benjamin, Sarah, 
John, Polly, Samuel and Henry. The eldest 
of this family, Jacob, began life a poor boy, 
but eventually became the wealthiest farmer 
in his county, owning 536 acres of good land. 
He was very liberal to his children and to re- 
ligious and educational institutions, and all his 
life was a devoted member of the German 
Baptist church, of which his wife was also a 
member. In politics he was a republican. 

John Hershey, whose name opens this 
memoir, passed his youth and early manhood 
in assisting his father on the home farm, and 



shortly after attaining his majority married, 
October 6, 1856, Miss Lydia Rice, who was 
born in Fayette county, Pa., February 22, 
1836, a daughter of Sam and I'anny (Strick- 
ler) Rice. This marriage has been blessed 
with five children, born in the following order: 
Emma Alice, July 14, 1858, wife of Harry 
Swan, a farmer of Richfield township; Sarah 
Frances, July 26, i860, married to Edward 
Sprankle, a farmer of Bath township; LeRoy, 
who died in infancy; George W. , born October 
2, 1863, and now managing the home farm, 
and Otto R., February 24, 1868, a merchant 
at Ghent. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey are both 
active members of the United Brethren church, 
in which he has been a class leader twenty-five 
years, and superintendent of the Sunday-school 
thirty-three years. In politics he is strongly 
republican, has served seven years as town- 
ship trustee, and member of the school board. 
The fine farm owned by Mr. Hershey com- 
prises 222 acres, is well cultivated, and is 
improved with substantial modern buildings — 
his new dwelling having been erected in 1 893 — 
and is located about seven miles from Akron. 
He has made a specialty of live stock, raising 
sheep and Durham cattle, but for the past 
three years he has taken no active part in the 
management of the farm, leaving that to his 
son, George W., and is now practically retired. 
He has endowed each of his children with 
$4,000, chiefly in land, and has been very 
liberal in his aid to all the worthy enterprises 
and charities of his township. He and his 
family are highly respected, and fully deserve 
the great esteem in which they are held. 



HBRAHAM HERSHEY, son of Jacob 
and Sarah (Boltz) Hershey, was born 
in W'ayne county, Ohio, October 18, 
1844, and for antecedents the reader 
is referred to the memoir of John Hershey, 



:^16 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



elder brother, iinmediately preceding. His 
education was acquired in the common schools 
and farming has been his calling through life, 
having been reared to this vocation on his fa- 
thers homestead. February 23. 1864, Abra- 
ham Hershey was united in marriage with 
Miss Mary Baughman, who was born in 
Baughman township, Wayne county, Ohio, 
February 11, 1844, a daughter of Jacob and 
Margaret (Clapper; Baughman, who early 
came from Pennsylvania to Wayne county, 
Ohio, and in whose honor the township in 
which Mrs. Hershey was born received its 
name. To this marriage have been born two 
children ; John C, who resides with his 
parents, and Jessie M., the wife of Frank 
Rothtrock, of Cleveland. 

After his marriage, Mr. Hershey engaged 
in farming and in dairying, including cheese 
making, doing a very successful business. In 
1895, he traded his farm of 145 acres, well 
improved with modern buildings, for the mill 
he now owns, one mile west of Ghent, in the 
valley of Yellowstone creek. This niill has 
excellent water-power and is also provided 
with steam-power, and it is the intention of 
Mr. Hershey to soon introduce the most ap- 
proved roller machinery for the production of 
flour, the mill having a very large local trade 
and being run to its full capacity under the 
old, or grinding, process. Mr. Hershey is a 
careful and diligent student of standard books 
and the better class of journals, and has 
greatly augmented the common-school educa- 
tion acquired in his youthful days, and the 
store of useful knowledge he has secured in his 
mature years has been invariably turned to 
practical use. Ostensibly a republican in his 
political views, Mr. Hershey is liberal in his 
opinions in this regard, as well as in religion, 
and has held numerous positions of honor and 
trust in Bath township, enjoying, as he does, 
the full confidence of his fellow-citizens. 



eDWARD A. HERSHEY. who was 
elected county clerk of Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, November 3, 1896, on the 
republican ticket, is a native of Chip- 
pewa, Wayne county, and was born February 
6, 1856, a son of Benjamin and Susan (Well- 
house) Hershe\, both now deceased. 

Benjamin Hershey was a Pennsylvanian b}- 
birth, but was brought by his parents to Ohio 
when but ten jears of age, his father, John 
Hershey, being also a Pennsjlvania-German. 
Benjamin grew to manhood in Wayne county 
and became one of the most extensive farmers 
and stockdealers in his part of the state, being 
a very large shipper of live stock and a solid 
business man in general. George W. Well- 
house, father of Mrs. Susan Hershey, was born 
in Germany, but came to Ohio when thirteen 
years of age, grew to manhood in Wayne 
county, and also became one of its most promi- 
nent citizens; he was a farmer, served his fel- 
low-citizens in the state legislature, also as 
associate judge for some years, and was a di- 
rector in the State National Bank of Ohio, 
and a substantial business man generally. To 
Benjamin Hershey and wife were born seven 
children, viz: Abraham, deceased; George, a 
resident of Chippewa, Wayne county; Rev. 
Simon B., of the Ashland, Ohio, Congrega- 
tional church; William, of Canton, Ohio; 
Mary, wife of W. Hemberger. of Akron; Ed- 
ward A., the subject, and Ella, wife of D. C. 
Leonard, of Toledo. 

Edward A. Hershey, whose name opens 
this biographical record, passed his early boy- 
hood on his father's farm and was educated 
at the Smithville high school. On attaining 
his majority, he succeeded his father in the 
live-stock trade, to which he devoted his at- 
tention, in connection with farming, until 
1885. In March, 1886, he came to Akron 
and associated himself with T. W. McCue in 
the coal business, and later became general 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



317 



manaf^er of the Superior Coal company, and 
still later was associated with the Loomis 
Coal company. A republican in politics, he 
was elected, in 1892, city clerk of Akron, 
which position he most ably filled for two 
terms. In 1896, Mr. Hershey was compli- 
mented by his party by being nominated as its 
candidate for the office of county clerk of 
Summit, and was elected by a handsome ma- 
jority. He has been a hard worker in his 
party's behalf and has served on the Summit 
county central republican committee, and for 
five years was committee treasurer. He has 
always been courteous and obliging in and out 
of office, and has won for himself a host of 
friends throughout the county and city. He 
has a splendid reputation as a business man 
and is a director in the Akron Savings bank, 
and also in the Summit county Agricultural 
society, and is an active member of Akron 
lodge. No. 547, I. O. O. F. 

The happy marriage of Mr. Hershey took 
place, in 1876, with Miss Josie L. Boone, of 
Sugar Creek, Wayne county, Ohio, and to 
this union have been born three children, 
viz: Bianche — who graduated from the Akron 
high school in the class of 1896 — Ella and 
Roxie. Mrs. Hershey is a consistent mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
the family have a delightful home at No. 301 
Spice street, where is enjoyed an unusual de- 
gree of domestic happiness and comfort. 



^^^EORGE HERSHEY, a thriving young 
■ ^\ farmer of Bath township. Summit 
^^^W count}', Ohio, is native here and was 
born October 2, 1864, a son of John 
and Lydia (Ricet Hershe)-, of whom full men- 
tion is made in a preceding article. George 
Hershey was reared on his father's farm, and 
is an expert husbandman. He received the 
ordinary common-school education vouchsafed 



to farmers' sons, and on reaching his majority 
married, December 17, 1885. Miss Kate Moore, 
who was born November 24, 1868, in Pitts- 
burg, Pa., and in 1878 came to Bath township. 
Summit county, Ohio, with her adopted par- 
ents, John and Loudisa (Morrell) Moore, who 
settled west of Hammond's Corners. 

Mr. Hershey owns a fine farm of eighty 
acres, which is thoroughly cultivated, tiled 
throughout, and made profitable; is improved 
with modern farm-buildings and a large brick 
dwelling, and, beside this farm, he cultivates 
the large farm owned by his father, which he 
leases for this purpose. In politics Mr. Her- 
shey is strongl}- republican and cast his first 
presidential \ote for Jas. G. Blaine, is an up- 
right and useful citizen, and with his wife is 
most highly respected in the social circles of 
Bath townshipi. 



OTTIS R. HERSHEY, a popular and 
promising young merchant and the 
postmaster of Ghent, Bath township, 
was born in this township February 
24, 1868. He comes of a good old colonial 
family. His great-great-grandfather was a dis- 
tinguished veteran in the Revolutionary war, 
and his great-grandfather, Abraham, was a sol- 
dier in the war of 1812. His grandfather, 
Jacob Hershey, was born in I^ebanon county, 
Pa., July 12, i8t2, and was married in 1830 
to Sarah Bettz, who was born in the same 
county December 25, 1812. Two years after 
their marriage they moved to Wa^'ne county, 
Ohio, where they resided until 1849, when the}' 
came to Bath township, where they passed the 
remainder of their days, Jacob dying in 1882, 
and Sarah in 1S83. They were the parents of 
the following children: John. Jacob, Abra- 
ham, Henry and Sarah. Both the Hersheys 
and the Bettzes were of Swiss descent and trace 
the coming of their ancestors from Switzerland 



318 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



to America to colonial times. The Hershey 
family is noted for the longevity of its mem- 
bers and the size and strength of its men. The 
family lends its power and influence to the 
German Baptist church, and the republican 
party is gainer, by reason of the earnest polit- 
ical convictions of the men. 

John Hershey, the father of our subject, 
was the first born of his family, was born in 
Lebanon county. Pa., February 2, 1834. His 
youth and early manhood were passed with his 
father upon the home farm, and he was mar- 
ried October 6, 1856, to Miss Lydia Rice, who 
was born in Fayette county, Pa., February 
22, 1 836. They are the parents of the follow- 
ing children: Emma A., Sarah F., George 
W. , Ottis R. and Le Roy, the latter dying in 
infancy. Additional details concerning this 
family are contained in the biographical sketch 
of John Hershey. 

Ottis Rice Hershey is one of the most pop- 
ular young men in this region. In his early 
youth he received the advantages offered by 
the excellent district schools of the township, 
and upon the solid foundation thus constructed 
built widely by passing supplemental courses 
at the Ada Normal school and at Buchtel col- 
lege. On December 11, 1S89, he married 
Miss Nellie R., daughter of Peter and Mary 
(Tiernan) Rees, who was born March 28, 1871. 
The year following his marriage Mr. Hershey 
engaged in the mercantile business at Ghent, 
and has been quite successful. In addition to 
his growing interests at this point he has an- 
other store at Codingville, in Medina county, 
in which he also does a thriving busidess. His 
services as postmaster at Ghent have given 
the utmost satisfaction to the public, and as a 
young man of affairs and promoter of the in- 
terests of his community receives a degree of 
consideration and recognition which marks 
him as one of the "coming" men of the county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hershey have a pleasant home, 



in which, however, there does not, as yet, fall 
the patter of infant feet. Mrs. Hershey was 
a member of the Disciples' church and was 
devoted to the good works of that body. Since 
this biography has been written Mr. Hershe\' 
lost his companion in life, she dying Septem- 
ber 15, 1897, and her remains lie interred in 
Bath cemetery. 



*-|-» lEUT. WINFIELD SCOTT KRAKE. 
I r who for ten years was prominent in 
I J the mercantile circles of Ravenna, 
Ohio, was born in Jefferson county, 
N. Y. , September 19, 1840, a son of James 
and Sallie (Wadsworth) Krake, also natives of 
the Empire state. The father, who was of 
German parentage, was a manufacturer of fan- 
ning-mills and was also for many years a cap- 
tain in the state militia. He and wife both 
died in La Fargeville, Jefferson county, in 
middle life, leaving the subject an orphan at 
the age of twelve years, he being the eldest of 
five children and being left the only survivor 
of the family. 

Mr. Krake received as good an education 
as the public schools could afford him at his 
age, and he early entered a general store, in 
which he was employed until August, 1862, 
when he enlisted in company M, Fifth New York 
heavy artillery, which consisted of three bat- 
talions — one recruited in Brooklyn, N. Y. , one 
in New York city and one in Jefferson and 
Lewis counties — in the latter of which subject 
enlisted. The regiment was assigned to the 
army of the Potomac and took part in the 
Shenandoah valley raid under Gen. Phil. Sher- 
idan, in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Creek, 
Monocacy and the lesser battles throughout 
the valley. In the second year of his service 
Mr. Krake had risen to the rank of second lieu- 
tenant, and with this rank was honorably dis- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



321 



charged at the close of his three years' service 
— the war having also been brought to a close. 

Soon after leaving the armj- Lieut. Krake 
sought Ravenna as a home, and with this city 
he has been identified ever since. Here he 
first engaged in the dry -goods business, and 
later entered into the clothing trade. Being a 
republican in politics, he was appointed deputy 
postmaster of Ravenna during Grants first ad- 
ministration, and during the second Grant ad- 
ministration was commissioned postmaster. 
So ably did he perform the duties of this office 
it was thought proper to retain him there dur- 
ing the administration of Ha\"es. Garfield and 
Arthur, and for one year under Cleveland — a 
period of thirteen years — when political influ- 
ence was brought to bear to oust him from of- 
fice. .\fter being retired from the post-office, 
Mr. Krake took a years rest, and then in 1888 
embarked in the business of dealer in grocer- 
ies and provisions, in which he controls the 
leading trade of Ravenna and gives constant 
employment to four clerks. 

July S. 1S61, Lieut. Krake was joined in 
wedlock, in Copenhagen. N. Y., with Miss 
Amelia U. Mitchell, a native of that town, and 
this union has been blessed with one child — 
now Mrs. B. P. Converse, of San Antonio, 
Tex., and the mother of a son, James, and a 
daughter, Florence. 

Lieut. Krake was one of the incorporators 
of the Portage County Building & Loan as- 
sociation and is a member of its board of di- 
rectors, and he is also prominently' identified 
with mo.'^t of the fraternal societies of the citj-. 
In 1873 he was made a Freemason, being init- 
iated in Unity lodge. No. 12, F. & A. M., of 
which he is past worshipful master; also of the 
Mystic Shrine, and the Knights Templar, and 
is a thirty-second Mason : beside filling many 
subordinate offices he has served as treasurer 
of the Blue lodge and chapter for many years. 

.\s an Odd Fellow he has passed all the chairs, 
9 



is the present representative to the 



lodge of Ohio, and is treasurer in lodge 



rand 
and 

encampment. In 1879 he was one of the Ra- 
venna council. No. 376, Royal Arcanum, of 
which he is now the collector, and also repre- 
sentative to the grand council of the state of 
Ohio. He was likewise a charter member of 
and is now past post commander of David Mc- 
intosh post. No. 327, G. A. R. , has been its 
delegate to several state encampments and na- 
tional assemblies, and was the delegate to the 
state encampment for the present 3ear. 1S97. 
Lieut. Krake is liberal m his religious views, 
and liberal in his support of churches and Sun- 
day-schools, but has never identified himself 
with any religious organization. .As a citizen 
he is enterprising and useful and is universally 
respected. 



m. 



'ILLIAM A. HOLCOMB. a retired 
citizen of Ravenna. Ohio, is a na- 
tive of Westfield. Mass., was born 
September 5, 1804, and is a son of 
Roswell and Edith (Campbell) Holcomb, of 
whose six children — four sons and two daugh- 
ters — Mr. Holcomb is the only survivor. 
I Enoch Holcomb, the paternal grandfather 
' of subject, was also a native of Westfield, 
Mass. , and descended from one of three 
! brothers who were born in England, and to- 
gether came to America. Enoch was a large 
I holder of land, and beside farming kept a 
! hotel or tavern and also operated a distillery, 
and died in his native town at the age of 
seventy-eight years. Samuel Campbell, the 
maternal grandfather of William A. Holcomb. 
was born in Southwick, Mass., was by calling 
a painter, plasterer and stonemason, and 
died in his native town at the comparatively 
early age of forty-four years, but his widow 
survived to reach the ripe old age of eighty- 
one years, and died at the home of her son in 
Rootstown, Ohio. 



322 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



William A. Holcomb was reared and re- 
ceived his schooling in Westfield, Mass., and 
there learned the brick and stonemason's 
trade, also lathing and plastering. He first 
came west in 1821, walking in company with 
his cousin. Homer Campbell, all the way from 
Massachusetts with packs on their backs — Mr. 
Holcomb's pack weighing eighteen pounds — 
and reached Ravenna on the 23d day of 
.April. The country was all forest, yet the 
•wayfarers were never lost, although they 
■were guided by blazed trees only. Returning 
to his native east, Mr. Holcomb was married, 
September 24, 1826, to Miss Lydia Olmstead. 
daughter of William S. and Annie (Wanzer) 
■Olmstead — the ceremony taking place in 
Litchfield county. Conn. — and two weeks 
later Mr. Holcomb, his bride and her father, 
with the bride's sister and several others, 
started west, and on reaching lake Erie em- 
barked on the steamboat William Penn, and 
for three days passengers anri crew were at 
the mercy of a storm, but finally reached San- 
dusky, where the passengers were safely 
landed with their goods, and were conveyed 
in wagons to Rootstown, Portage county, 
where, for some years, Mr. and Mrs. Hol- 
comb lived in a log cabin and underwent all 
the privations of pioneer life in the woods. 
Their farm comprised 205 acres, and they 
also possessed a dairy constituted of twenty- 
two cows. 

After coming west Mr. Holcomb engaged 
in building depots, bridges, and in other rail- 
road construction work generally, in various 
jiarts of Ohio. His first work, however, was 
on the Cleveland & Pittsburg road, commenc- 
ing at Cleveland and working to Pittsburg, 
also worked on the P3rie, then called the At- 
lantic & Great Western railroad, superintend- 
ing, from commencement to completion, the 
building of bridges, depots, round houses, etc. 
During the summer of one year, from April i to 



October 3, he earned $455, but was excelled, 
in this respect, by his amiable helpmate, who, 
during the same period, made cheese by hand 
and disposed of it in market for $560 — a fact 
indicating, to some e.xtent, the industry and 
thrift of the early pioneers. This dairy Mrs. 
Holcomb continued to manage, with equal 
success, for seven years. 

Among the other tasks accomplished b}' 
Mr. Holcomb was the building of Hiram col- 
lege. He tore away the old rail fence that 
marked the site of the present edifice, dug the 
cellar, quarried the rock for the foundation, 
and erected the original building, to which, 
however, additions have since been made by 
other builders. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb 
were born ten children, five sons and five 
daughters, four of whom are still living, viz: 
Wanzer, of whom fuller details are given in a 
separate memoir; Edith, wife of A. S. Dun- 
ning, of Rootstown; Albert, of Springfield, 
Ohjp, and Lydia, wife of S. R. Freeman, of 
Ra\enna. Mrs. Lydia (Olmstead) Holcomb 
died in Ravenna July 23. 1884, a lady of most 
estimable characteristics and dearly beloved 
b}- her husband and children, and deeply 
mourned bj- them and a large circle of true 
and devoted friends. Mr. Holcomb, who is 
now in his ninety-fourth year, still has the 
appearance of not being over sixty-five, al- 
though he has led a life that has brought to 
them the endurance of much hard labor. 
But, on the other hand, he has led a life of 
sobriety and virtue, and thus has his reward. 
He is a fluent speaker, loves a good joke, even 
if it be at his own expense, is himself bright 
and witty, and his activity, at his great age, 
is simply wonderful. His great service in the 
development of the county are fully appre- 
ciated, and he is revered and truly honored 
by all throughout the length and breadth of 
the county of Portage. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



333 



at 



•ILBUR F. HOLLOWAY, one of 

the prominent citizens of Cuyahoga 
Falls, and during the war a tele- 
graph operator of the army of the 
Potomac, descends from sterling English an- 
cestry. 

Joseph T. Hollowaj was the son of an 
Englishman, was born in Philadelphia and 
married in Williamsport, Pa., Susan Hawk, 
and their children were Josephus F. , Marj-, 
J. Wesley, Almira, Wilbur F., Louisa and Al- 
bert E. Joseph T. HoUoway was an early pros- 
pector of the west, traveling on horseback and 
visiting Missouri and other states. He finally 
located in Union Town, Ohio, where he lived a 
few years, and thence came to Cuyahoga Falls. 
He established a cabinetmaker's shop and em- 
ployed a number of men and carried on this 
business for a number of years. He also es- 
tablished a lumber yard and in his later life 
an insurance business. He was an honored 
citizen, a notary public and a justice of the 
peace for many years. His judgment was 
greatly respected by the people, and he was 
much called upon for advice. He was a local 
minister of the Methodist church and preached 
at Cuahoga Falls and the surrounding country. 
In politics he was a republican and was a 
stanch anti-slaver}' man. He was a success- 
ful business man and accumulated a compe- 
tency. He was a prominent man in Summit 
county and drew up many wills and business 
papers and married many people and preached 
many funeral sermons. He wrote a reminis- 
cence of the town as he was connected with 
it at an early day — but, unfortunately, this 
manuscript has been lost. He was at one 
time coroner of Summit county, was a stanch 
promoter of temperance and an earnest advo- 
cator of the cause; also president of a bible 
society. In his day Cuyahoga Falls was an 
enterprising business place. His first wife 
died and he married Celia Woodruff, but there 



were no children by this wife. He reached 
the great age of eightj-two years. 

Wilbur . F. HoUoway, our subject, was 
born in 1837, in Cuyahoga Falls, and is a son 
of Joseph T. and .Susan (Hawk) HoUoway. 
He was educated in the common school, at- 
tended the high school and learned, when 
young, the telegraph business and was em- 
ployed in the general office of the Pittsburg 
R. R., Cleveland, Ohio, for five years and in 
1861 became telegraph operator at McClel- 
lan's headquarters — army of the Potomac — 
Washington, D. C, on Sixteenth street, the 
former residence of Commodore Wilks. and 
was here for several months. While he 
held this position, he frequently saw Presi- 
dent Abraham Lincoln, who came often to 
the telegraph office for information and spent 
much time there, frequently talking with the 
operators. He came at almost all hours, 
day and night, sometimes as late as twelve 
at midnight, and on one occasion at four 
A. M. of a rainy, dark morning and asked 
to see Gen. McClelian, went to the gen- 
eral's room, and talked to him as he lay in 
bed for about twenty minutes. Lincoln fre- 
quently told stories and would talk familiarly 
with the people about him. Here Mr. Hol- 
loway saw many distinguished men, such as 
Gen. McClelian, Gen. Scott, the two French 
princes Dejoinville, Due De Chartres, who 
were on Gen. McClellan's staff and many army 
officers. After this Mr. HoUoway served in 
the war department at Washington and at 
Newport News, Va,, arriving there a few 
days after the fight between the Merrimac and 
Monitor. From there he went to Norfolk, 
Va. , where he was under fire when Gen. 
Longstreet invested the town and was at one 
time shot at by sharpshooters from a distance. 
He served from the beginning of the war to 
the close. The telegraph operators were fre- 
quently in advance and many of them were 



324 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



kilkd ill the perforinaiice of their duty. After 
the war, Mr. HoUoway was employed by the 
Western Union Telegraph company of Norfolk, 
Va., for ten jears, bi-inj; manager of the office 
and correspondent of the New York Asso- 
ciated Press. After his return to Ohio, he was 
master of transportation of the Valley Rail- 
road, stationed at Cleveland, Ohio, and since 
has resided in Cuyahoga Falls. 

During the war he invented a dictionary 
holder and reading-stand, which he still man- 
ufactures and which he has greatly improved. 
In 1892 he patented the Century Dictionary 
Holder and the Holloway Reading stand — 
untioubtedly the best of the kind in the mar- 
ket and in general use by literary people and 
libraries, and sold in all tlu- countries in the 
world. 

Mr. Holloway married Lucy Plum, of Cuy- 
ahoga Falls, a daughter of Henr\' Plum, whose 
biography appears on another page. In pol- 
itics he is a republican. He stands high as a 
business man, and is much respected for his 
strictly moral character, and the social rela- 
tions of himself and wife are most pleasant in 
every regard. 



at 



'ANZER HOLCOMH, a retired con- 
tractor of Ravenna, was born in 
Rootstown, Portage county, Ohio, 
September 9, 1827, and is a son of 
William A. and Lydia (Olmstead) Holcomb, 
whose biographies are given in full in conjunc- 
tion with this memoir, which renders it neces- 
sary only to here record the current course of 
the life of Wanzer Holcomb himself, or, at 
least, its salient features. 

Mr. Holcomb was reared on his father's 
farm, which he assisted materially in improv- 
ing during his earlier days of vouthful strength, 
and also learned from his father his trade of 
brick and stonemason. He remained on the 
home place until sixteen or eighteen years of 



age, then tlexoted his time almost e.xclusively 
to his trade in ditierent parts of the county 
and state — four and one-half years having been 
spent in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, — until 1868, 
when he settled in Ravenna, and began rail- 
road contracting, doing all manner of con- 
struction until his retirement, and being suc- 
cessful with every contract. 

Mr. Holcomb was united in marriage, Sep- 
tember 25, 1851, with Miss Sophronia C. 
Stough, daughter of Jacob and Margaret 
(Eatinger) Stough, the happy union resulting 
in the birth of three children, viz: Margaret 
Ann, William W. and Harry S. The eldest. 
Margaret Ann, has been twice married — first, 
to George T. Smith, and, secondly, to Hiram 
Bedell, and still lives to mourn the loss of 
both husbands; William W., book-keeper at 
Baldwin & Son's planing mill, married Mattie 
Rice, of Newton Falls, and has three children 
— Edna, Roswell and Calvin; Harry S., a 
furniture dealer of Montrose, Colo., married 
May Matthews, and is the father of one child 
— Marguerite. Mrs. Wanzer Holcomb is a 
devoted member .of the Disciples' church, 
while Mr. Holcomb holds prominent station 
as a societary member. High in Masonry, he 
is a member of Akron commandery. No. 25; 
he first became an Odd Fellow while a resident 
of Lucas count)', and there filled various chairs 
in his lodge; he is also a member the Royal 
Arcanum. Politically he is a republican, he 
has served three terms as county commissioner 
of Portage county. With the exception of the 
time passed in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and a 
few trips to the east, Mr. Holcomb has always 
resided in Portage county, and has witnessed 
its wonderful growth since he was old enough 
to observe anything, and has himself boi"ne no 
small part in its development; he can also re- 
call the time when he noticed, in his trips east- 
ward, that what is now Madison square, in the 
heart of New York city, was a mere farm, and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



325 



that the railroad extended but sixt\' miles from 
that now commercial emporium of the United 
States. 

Mr. Holcoml) resides in iiis fine and com- 
modious mansion on North Chestnut street, 
Ravenna, where he is surrounded with genial 
and pleasant neighbors. He is himself a 
public-spirited citizen, a good-natured and 
pleasant gentleman, and, although sixty-nine 
years of age, would be taken anywhere to be 
aged about fift\'. He is a lover of relics, and 
has a vast variety of them in his librar}', or, 
what he calls, his "den." Although extremely 
liberal and generous toward all worthy objects, 
private or public, he has never been a prof- 
ligate, and still keeps an eye on business in 
his retirement, being a director in the Second 
National bank. His early efforts in promot- 
ing the welfare of Ravenna and Portage will 
never be forgotten, and he is still very popular 
with all classes. 



eLMER K. HOTTENSTEIN, M. D., 
the well known physician and surgeon 
of No. 226 South Main street, Akron, 
Ohio, has been a resident of this city 
since 18S6, and descends from an ancient 
Cerman family of nobles. The doctor was 
born in Berks county. Pa., in December, 1861, 
a son of Edward and Sarah fKnabb) Hotten- 
stein, who descended from families that date 
their residence in that county from the early 
part of the seventeenth century. The Hotten- 
stein family, generall}-, have followed profes- 
sional lives, but not all of them. Jacob A., 
the great-grandfather of subject, was a physi- 
cian, while the grandfather, William, was 
content with the peaceful pursuit of agricul- 
ture; Edward, the father of subject, became in 
turn a physician, and was the early teacher of 
the science to his sou, Ehner K. Edward and 
Sarah Hottenstein are the parents of nine 



children, born in the following order: Ida, 
wife of James D. Lang, of Berks county. Pa., 
Alice; Elmer K. ; lidward, physician of Kutz- 
town. Pa.; Sarah, deceased; William J., den- 
tist, of Akron, Ohio; Charles A., physician of 
Kutztown, Pa.; Deborah ("., at home, and 
Peter D., a student. 

Dr. Elmer K. Hottenstein was educated in 
the Keystone Normal school preparatorily and 
then entered Jefferson Medical college in Phil- 
adelphia, having also been prepared for this 
step through tuition under his father; he grad- 
uated from this institution in 1883, and then 
took a special course on the eye and ear at 
the Wills Eye hospital, and also a course in 
the Pennsylvania college of Dental Surgery, 
from which he graduated, but does not prac- 
tice dentistry excepting incidentally, although 
he had opened rooms for that purpose at Kutz- 
town, Pa., two years prior to his coming to 
A-kron. In fact, he has relegated that prac- 
tice to his brother, William J., as will be dis- 
covered in a coming paragraph. 

Dr. E. K. Hottenstein is a member of 
Akron lodge. No. 83, F. & A. M. ; f)f Summit 
lodge. No. 50, I. O. O. F., and of encamp- 
ment No. iS, same order; also of the Red 
Cross, No. 25. He was married December 2, 
1 89 1, to Mi.ss Ida A. Bieber, daughter of Will- 
iam Bieber, and is now the happy father (jf 
two children, Clara B. and William E. The 
doctor and wife are members of Grace Re- 
formed church and have a charming home at 
No. 126 Carroll street. 

William J. Hottenstein, brother of Dr. 
Elmer K. Hottenstein, was born in Berks 
county, Pa., August 28, if?68, and was pre- 
liminarily educated in the common school and 
state normal schools; then read medicine 
under his father and next attended the Medico- 
Chirurgical college of Philadelphia, Pa. , and 
then entered the Jefferson Medical college of 
the same city, from which he graduated in 



3->6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



1889. He then practiced medicine at home 
until the fall of the same year, when he entered 
the Pennsylvania Dental collef^e of Philadel- 
phia, from which he fjraduated in 1890, then 
returned to his old home and practiced both 
medicine and dentistry until the fall of that 
year, when he came to Akron and opened his 
dental parlors, and has since given his entire 
attention to dentistry. In August, 1894, his 
brother. Dr. Elmer K., and he opened their 
tine suite of offices on South Main street, in the 
Doyle block, where Dr. Elmer K. has a lu- 
crative medical practice and Dr. William J. 
has an eijualiy prosperous practice in dentistry 
in all its multifarious branches. Dr. William J. 
Hottenstein is a member of Granite lodge, No. 
522, I. O. (). v., and also of Akron tent of 
Maccabees, No. 129; also of the Red Cross, 
and of the Akron Dental society. He was 
united in marriage. May 28, 1895, with Miss 
Amelia C. Von Alt, daughter of John and 
Frederica Von Alt, and they have their pleas- 
ant home at No. 119 Coburn street. Mrs. 
Hottenstein is a devoted member of the Trinity 
Lutheran church. 

In the early part of the .seventeenth cen- 
tury, three brothers of the Hottenstein family 
came to America from Esslingen and landed in 
Philadelphia. One of the.se three, Jacob, settled 
in Oley township, now in Berks county. Pa., 
and purchased large tracts of land, which still 
remain in the family. Jacob was the great- 
great-grandfather of the doctors Hottenstein 
of Akron, Ohio, who now stand at the head of 
their professions and are among the most re- 
spected residents of the city. 



EORACE M. HOUSER, secretary, 
treasurer and manager of the Akron 
Cultivator company, is a native of 
Reynolds, Schuylkill county. Pa., was 
born February 2, 1861, and is a son of Daniel 



M. and Catherine (Seiberling) Houser, of Ger- 
man extraction. The father, who was a 
teacher for six or seven years in the public 
schools, later engaged in the coal and lumber 
business, but died in 1870; his widow is still 
living, and is deeply beloved by her four chil- 
dren, who were born in the following order: 
Horace M. , the subject; Ida A., wife of Sam- 
uel R. Endy, Frackville, Pa.; Laura C, now 
Mrs. Charles Billing, of Tamaqua, Pa., and 
Sadie C. the wife of Alexander Bender, of 
Boston, Mass. 

At the death of Daniel M. Houser, subject 
was placed with his grandfather, who was an 
extensive farmer and also kept a hotel, and 
general store, was postmaster and ticket agent, 
and a thoroughly practical business man. 
Under this relative Mr. Houser learned teleg- 
raphy and received a general business and 
English education, so that, at the early age of 
fourteen years, he was able to pass examina- 
tion before the school board and was granted 
a certificate as teacher and given charge of the 
school which his father had formerly taught. 
During the winters of five years he there gave 
instruction, and in the summers attended the 
normal college at Millersville, Lancaster coun- 
ty. Pa., defraying his expenses from his own 
earnings, until he had reached the junior class. 
In January, 1881, he resigned his position as 
teacher and went to Oswego, N. Y., and there 
took a course in stenography, paying for his 
tuition by teaching penmanship. In August, 
1 88 1, he was tendered and accepted a position 
as stenographer with the J. F. Seiberling 
company of .Akron. For eight years he was 
in the employ of this company as shorthand 
writer, shipping clerk and correspondent, and 
in 1889 associated himself with the Akron 
Tool company as stockholder and secretary, 
and so remained until the company sold out 
to the Akron Cultivator company. 

This, the Akron Cultivator company, with 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



327 



its plant at Nos. 230 to 348 Union street, was 
organized in 1894, for the purpose, as its 
name partially indicates, of manufacturing ag- 
ricultural implements, and is to-day one of the 
substantial industries of the city. Its capital 
stock in $100,000, and its officers are: George 
W. Grouse, president; Horace M. Houser, 
secretary, treasurer, and manager. It gives 
employment to si.xty hands, and makes a 
specialty of corn cultivators and the Kraus 
Pivot-Axle Automatic Sulky cultivator, but of 
course the business of the company is not con- 
fined to the production of these implements 
only. 

Mr. Houser is a strictly self-made man, 
having educated himself and being the founder 
of his business prosperity. He has other in- 
terests besides those of the cultivator com- 
pany, and in every position he has held has 
been master of the situation, and during his 
last year with the Akron Tool company had 
entire control of the concern. His business 
success is the criterion of his intrinsic worth. 
While in politics a republican, he has never 
found it necessary to obtrude himself upon his 
party for official position. 

Mr. Houser was united in marriage, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1896, with Miss Julia M. Grouse, 
daughter of George W. and Martha (Parsons) 
Grouse, and with his wife affiliates with the 
Episcopal church. His residence is at No. 
107 Arch street. 



aHARLES LEONARD HOWARD, 
president and general manager of the 
Railway Speed Recorder company, 
and conspicuous as a business man of 
Kent, Ohio, was born on a farm near Utica, 
N. Y., May 28, 1838, a son of Boyd and 
Mercie (Wood) Howard, and is of remote 
English origin, his paternal grandfather hav- 
ing been born in Dutchess county, N. Y., 



where the father of our subject was born and 
married, and whence he moved to Oneida 
county, where he died ten days prior to the 
birth of our subject, who was the youngest of 
a family of thirteen children. The mother 
subsequently married Ira Burdick, and seven- 
teen years later the family moved to Friend- 
ship, Alleghany county, where the mother 
ended her days. 

Gharles L. Howard lived on the home 
farm in Allegany county, N. Y., until nine- 
teen years old, attending school when not at 
work. He then became a clerk in a general 
store in Friendship, and before he had reached 
his majority became a merchant on his own 
account, purchasing his stock in New York 
city. He made his home at Friendship 
twenty-five years, being engaged in farming 
beside the mercantile business. He was pres- 
ident of the Allegany county Agricultural 
association for some time, ever taking an in- 
terest in all farm pursuits. He was also a 
promoter and director of the Allegany Cen- 
tral railroad — a narrow-gauge line through the 
oil fields from Friendship to Olean, N. Y. , 
and a director of the Allegany County Re- 
porter, the leading republican newspaper of 
the county. He was postmaster of Friend- 
ship for ten years and also filled various mu- 
nicipal offices. Becoming interested in the oil 
business, he came to Wood county, Ohio, and 
in 1887 to Kent, and purchased an interest 
in the Railway Speed Recorder company, of 
which he was chosen secretary and treasurer; 
six months later, January i, 18S8, was elected 
general manager, and in 1890 was elected 
president. The other officers are at present 
E. A. Parsons, treasurer, and G. M. Power, 
secretary. The capital stock of the company 
is $250,000, and it manufactures, beside the 
speed recorder, Hawkins' patent jack, caboose 
and shop stoves, sucker rod joints and other 
oil-well supplies. 



•.V2S 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



In politics Mr. Howard has always been a 
republican, but, being an advocate of and be- 
liever in a bimetallic circulation, supported the 
Bryan ticket in i8g6. His first office was that 
of township clerk in Allegany county, N. Y., 
and he also held various other local offices. 
He was appointed postmaster of Friendship 
by President Hayes and was re-appointed by 
President Arthur, but since coming to Kent 
has given very little attention to political 
affairs. 

Mr. Howard was united in marriage, in 
i860, with Miss Amelia C. Babcock, who was 
b(jrn in Cortland county, N. Y., a daughter of 
Simon Babcock, a merchant and farmer. 
This union has been blessed with three chil- 
dnni, viz: Hattie, who is married to B. ¥. 
Drake, of Friendsliip, N. Y., and has one 
child — Howard; Nora, wife of Milton Knifel, 
of Kent, and the mother of two children — 
Lawrence and Inez: Nina, now Mrs. Charles 
Powers, of Kent, and nK)ther of one child — 
Josephine Marie. 

Mr. Howard is a knight templar Mason, is 
a very pleasant companion and a thorough 
gentleman, and few persons in Kent are more 
highly respected. 



•^Y'OHN L. HOUSLEY, a substantial 
m farmer and a respected citizen of Stowe 
A J township. Summit county, Ohio, was 
born on his father's farm in Stark coun- 
ty, Ohio, December 21, 1846, and springs 
from English ancestrj-. 

Levi Housley, grandfather of John L., 
was born in New York state and was the son 
of one of three brothers, who came over from 
England and fought through the Revolution- 
ary war, in which one was killed. After the 
war, one brother settled in New York and one 
came west, and his descendants, later, settled 
in Maryland, where he purchased a farm, on 



part of which the battle of Antietam was 
fought. His log barn was chinked with mor- 
tar, in which the date of the building was 
marked 1765. He married, in Maryland, 
Mar}' Loman. Her mother's maiden name 
was Leidigh, and she came from Switzerland. 

Levi Housley and wife were the parents 
of five children, Leidigh. Katie, Barbara, 
Roseann and Levi. Mr. Housley had a good 
farm and home, but came to Ohio in 1805 to 
see the country, and when he passed through 
Canton it contained one log house and two 
Indian wigwams. Mr. Housley located a 
piece of land in Stark county and then re- 
turned home, making the journey on horse- 
back and traveling by a blazed trail. Failing 
to sell his place, he remained in Maryland 
until 1824, when he brought his family and 
settled on the land he had located in 1805, 
consisting of 160 acres covered by a heavy 
forest of oak, ash, and beech, but later moved 
to Lake township, in the same county, bought 
another farm of 160 acres and here passed the 
remainder of his days. He cleared up part 
of his first farm and all of his second, and 
had a goodly propert}- improved with good 
buildings. He was a substantial citizen and 
a member of the Presbyterian church, and as- 
sisted to found the first church in his part of 
the county. In politics he was an old-line 
whig. He was seventeen years old when the 
Revolutionary war closed, but, being afflicted 
with white swelling and lame, could not enlist 
as a soldier, but ser\ed as blacksmith, shoe- 
ing horses. His father, however, fought all 
through the war for independence. 

Leidigh Housley, father of John L. , was 
born in Maryland on his father's farm, Octo- 
ber 23, 1814, and was reared a farmer. He 
came with his brother and family to Ohio, in 
1824, when ten years of age, and married, 
March 21, 1837. Nancy Thompson, a native 
of Stark county, and a daughter of John and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



329 



Mary Ellen (Warner) Thompson, of English 
descent. Mr. Thompson came to Ohio about 

(S2i;, settled in Lake township, Stark county, 
and cleared up a farm of 200 acres. He was 
a Methodist in religion, a respected citizen and 
lived to be eighty-two years old. His children 
were Mary, Rachael, Eliza, Abbie, Nancy, 
Sally and Benjamin. Mr. and Mrs. Housley 
settled on the old Housle}- homestead and 
tJTerc passed all their remaining days. Leidigh 
Housle\' was a very industrious and respected 
man and prospered by thrift and accumulated 
a handsome property — a good farm of 230 
acres. His children were Mar\', Elizabeth, 
Catharine, Nancy, John L., Minerva, Levi, 
Sarah, Daniel, Ethelinda, Alice and Jesse. 
Mr. Housle\- was an honored citizen and held 
the office of township trustee, was a member 
of the school board, and tilled other minor 
offices. He lived to be seventy-two years old 
and (lied in 1S86, September 5, a Presb\terian 
in religion and in politics a republican, beloved 
by all his family and much thought of by all 
who knew him. 

John L. Housley received a good common- 
school education, and a business education at 
Oberlin college. He went to the Pacific coast 
in the fall of 1868, via New York city and the 
isthmus of Panama. Having two sisters, Mary 
and Nanc\-, in Benton county, Oregon, he vis- 
ited them, rested from work, and trapped and 
hunted in the Cascade mountains one winter, 
and killed foxes, beavers, minks, otters and 
coons, and did a good business, making $100 
per month. He returned home in the spring 
of 1870. He married, June I, 1871, in Stark 
county, Ohio, Nancy Hill, born October 2, 
1848, in Stark county, daughter of Thomas 
and Ikirbara (Long) Hill. Thomas Hill came 
from Maryland as a pioneer and settled in 
Plain township. Stark county. His children 
were Daniel (died two years old), Catherine, 
Susan, William, Nanc\ , Richard, Abraham, 



Sallie and Elizabeth. Mr. Hill died on his 
farm when seventy-nine years old, April 8, 
1883. He was a man of great ingenuity, un- 
derstood every kind of work, and was very 
handy with tools. He was very religious, was 
a German Baptist, was a kind and upright 
man. Mr. Hill was first married to Kate 
Worley, and they had Thomas, Samuel and 
David. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Housley set- 
tled on the old Housley homestead in Stark 
county, and lived there for some time, and 
came to their present farm March 11, 1873. 
Mr. Housley first bought 122 acres, and, by 
industr}' and thrift, has added to it until he 
now owns 142 acres of good land; he built a 
fine and tasteful house in 1893, and has it 
nicely furnished. Mr. Housley, aided by his 
faithful wife, has greatly improved his farm, 
on which are over 40,000 feet of tile drainage. 
Their children are Lewis E.,. Virgil M.. Mary 
E., Nannie B., Leidigh and Richard L. Mrs. 
Housley is a member of the German Baptist 
church and in politics Mr. Housley is a prohi- 
bitionist and free silverite. He has held the 
offices of supervisor, assessor, and member of 
the school board. The family is one of the 
best in the township and all the children are 
well educated. Virgil and Mary attended 
Buchtel college and are stenographers and 
typewi iters. Lewis E. attended Ashland uni- 
versity and also a business college, and is now 
receiving clerk in the Goodrich Rubber com- 
pany. The remainder are at home. 



* y ^ ENRY WILLETT HOWE, one of 
w^^ most prominent citizens of North- 
M. . r ampton township. Summit county, 
Ohio, was born in the adjoining town- 
ship of Bath, June 29, 1828, the eldest son of 
Capt. Richard Howe, a native of St. Mary's 
county, Md., born in 1799. 



330 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Stanislaus Howe, paternal grandfather of 
Henry W. Howe, was one of the pioneers of 
Maryland, and his paternal grandmother, 
Elizabeth, was a daughter of Edward Willett, 
who was owner of a large estate near Upper 
Marlboro, in the same state, and grandson of 
Edward Willett. who was appointed clerk of 
the court of Prince George county, Md., in 
1 708. The large Willett estate was devised to 
a trustee, who was authorized to sell and to 
divide the proceeds of the sale among the 
heirs, but no part of those proceeds ever 
reached the heirs of Stanislaus Howe, and the 
executor of the will was long ago released 
from his responsibility, and his sureties, or 
bondsmen, relieved from their liability under 
the statutes of Maryland. 

Roxana K. Howe, mother of Henry W. 
Howe, was the second daughter born to Maj. 
Sylvanus Jones, a native of Bristol, Ontario 
county, N. Y., while his wife, Phebe, was a 
daughter of Capt. Arden Sears, a family active 
in organizing the first Protestant Episcopal 
church in New England, and to this day 
counted among its most munificent benefactors. 
Roxana K. Jones was the pioneer school- 
mistress of Bath township. Summit county, 
Ohio, and also was one of the organizers of 
the first Sunday-school in Akron, of which she 
was a teacher for half a century, and a memo- 
rial window in the First Methodist church per- 
petuates her memory as one of its founders. 

Henry Willett Howe received an excellent 
education in youth and early manhood, and 
was graduated from Oberlin college with the 
degrees of A. B. and A. M. For ten years he 
practiced law in Akron and its vicinity, and for 
six years was a member of the board of educa- 
tion at the time that the Akron school Jaw was 
on trial as an experiment. During this period 
he was secretary of the board, did a full share 
of committee work and performed many of the 
duties that now devolve on the superintendent. 



and all without compensation; he also served 
two terms in the city council, which was like- 
wise an office of honor and not of profit. In his 
capacity as attorney he became interested in sev- 
eral agricultural implement patents, and after- 
ward became engaged in manufacturing, which 
afforded him relief from sedentar\- employ- 
ments that were undermining his health. In- 
heriting from his father's estate a farm, he 
granted a right of way across it to a railroad 
company, the consideration being that the 
company should build and maintain a station 
thereon, and then made his residence in sight 
of his birthplace — within easy reach of both 
Cleveland ami Akron. A post-office was also 
established at the same point by his request, 
and he was appointed postmaster, and still 
holds that office; he has also served as justice 
of the peace several terms — -an office for which 
he is peculiarly qualified — and has frequently 
settled the disputes of his neighbors without 
litigation; he has officiated at man)" weddings, 
and has not unfrequently conducted the services 
at the bfirial of the dead. As to politics, Mr. 
Howe had been reared to a belief in the prin- 
ciples of the whig party, which he had advo- 
cated up to the time immediateh' preceding 
his coming of age, but in 1848, on the nomi- 
nation by the whigs of a slaveholder for the 
presidencN' of the United States, he withdrew 
his influence from the old part\' and worked 
with vigor and enthusiasm for the establish- 
ment of the new, or republican organization; 
nevertheless he supported Bryan and the Chi- 
cago platform of 1896. For fifteen years he 
acted as secretary of the Pomona grange, P. 
of H , but declined promotion, as he had pre- 
\iously declined political honors. 

In religious matters, Mr. Howe was reared 
under gospel influences, but when barely out 
of his teens began to insist upon "interpret- 
ing" the sacred writings in the light of the 
belief prevalent at the time they were written. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



XM 



He has so much confidence in his judgment in 
this respect that he is willing to live by it, and 
to die by it. 

Mr. Howe was happily united in marriage, 
December 12, 1859, with Miss Isadora C. Bell, 
a native of Connecticut, and this union has 
been blessed with three children — Edward B., 
Frank R. and .\bbey B. 

For half a century he has been a contributor 
to agricultural and educational publications. 
His second son, Frank, since he became of 
age, has been occupied with educational work, 
and since April, i8g2, at Darfowville, in Sum- 
mit county, has published a monthly journal 
for the promotion of that interest. 



* w ^ ERBERT F. HUDSON, the well- 
1^^^ known dealer in creamery supplies at 
M. . r Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, was 
born in the township of the same 
name April i, 1846, a son of James and Cor- 
delia A. (Rowell) Hudson. The father, a native 
of Pennsylvania, was a farmer, came to Por- 
tage county, Ohio, with the pioneers, and died 
in 1876. in New York city, while on a visit; 
the mother, a native of New Hampshire, had 
died on the home place in 1874. These par- 
ents had three children, of whom subject is 
the youngest; Charles D. is a live-stock dealer 
in Chicago, and the sister, Mrs. Henry Sharp, 
resides on the old homestead. The family are 
of English e.xtraction, and of ante-Revolution- 
ar)' residence in America. 

Herbert F. Hudson was educated in the 
city schools of Ravenna and in the well-known 
Eastman Business college of Poughkeepsie, 
N. Y. His first independent effort in business 
life was in buying and shipping live stock at 
Ravenna, but his main work has been in the 
line which now occupies his attention, and 
which was rooted in the industry which has 
led to it, which will easily be perceived by 



following his business career in detail. In 
1867 he erected the Beech Woods cheese fac- 
tory in Ravenna township, and in the spring 
of 1870 constructed the .Springdale creamery 
and cheese factory at Rot^tstown, having re- 
moved from the former to the latter place 
after disposing of the Beech Woods plant. In 
1882 he entered the employ of the DeLaval 
(cream) Separator company, of New York, in 
the capacity of salesman and general agent, 
and with this company he still holds his con- 
nection, and during the past twelve years has 
sold and established agencies in nearh' every 
state in the Union. This connection also in- 
volves the duty of supervising the erection of 
creameries on contract, and in this capacity 
Mr. Hudson has erected and equipped 1 54 
creameries, beside making extensive sales to 
creameries that had already been established. 

Mr. Hudson was unite<i in marriage, in 
1868, in Urbana, Ohio, with Miss Hettie M. 
Clark, daughter o'f Horace M. Clark, who was 
for many years count}- clerk of Portage county, 
but who, with his wife, is now laid in the 
grave. Two children have blessed this happy 
union — Charles Clair, of Cleveland, and James 
Frank, still at home and attending school. 
The elder, Charles, holds an exceptionallj' 
good position in the Van Dorn iron works of 
Cleveland, being naturally gifted with a me- 
chanical genius, which will be fully developed 
and expanded through the position he now 
holds. He is happily married to Miss Mary 
Ray, of Rootstown. 

In politics Mr. Hudson has been a repub- 
lican since old enough to vote; fraternally he 
has been a member of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows e\er since reaching the age 
which (lualitied him as a voter. Mrs. Hudson 
is a zealous member of the Congregational 
church, and an interested worker in all the 
undertakings of the congregation of that de- 
nomination in Rootstown. She is kind to the 



332 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



poor, philanthropic in every thought, and her 
home is ever open to the young, where their 
social enjoyments are profusely allowed, but 
where the monitory wisdom of the mistress 
never fails to inculcate a lesson duly fitted to 
the unrestrained enjoyment of the young on 
these occasions. The especial care of this 
mother, however, has been that of her two 
sons, to whom she has always been the wise 
counselor and guide. 



>^OSEPH HUGILL, of Akron, Ohio, is 
■ a native of Gunnersville, York county, 
^•1 England, was born September i, 1834. 
a son of George and Isabella (Close) 
Hugill. The father of our subject was a son 
of (ieorge, who, in turn, was a son of George, 
who was a son of Edward, who was a son of 
John, and he a son of George, all natives of 
Yorkshire — the first three of whom were lead 
miners, and the latter three farmers. foseph 
Close, maternal grandfather of Joseph Hugill, 
the subject, was a carpenter and builder by 
tratle, and was a son of George Close, also a 
builder of Yorkshire. 

Joseph Hugill, the subject, left his native 
country at the age of seventeen years, landed 
in New York city July i, 1851, came thence 
to Cleveland, Ohio, where he was employed 
at stone and brick work, which he had begun 
to learn in the old country at the age of eleven 
years. In 1854 he left Cleveland and went to 
Canada, and worked at his trde for the Grand 
Trunk Railway company until 1856, and then 
began contracting for the Buffalo cV Lake 
Huron Railway company — now a part of the 
Grand Trunk system. In 1858 he went to 
California and engaged in gold mining, also 
worked at his trade one year, and in i860 went 
to Nevada, and worked on the Great Basin 
hotel, which was afterward purchased by the 
county for its own use. He next superintend- 



ed the stone work for the Gold •& Currie 
quartz-mill at Virginia City, at which he was 
engaged until May, 1864, when he returned 
east, and passed a year in Cleveland, Ohio. 
In 1865 he was employed in farming in Cuya- 
hoga county, and in 1866 settled in Akron, 
where he engaged in general contracting for 
stone and brickwork, which business he fol- 
lowed until 1895, when he was appointed city 
commissioner, which position he still ablv fills. 

September 28, 1864. Mr. Hugill Nvas unit- 
ed in marriage to Miss Sarah ^^^ells, daughter 
of Martin and Martha (Walpole) Wells, the 
latter a lineal descendant of Horace Walpole, 
at one time the renowned prime minister of 
England. This union has been crowned by 
the birth of four children, viz: William E., 
Frank W. and Miimie (twins, deceased), and 
Rhea W. 

Mr. Hugill is a thirty-second degree Ma- 
son in his fraternal relations, and socially he 
and family stand high in the esteem of the 
best people of .\kron. 



•^EORGE WHITFIELD HULETT, 
■ G\ '*" ex-soldier of the Civil war and at 

\^^^ present a well-known dealer in agri- 
cultural implements, feed, etc., at 
Kent, Portage county, Ohio, was born in 
Chemung county, N. Y., October 13, 1842, a 
son of Asahel and Clarissa (Hulett) Hulett, 
natives of \'ermont. 

.\sahel Hulett was reared to manhood in 
his native city of Rutland, Vt., and at one 
time was warden of the Vermont state prison. 
He was married in the Green Mountain state, 
whence he moved to New York state, and in 
1847 came to Ohio — making the journey with 
teams — and purchased a large farm in Frank- 
lin township. Portage county. He dealt ex- 
tensively in live stock, and before the advent 
of railroads drove his stock overland to the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



33;:J 



eastern markets. He also dealt largely in 
produce and was likewise engaged in gardening 
on an extensive scale. His large farm was 
well improved, but in an evil hour he went se- 
curity for friends and lost his vast possessions, 
with the exception of his home and seventy 
acres. He was a stanch democrat in politics 
and lived to be seventy-seven years of age, 
voting his ticket for more than half a century. 
He died in 1877, but his widow survived him 
eleven years and died at the age of eighty-six. 
Of their children, Rudolph died in infancy; 
Orison, a farmer, died in Kansas, leaving a 
family; Louise died unmarried; Harriet died 
in early life; John was a soldier in the Second 
Ohio cavalry, became a farmer after the war, 
and died in Kansas, unmarried; Esther is the 
widow of Horace Bester and lives in Kent, 
Ohio; Albert Rudolph, a soldier of the One 
Hundred and Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
was killed in the battle of Franklin, Tenn. ; 
George W., the subject, was next in order of 
birth; Sarah M. resides on the old homestead 
in Franklin township: Ella Gertrude, who was 
married to Sereno Holdridge, died in Shalers- 
ville, Ohio, leaving two children, and Frank- 
lin D. died in childhood. 

George W. Hulett, the subject of this 
memoir, was reared on the Franklin township 
farm from the age of five years until nearly 
twenty, and attended the common schools in 
the interval. August 11, 1862, he enlisted in 
the volunteer service, and was mustered in, 
at Massillon, in company I, One Hundred and 
Fourth Ohio infantry, and had his first en- 
gagement at Covington, Ky. , then followed 
numerous engagements with the raider John 
Morgan in Kentucky; then the regiment crossed 
the mountains into Tennessee and was present 
at the capture of Knoxville, and fought at 
Cumberland Gap; then joined the Twenty- 
third army corps, marched with Sherman 
south and participated in the capture of At- 



lanta; then returned northward to Nashville, 
Tenn., to intercept Gen. Hood, and took part 
in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., in whicli liis 
brother, Albert Rudolph, was killed, and where 
our subject was taken prisoner and sent to 
Andersonville. In this rebel pen Mr. Hulett 
was confined until March 2"] , 1S65, when he 
was taken to Vicksburg, Miss. , and paroled. 
He was one of the unfortunates who boarded 
the ill-fated steamboat Sultana for passage 
north. This boat had gone up the Mississippi 
river to a point beyond Memphis, Tenn. , when 
her boilers exploded, and of the 2,360 souls 
on board, over 1,600 lost their lives, Mr. 
Hulett being one of those who were spared, 
but not without injury. On returning to Port- 
age county, Mr. Hulett purcha.sed a farm and 
engaged in its cultivation, but dealing in live 
stock was his principal business until 1887, 
when he removed to Kent and continued deal- 
ing in stock alone until 1889, when he engaged 
in his present enterprise. 

In May, 1873, Mr. Hulett was united in 
marriage with Miss Thirsa Chapman, a native 
of Brimfield township and a (laughter of Henr\' 
C. and Alvira (Underwood) Chapman. In 
politics Mr. Hulett is a stanch democrat, but 
has never been a seeker after office. He has 
a clear record as a business man as well as a 
soldier, and stands high in the general esteem. 



@EORGE A. HUNTLEY, M. D., of 
Copley, Summit county, Ohio, is a 
native of the Buckeye state and was 
born in North Bloomfield, Trumbull 
county, September 11, 1871, the son of Dr. 
A. O. and Alice (Hawkins) Huntle\', the for- 
mer of whom was born in Medina count}- in 
1845, 'i"'^ the latter in Copley September 14, 
1847, and were the parents of two children, 
viz: Josephine, who was born in 1868 and is 
now the wife of Lee Baldwin, of Washington, 



384 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



D. C, and Dr. George A., the subject proper 
or this biographical notice. 

Dr. A. O. Huntley was reared a farmer 
and educated in the district schools of Medina 
county as a preparatory course, and then, 
after a still further preparatory course of 
medical study, entered the Stirling Medical 
college of Columbus, Ohio, from which he 
was graduated after finishing the course, and 
began practice in Cirangerburg, Medina county, 
but remained there a few years onl)-, when he 
went to North Bloomfield, Ohio, where he 
had a most successful practice, which ex- 
tended over a period of thirty years. Mrs. 
Alice Huntley, the mother of Dr. George A. 
Huntley, is a daughter of (ieorge W. and 
Matilda (Hubbard) Hawkins, the former of 
whom was the first white child born in Cop- 
ley, the date being December 29. 181 5. In 
January. 1840. Mr. Hawkins married Miss 
Hubbard, who was born in 181 1, a daughter 
of Kenben Hubbard, and this union resulted 
in tiie birth of five children, viz: Adelia. who 
<lied in infancy; Eliza, burn June 4, 1845 — 
died November 18, 1871; Alice C. . mother of 
subject; George W'., born September 2, 1851 
— died November i ^, 1876, and Eugene R., 
born June 28, 1854. Mrs. Hawkins was 
called away, in the faith of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, Decembers, 1886, and Mr. 
Hawkins died May 21, 1896. In politics, the 
latter was a democrat. 

Dr. George A. Huntley, after receiving the 
usual common-school education, graduated 
from the high school of North Bloomfield, 
Ohio, in 1890, then passed two years in 
Hiram college, and next entered the Western 
Reserve Medical college at Cleveland, from 
which he was graduated in 1895 with the de- 
gree of M. D., and the same year entered 
upon the practice of his profession in Copley 
Center, where he has become very popular 
and has met with unequivocal success. 



In May, 1894, Dr. Huntley was united in 
marriage with Miss Mary Clapp, who was 
born in 1871, a daughter of Robert and Eliza 
Clapp, who are the parents of seven children, 
viz: Robert G., Frederick I., Isaac, Emily 
(wife of P'rank Doughty, of Warren, Ohio), 
Mary (Mrs. Huntley), Albert and John. The 
marriage of Dr. Huntley and wife has been 
blessed with one child — Francis Eugene, born 
November 21, 1896. The parents are mem- 
bers of the Disciples' church, and in politics 
the doctor is a strong republican. 



>rr'OHN H. INSANDE, one of the substan- 
■ tial citizens of Cuyahoga Falls, an 
A J honored gentleman and the head of a 
respected family, springs from sterling 
German ancestry, and was born in Boston, 
Mass., March 19, 1833, a son of John Henry 
and Mary (Schlusemyer) Insande. He re- 
ceived but little education and began to work 
in a nail factory when ten years old. When 
he was thirteen years of age he began to work 
for Peter Cooper, the great philanthropist, in 
his wire works at Trenton, N. J., continued 
in his employ for nine years and learned all 
the departments of the iron business, includ- 
ing iron rolling, and was also the first to make 
copper wire from ingots, to be used in making 
rivets for belts. He married. September 16. 
1855, at Trenton, N. J., Sarah Bailey, who 
was born March 3, 1836, in Leicestershire, 
England, on a farm, a daughter of Samuel 
and Emily (Roper) Bailey. Mr. Bailey came 
to America, in 1845, bringing his family, and 
settled in New York city. After marriage Mr. 
and Mrs. Insande lived in Trenton. N. J., for 
two years. In 1857 they came to Cuyahoga 
Falls, where Mr. Insande engaged in forging 
steamboat shafting and car axles for Cleve- 
land, and became foreman for the James 
forge. He finished learning the machinist's 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



335 



trade with the Bill Bros., well known ma- 
chinists and inventors of Cuyahoga Falls, and 
continued with these two firms for eight years, 
and then bought a flouring and saw-mill at 
Brecksville, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, but soon 
sold it out and went to Newberg, Ohio, in 
1865. He then became foreman of the Chis- 
holm rolling mill and remained with this firm 
four years. In 1868 he bought a rolling mill 
in Cuyahoga Falls, but soon sold out and 
bought an interest in a machinery company, 
and three years later he was one of the 
founders of the Falls \\'ire company, and 
managed this business for fifteen years. 
Throughout his long business career he has 
been successful. In his later years he is man- 
aging a dairy farm. He was one of the orig- 
inal republicans of this county and voted for 
Fremont and Dayton. He is an honored citi- 
.zen and has held the offic of town councilman 
several years, and is a member of the board 
of education. 

Fraternally he is a Mason, is a member of 
Starr lodge. No. 187, Cuyahoga Falls, and has 
filled every office in his lodge, including wor- 
shipful master, is now its treasurer, and as- 
sisted in establishing the Newberg, Ohio lodge. 
He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and 
has filled the office of regent. Mr. Insande is 
a Lutheran in religion, and his wife is an Epis- 
copalian. To them have been born Charles 
H., Samuel B., Edward E., Albert W. , Annie 
Lottie, George F., Frederic J., Georgiana 
May and Mary Emma. Mr. Insande began 
life a penniless boy, and by his steady applica- 
tion and industry became a successful and well- 
to-do business man. Even in his youth he was 
a very skillful machinist and workman and 
could do almost anything with tools. 

John H. Insande, father of subject, was a 
soldier in Napoleon's army, and in the great 
battle of Waterloo when but fifteen years old. 
He was a blacksmith by trade. His children 



were John H., William F. (who went to New 
South Wales, and was afterward a soldier in 
our great Civil war) and Henrietta. Mr. In- 
sande died when our subject was a small child 
and Mrs. Insande next married John R. Wal- 
ser, an iron worker. Samuel Bailey, father 
of Mrs. Insande, was born in England. He 
was a farmer and came to America in July, 
1845, in a sailing vessel from Liverpool to 
New York, being si.\ weeks on the passage. 
He located in New York, but five years later 
moved to Trenton, N. J., where he became a 
wire drawer, and died there aged fifty-two 
years, a member of the Episcopal church. His 
children were James, Sarah, Harriet, Georgi- 
anna, Samuel and John H., Jr. Mr. and Mrs. 
Insande have reared an excellent family of 
children, who rank among the most respected 
citizens of Cuyahoga Falls. 



eRNEST A. JOHNSON, of Cuyahoga 
Falls, Summit county, Ohio, and one 
of its most respected citizens, was 
born July 22, 1846, in Benton, Mich., 
a son of Nathan A. and Celestia (Davis) John- 
son, the former a son of Moses and Christina 
Johnson. 

Moses Johnson was born in Vermont March 
10, 1777, of English descent, his remote an- 
cestors having early settled in Vermont. Moses 
was a carpenter, joiner and farmer. He mar- 
ried, November 2, 1802, Christina Born, who 
was born in Schoharie county, N. Y., May 7, 
1788. They located in Rochester, N. Y., at 
an early day, then moved to North Clarkson, 
N. v., and in 1836 removed to Branch coun- 
ty, Mich., where Mr. Johnson cultivated a 
farm of eighty acres and worked at his trade 
of carpenter and joiner. There Mrs. Johnson 
died August 2, 1842, and Mr. Johnson August 
31, 1850, their remains being interred at Tak- 
onsha. They were the parents of the follow- 



336 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ing children: Betsey, Polly, Sibbillah, Evean, 
Levina, Rachael, Margaret and Morgan (twins), 
Christina, Nathan A., George, and Moses, Jr. 

Nathan A. Johnson was born October 24, 
1 8 19, in North Clarkson, N. Y. He became 
a carpenter and joiner and married, at Char- 
lotte, Mich., November 12, 1844, Celestia 
Davis, who was born at Pompey Hill, N. Y., 
a daughter of Stephen and Martha M. (An- 
drews) Davis. Stephen Davis was born April 
-. '799> in Rhode Island, of an old family who 
settled in New York state, and married there 
June 14, 1823. Stephen Davis settled, in 
1838, in Benton township, Eaton county, 
Mich., where he lived on his farm of eighty 
acres, but died at Charlotte, Mich., May 30, 
'893, aged ninety-four years, a man of excel- 
lent character, and the father of the following 
children: Celestia, Marion, Oscar, Helen, 
Robert, Oron, Martha, Mary and Edgar. 
Edgar Davis was killed in Kentucky, in 1863, 
in a skirmish with the southern cavalry. After 
marriage Nathan A. Johnson and wife settled 
in Charlotte, Mich., and there passed their 
remaining days. Their children were Ernest 
A., Alice, Inez, Charles, Clive and Ethel 
(twins). Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were mem- 
bers of the Universalist church, but very lib- 
erally assisted all denominations in theirtown, 
building the Universalist church at Charlotte. 
He was for many years a prominent business 
man, owning a planing mill and lumber yard. 
He was deputy sheriff, but performed the du- 
ties of sheriff, and later was a member of the 
first town council. Fraternally he was a Ma- 
son, belonging to the lodge at Charlotte, and 
was a member of the Odd F"ellows' lodge of the 
same place. He was a man of excellent moral 
character, well known for his sterling worth, 
and died February 10, 1894, at Charlotte— 
his wife February 4, 1896, at Denver, Colo. 

Ernest A. Johnson received a good com- 
mon-school education in his youth, and later 



attended Myhew's Commercial college at Al- 
bion, Mich. He then learned the carpenter's 
trade, which he has since followed. He came 
to Ohio in December, 1880, although he had 
previously worked at his trade in many states 
in the Union, including the far west. He 
married, December 22, 1880, Hattie Hartle, 
who was born in Stowe township. Summit 
county, July 25, 1855, a daughter of Lotan 
and Diana (Buel) Hartle. After marriage 
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson lived in Akron ti\e 
years, but have resided in Stowe township 
since. Both are members of the Disciples" 
church, in which Mr. Johnson is treasurer and 
Sunday-school teacher. In politics he is a 
republican and fraternally is an unaffiliating 
Odd Fellow. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson one 
daughter, Hazel B., was born I^ebruary 15. 
1885, at Akron, Ohio. Mr. Johnson is a man 
of wide experience and has erected many busi- 
ness buildings, including the Legget school- 
house at Akron. He is a skillful workman 
and a man of unblemished character. 



^T^OHN KEMERY, a prosperous farmer 
■ and dairyman of Bath township. Sum- 
/• 1 mit county, Ohio, is a native of Wayne 
county, and was born March i, 1842. 
Daniel Kemery, father of subject, was born 
in Pennsylvania January 27, 1797, came to 
Ohio in 181 5, and followed farming in Wayne 
county until his death, February 7, 1850. 
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Su- 
sanna Yergin, was born in Huntingdon county. 
Pa., December 6, 1811, and died in Wayne 
county, Ohio, April 23, 1883. She was a 
daughter of Henry and Catherine (Coble* 
Yergin, who were born in Washington county. 
Pa., April 30, 1788, and June 21, 1791, were 
married in 1 809, and had born to them a fam- 
ily of two sons and three daughters. Mr. and 
Mrs. Yergin came to Ohio in 1816, settled in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



339 



Wayne county, and here Mrs. Yergin died 
November 13, 1852. Mr. Yergin, who was a 
well-to-do farmer, died June i, 1856. Daniel 
and Susanna (Yergin) Kemery reared a family 
of five children, viz: Catherine, deceased wife 
of Benjamin Alman, of Bath township; David, 
a farmer, of Pekin, 111. ; Caroline, wife of J. 
Sheldon, of Richfield township. Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio; Samantha, married to Silas Paine, 
also of Richfield township, and John, the sub- 
ject of this notice. 

John Kemery, the subject, at the age of 
nine years, was brought from Wayne county 
to Summit county by his parents, who rented 
a farm in Richfield township, which he assist- 
ed in clearing up, and on which he lived until 
twenty-two years old. He then started in life 
for himself empty-handed, and worked as a 
farm hand until 1875, when he bought fifty 
acres of farm land in the same township, 
which he cultivated until 1881, when he sold 
out and came to Bath township and bought the 
160-acre farm on which he now resides. Here 
he at first cleared off fifty acres, erected new 
buildings and has since developed from his 
original acreage one of the best farms in Bath 
township. 

April 20, 1865, John Kemery married Miss 
Mary Ann Peach, who was born August 14, 
1842, a daughter of David and Elizabeth (Eby) 
Peach, the former a native of Virginia, born in 
1807, and the latter born in Lancaster county. 
Pa., January 15, 1806. David Peach early 
came to Ohio, was reared to farming in Bath 
township, Summit county, and died in March, 
1 88 1, at the age of seventy-four years. Eliza- 
beth (Eby) Peach died October 23, 1886, when 
eighty-one years old. To David and Eliza- 
beth Peach were born five children, viz: Lydia, 
born October 5, 1832, died in 1851; Sarah, 
born April 20, 1836, died in 1855; Rachel, 
born March 15, 1838, died in 1847; John E., 
born June 21, 1840, died in 1853; and Mary 

10 



A., born August 14, 1842, now the wife of 
Mr. Kemery. John Eby, a brother of Mrs. 
Elizabeth Peach, was born in Lancaster coun- 
ty, Pa. , July 24, 1823, early came to Bath 
township. Summit county, Ohio, married Har- 
riet Spade, and had born to him two sons and 
two daughters, all still living. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Kemery was born one child, Melvin Or- 
lando, August 31, 1866. He married, Janu- 
ary 10, 1897, Mi.ss Anna Snyder, and now 
resides, with his wife, on the Kemery home- 
stead. 

Mr. Kemery is engaged in general farming 
and dairying, and has some of the best live 
stock in the county. His farm is nicely lo- 
cated about ten miles from Akron, while hi.s 
dwelling is built on land commanding a view 
of several towns in the near and far distance. 
In politics he is a republican, but has never 
been a seeker after office. He is of generous 
disposition, and freely contributes to the sup- 
port of school and church, and very highl\" 
esteemed in the community in which he lives. 
Mr. Kemery has been a devotee of the public 
school system of our nation. He cast his first 
presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. Mr. 
and Mrs. Kemery are true Christians, are peo- 
ple of integrity and honor, and are a credit to 
their neighborhood. 



nx 



ILLIAM CLOYD JACOBS, M. D.. 

one of the most experienced physi- 
cians and surgeons of Akron, Ohio, 
is a native of the Buckeye state, 
and was born in Lima, Allen county, Febru- 
ary 26, 1840, a son of Thomas K. and Ann 
(Elder) Jacobs. 

William Jacobs, paternal grandfather of 
the doctor, was a native of eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, a son of a Revolutionary soldier, of 
Welsh descent, and was a horticulturist by 
vocation. He was married in his native state 



340 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



to Mary Williams, late in life came to Ohio 
and died in Lima in 1848. 

Thomas K. Jacobs, father of the doctor, 
was born in Pennsylvania January 30, 18 12, 
there grew to manhood and married Miss Ann 
Elder. In 1835 he came to Ohio, and for a 
year worked at his trade of tailor in Ashland. 
In June, 1836, he settled in Lima, where for 
about three years he worked at his trade. He 
rapidly rose to prominence in his new home 
and in 1840 was elected treasurer of Allen 
county, and re-elected at intervals until he 
had served si.\ terms in that office; in 1859 he 
was elected a member of the state legislature, 
and was an incumbent of that office until the 
breaking out of the Civil war. He was an 
extensive dealer in real estate, and died, a 
greatly respected citizen, November 12, 1884. 
His wife, who was a daughter of Noah and 
Ann (Alexander) Elder, of Pennsylvania, bore 
him nine children, four of whom grew to 
mature years, viz: William C, our subject; 
Matilda, now Mrs. Henry A. Moore; Clara, 
wife of John Brotherton and Thomas K., a 
physician of Lima. 

Dr. William C. Jacobs attended the pub- 
lic schools in Lima until sixteen years of age, 
when, in 1856, he was appointed a cadet in 
the naval academy at Annapolis, Md., but in 
March, 1859, resigned and returned home for 
the purpose of studying medicine. After due 
preparatory study he was admitted to the Ohio 
Medical college at Cincinnati, from which he 
graduated March 3, 1862, and on April i, of 
the same year, was commissioned an acting 
assistant surgeon in the United States army. 
He was at once dispatched to Nashville, Tenn. , 
and served in the hospitals in and around that 
city until July following, when he was tem- 
porarily attached to the Twenty-first Kentucky 
regiment of infantry, was placed in charge of 
the medical department until August, and was 
then assigned as assistant surgeon to the 



Fourth Ohio cavalry, in which position he 
served until October i, when he was injured 
and returned home on leave of absence. 
While on this leave, he went before the board 
of medical examiners of the state of Ohio, was 
re-examined, and was commissioned surgeon 
of the Eighty-first Ohio volunteer infantry 
December 23, 1862, thus attaining the rank 
of surgeon before he was twenty-three years 
of age. He joined his regiment at Corinth, 
Miss., January 9, 1863, and served with it 
under Gen. Sherman in the campaign against 
Atlanta, in the march to the sea, and in the 
operations from Savannah, Ga., to Raleigh, 
N. C, and after the surrender of Lee and 
Johnson he was mustered out of the service 
July 21, 1865, at Camp Dennison, Ohio. In 
October, 1865, he settled in Akron, where he 
has since been in the active practice of his pro- 
fession, and now stands not only in its fore- 
most rank, but in point of service is the old- 
est practitioner in the city. 

Dr. Jacobs has twice been married. The 
first marriage was consummated September 
10, 1863, with Miss Huldah M. Hill, daughter 
of Luther and Maria (Gibbs) Hill, of Piqua, 
Ohio. This union was blessed with one son, 
Harold H., who was born February 10, 1866; 
this young gentleman graduated from Amherst 
college in 1888, and from the Ohio Medical 
college in 1891, and is now associated with his 
father in practice. The second marriage of 
Dr. Jacobs took place March 6, 1895, to Mrs. 
Mary H. Wheeler, daughter of Sheldon and 
Harriet (Speers) Brown, of Akron. 

Dr. Jacobs is a member of the North- 
eastern Medical association, the Ohio State 
Medical society, the Mississippi Valley Medi- 
cal association, and the American Medical as- 
sociation, to all of which he is a valued con- 
tributor of medical articles, and through which 
he keeps fully posted in and abreast of every 
advance made in the science of medicine. He 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



3-tl 



is also a thirty-second degree Mason, and is, 
beside, a Knight of Pythias, and member of 
the G. A. R. and of the Lojal Legion. In 
politics he is a republican, and has three times 
been elected as a member of the Akron school 
board. 



,>^OBERT B. JOHNSON, M. D., the 
I /^T eminent homeopathic physician and 
1 . P accomplished surgeon of Ravenna, 
was born in Stark county, Ohio, No- 
vember 14, 1839, and is a son of John and 
Esther (Halloway) Johnson, of whom the 
former was born in Pennsylvania; the latter 
is a native of Ohio, and is of Virginian parent- 
age. Of the two sons and three daughters 
born to these parents, the following are still 
living: Dr. Robert B., Nathan W., of Alli- 
ance, Ohio, and Sarah H., wife of Isaac Scott, 
of Warsaw, Ind. 

Joseph Johnson, the paternal grandfather 
of the doctor, was a native of Fayette county, 
Pa. , was a farmer, came to Ohio in March, 
1822, and cleared up a farm in Stark county. 
He was a gentleman of considerable note in 
his township, served as justice of the peace 
several years, was of a genial disposition, and 
died November 5, 1874, aged eighty-one years, 
lacking five days. 

Aaron Holloway, the doctor's maternal 
grandfather, was born in Virginia, and in 1805 
came to Ohio with his father, Amos Holloway, 
they being among the first settlers of Lexing- 
ton township. Stark county. The wife of 
Amos Holloway bore the maiden name of 
Hephzibah Stanton, and was born on the island 
of Nantucket, Mass. , but when a young girl 
was taken by her parents to Campbell county, 
Va. , where she was married, and lived with 
her husband, near Lynchburg. Aaron Hollo- 
way lived in Stark county, Ohio, until about 
1850, when he removed to Kosciusko county, 



Ind., where he expired, at the age of eighty 
years, in the Quaker faith. 

John Johnson, father of Dr. Robert B., 
one of a family of nine children, was brought 
by his parents to Ohio in 1822, and was 
reared to farming in Stark county from the 
age of seven years until manhood. He then 
married and cleared up a farm, rose to local 
prominence, and for several years was a trus- 
tee of Lexington (now Alliance) township, 
having first been active as a member of the 
whig party and later becoming a republican. 
He and wife were both of Quaker origin, but 
in later years united with the Christian 
church, in the faith of which Mr. Johnson 
died August 3, 1895, aged eighty years, four 
months and five days, and the widow died on 
the old homestead, July 10, 1897, aged sev- 
enty-eight years, three months and six days, 
greatly venerated by her neighbors for her 
amiability and consistent piety. 

Dr. Robert B. Johnson was reared on his 
father's farm and was educated in the district 
school and in the high school at Alliance. In 

1866 he studied medicine in that city, and iu 

1867 entered the Cleveland Homeopathic Med- 
ical college, from which he graduated in Feb- 
ruary, 1869 — but during the interval between 
his leaving the high school and his graduating 
in medicine he had taught school with marked 
success. In March, 1869, he came to Ra- 
venna, where he now stands at the head of his 
school of practice. 

November 19, 1861, Dr. Johnson was 
united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Lilley, 
daughter of Ellis and Elizabeth (Phillips) 
Lilley, and this union has been blessed with 
seven children, viz: Esther Lilley, who died 
when but nine months old; Nellie Louise, who 
is single and is living with her parents: Thad- 
deus Lincoln, a practicing physician of Po- 
mona, Cal., and married to Miss Eva McCaul; 
George Darsey, who died August 27, 1893 — a 



342 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



little over twenty-one years of age, and within 
one term of finishing his course as a student of 
medicine; Mary Elizabeth and Ruth Phebe, at 
home, and an infant that died unnamed. 

Dr. Robert B. and Mrs. Johnson are mem- 
bers of the Disciples' church, in which he has 
served as an elder for ten years. Fraternally 
the doctor is a member of Ravenna lodge, No. 
65, I. O. O. P., and is also a member af the 
Royal Arcanum. In politics he is a republican, 
and for two years has been a member of the 
school board. He has been a resident of Ra- 
venna for over twenty-eight years, and for 
twenty-six years has had his residence and of- 
fice in one — and only one — place, on West 
Main street. He and family hold a very high 
position in the social circles of Ravenna, and 
his professional skill has won for him a reputa- 
tion equaled by that of but a very few practi- 
tioners in the county. 



>-7*AMES JORDAN, the popular young 
■ proprietor of the Ravenna livery and 
^J sales stables, was born near Millwood, 
Knox county, Ohio, June 11, 1867, 
and is a son of George and Matilda (Gerrin- 
ger) Jordan, natives of Pennsylvania, and the 
parents of two children — James, the subject 
of this memoir, and Mattie, the wife of H. 
Swigart, of Walhonding, Coshocton county, 
Ohio. His paternal grandfather was George 
Jordan, who came from the Keystone state in 
an early day and located near Gann, Knox 
county, Ohio, but died in Rochester, in Co- 
shocton county, the father of two children. The 
maternal grandfather of subject was of Ger- 
man descent, was a farmer, and died in his 
native state of Pennsylvania. 

George Jordan, the father of James Jor- 
dan, came to Ohio in his early manhood, 
bought land near Gann, Knox county, farmed 
there for several years, and there served as 



justice of the peace and also followed agricult- 
ural pursuits in Knox as well as Coshocton 
county, until his death in Rochester, in the 
faith of the Disciples' church, of which his wife 
was also a member. This lady, after the de- 
cease of Mr. Jordan, married again, and is 
now the wife of Harry Misskimmons. 

James Jordan, of this memoir, lived in 
Knox county until ten years of age, and was 
then taken by his parents to Coshocton county. 
He was reared a farmer and was educated in 
the district schools, lived at home until twenty 
years of age, and then came to Portage county. 
He here first worked on a farm for Coit Broth- 
ers for about twenty months, and next worked 
for Samuel Alford for a year. He then went 
to Aurora, and made butter for Will Eldridge 
for about a year, and then found employment 
as a carpenter for fourteen months, and then 
for a year was superintendent of a farm for 
Jeff Towns. 

In 1888 Mr. Jordan came to Ravenna and 
worked for several months in Bob Widder's 
livery stable, and then formed a partnership 
with Mrs. Poe in the same line of business, 
and so continued for two years. He then 
sold his interest in the concern and bought a 
livery barn on North Meridian street, but ten 
.months later sold this and bought his present 
popular place on Main street, near the Colum- 
bia hotel, and this he has successfully con- 
ducted for three years. 

January 28, 1894, Mr. Jordan was united 
in marriage with Mrs. Julia Poe, widow of 
Simpson Poe and daughter of Seth D. and 
Maria (Witherell) Norton, natives, respectively, 
of Ohio and New York state, and the parents 
of six children, of whom four are now living, 
viz: Adelaide, wife of George F. Nichols, of 
Mantua, Portage county; Julia, now Mrs. Jor- 
dan; Lilla, widow of N. P. Catlin, and Emma, 
wife of Edward Clearwater. The paternal 
grandfather of Mrs. Jordan was Thuel Norton, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



343 



of French descent; he was an early settler of 
Ohio, was a farmer and lumberman, was the 
father of a large family of children, and was 
accidentally killed by a horse in his old age. 
John Witherell, the maternal grandfather of 
Mrs. Jordan, was a native of New York state_ 
lived principal!}' in Watertown until he came 
to Ohio in early manhood, was a tailor by 
trade, and died in Hiram, Portage county, in 
middle age. 

Seth D. Norton, father of Mrs. Jordan, was 
born in Akron, Ohio, was a lawyer by profes- 
sion, and passed the greater part of his life in 
Hiram and Garrettsville, Portage county, but 
his business was conducted chiefly in Ravenna, 
of which city he was mayor for several years. 
He was quite a politician, and at first was a 
republican, but was a democrat at the time of 
his death, which occurred in 1892, at the age 
of sixty-eight years, in the faith of the Disci- 
ples' church. His wife had passed away in 
1888, at the same age and in the same faith. 
Mrs. Jordan was reared in Garrettsville until 
four years of age, and thereafter in Ravenna, 
where, for five years, she was a teacher in the 
public schools. In 1872 she was married to 
Simpson Poe, a member of a very prominent 
family. To this union was born one child — 
Stella, now the wife of John W. Williams. 
Mr. Poe was a liveryman, and died in 1887. 
After his decease, Mrs. Poe continued the 
business in partnership with her brother-in- 
law, George F. Nichols, beginning in the spring 
of 1888, and continuing for three years, then 
conducted it alone two years; since her mar- 
riage with Mr. Jordan, this gentleman has re- 
lieved her of business cares. Mrs. Jordan is a 
member of the Congregational church; Mr. 
Jordan is an Odd Fellow, and in politics is a 
republican. Both families are well connected, 
and Mr. and Mrs. Jordan enjoy to a marked 
degree the respect of a large circle of friends 
in both the city and county. 



ISAAC M. KELLEY, a highly respected 
citizen and thoroughly practical black- 
smith of Ravenna, Ohio, was born in 
Caledonia county, Vt., July 2, 1828, 
and is a son of Isaac and Mary (Moore) Kel- 
ley, the former of whom was a native of 
Boston, Mass., and the latter of the state of 
Vermont, where their marriage took place, 
and who were the parents of seven daughters 
and three sons; of these ten children, three are 
still living, viz: Sophia, wife of William King, 
and Russell D. Kelley and Isaac M. Kelley, 
the last named being the subject of this bio- 
graphical notice. 

Isaac Kelley, father of subject, was also a 
blacksmith, and came from Barnet, Vt., in 
1836, worked in Cortland, Trumbull county, 
Ohio, for six months, went thence to Tall- 
madge. Summit county, and worked about a 
year, and thence moved to Cuyahoga Falls, in 
the same county, where he found employment 
for another period of nearly twelve months. In 
1838 he came to Ravenna, opened a shop on 
his own account and carried on his trade until 
his death, which occurred in 1S72 or 1873, at 
the age of seventy-seven years; a year or two 
later his wife died at the age of seventy-six, in 
the faith of the Baptist church. Mr. Kelley 
had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and for 
his services was awarded a land warrant for 
160 acres of government land. In politics he 
was first a whig, but later became a democrat, 
yet never sought nor held public office. The 
death of his father took place in Boston, Mass. , 
and that of his wife's father in Vermont. The 
latter, Dr. William Moore, was a physician of 
some considerable note in the Green Mountain 
state, was of Scotch descent and had a family 
of seven children. 

Isaac M. Kellej', whose name opens this 
memoir, was eight years of age when brought 
to Ohio by his parents, and ten years old when 
they settled in Ravenna, and still remembers 



344 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the aborigines, who then were offering their 
beaded moccasins and knick-knacks for sale 
on the streets of the city. He was educated 
in the Ravenna academy, and at the age of 
fifteen years began learning the blacksmith's 
trade under the instruction of his father — 
serving until he reached his majority. He then 
studied civil engineering, became quite expert 
in this science, and followed the profession two 
years, in the course of which he assisted in 
making the preliminary survey of the Atlantic 
& Great Western railroad — now of the Erie 
system. A part of the year 1849 Mr. Kelley 
lived in St. Paul, Minn., following his trade, 
and part of the same year in Little Falls, in 
the same state, and in 1850 lived in New Phil- 
adelphia, where he conducted a clothing store. 
Since then Ravenna has been his home. 

September 23, 1853, Mr. Kelley was mar- 
ried to Miss Amelia Adams, daughter of Capt. 
Hiram and Jerusha Adams, of Revenna, and 
this union has been blessed with four chil- 
dren, born in the following order: Helen 
Amelia, Fannie Louisa, Julia Sophia and 
May Elizabeth. Helen is married to George 
S. Payne; F"annie L. is the wife of Ed- 
ward Hattield, a lawyer of Cleveland, and 
is the mother of three children — Margaret 
Stone, Edward Kelley and Gertrude May; 
Julia S. is the widow of Edwin Bush, and resides 
with her parents. Mrs. Kelley and the chil- 
dren are all members of the Protestant Episco- 
pal church, are devotedly attached to its doc- 
trines, and strictly observe them in their daily 
walk through life. Mr. Kelley is a member of 
the Royal Arcanum, and in politics is a Jeffer- 
sonian democrat. For three years he was 
chairman of the county central democratic 
committee, and for four years was postmaster 
of Ravenna under Grover Cleveland's first 
presidential term. He has lived to see I^a- 
venna grow from a mere village to its present 
status as a city, and during his long residence 



here has maintained a character for strict 
morality as a citizen and an invulnerable rep- 
utation for rectitude as a business man. 



(D 



ILES KING, of Green township. 
Summit county, and an ex-union 
soldier, was born in Hubbard, Trum- 
bull county. Ohio, April 13, 1831, 
and is of English descent. 

George Todd King, father of subject, was 
a native of Maryland, early came to Ohio, 
and in Youngstown married Mary Starr, the 
union resulting in the birth of the follow- 
ing children: Miles, the subject; Margaret, 
wife of Harry Norton; Mary A., wife of 
Charles Wood; George, who was a soldier 
in the Sixth Ohio cavalry, and was found dead 
in his tent in front of Petersburg, Va., having 
died from either rupture or heart disease; Le- 
ander, who spoke nine languages and was quar- 
termaster of the Thirteenth Pennsylvania ca\-- 
alry during the Civil war; Edgar, \\ho served 
in a volunteer infantry regiment from Hudson, 
Ohio, was captured and confined in Libby 
prison, and was finally killed in the disaster 
to the steamer Sultana on the Mississippi 
river; William went out with an infantry regi- 
ment from Kenton, Ohio. The father of this 
family was a substantial farmer of Mahoning 
county, Ohio, near the Trumbull county line, 
was a well known citizen, and died in August, 
1885, a member of the old-line whig party, 
and his remains were interred in Lackawanna 
county. Pa., by his brothers; his wife died in 
Rootstown, Portage county, Ohio, in the same 
year and month. 

Miles King was reared on his father's farm, 
received a good common-school education, 
and enlisted at Goshen, Ohio, in August, 
1 86 1, in the Sixth Ohio volunteer cavalry, and 
served three years and nine months, with Sheri- 
dan and Kilpatrick in the army of the Poto- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



345 



mac, and fought at Fair Oaks, Little Rock, 
White House Landing, Cedar Creek, South 
Side, Weldon, second Bull Run, Petersburg, 
Richmond, and was in raids and skirmishes 
unnumbered — doing some of the hardest cav- 
alry fighting during the war. He was cap- 
tured but once, and succeeded in making his 
escape the same night. He received an 
honorable discharge at Point Lookout, Md., 
in the fall of 1865, when he returned home 
and resumed farming for a short time. For 
fifteen years Mr. King was an inmate of the 
Soldiers' Home, and during all that period 
never received a black mark. He was a brave 
and faithful soldier, and as a slight recognition 
of his services the government allows him a 
pension of $24 per month. He is a stalwart 
republican, a member of the G. A. R., and 
of the U. \. U., of Kenton, Ohio. He is a 
zealous member of the Exangelical associa- 
tion, and stands very high in the esteem of 
his fellow-citizens and associates in all the 
walks of life. 



,>^ L:RNARD KINNEY, the late well- 
Ir"^ known capitalist of Ravenna, Ohio, 
^<^^^^ was born in Corracloona, county 
Leitrim, Ireland, June 24, 1830, and 
there married Miss Mary Gilbride. They came 
came together to America in 1H55, at once 
found a home in Ohio, and two years later 
permanently settled in Ravenna. He became 
a section boss on the Cleveland & Pittsburg 
railroad and held the position about fifteen 
years, and during this period opened a gro- 
cery and provision store in Ivavenna, which 
was carried on by members of his family until 
within four years of his retirement from his 
railroad work. He invested his surplus earn- 
ings in real estate, purchasing tracts of timber 
land, which he developed and improved, and 
also bought largely of city property in Raven- 



na, including the old State Bank building. 
For a long time he was agent for three of the 
more prominent Atlantic steamship companies, 
viz: The Cunard, the Williams & Guion and 
the Anchor. He erected several buildings in 
the city, including a grocery for his son, and 
was one of the most energetic business men 
that it was ever the good fortune of Ravenna 
to harbor within its limits. He was a devout 
Catholic and was a leading spirit in establish- 
ing and building up that church in Ravenna, 
and in this faith his wife is also an ardent be- 
liever, and in faithful adherence to it their 
children were strictly reared. These children 
numbered ten, as follows: James, who died 
July 7, 1892; Mary Ann (sister Cammillus, of 
the Ursuline convent, Toledo), died February 
2, 1892; John and Catherine, deceased; Rose, 
who was a teacher in the school and organist 
in the Catholic church; Sarah, who died Sep- 
tember 10, 1883; Bernard, Thomas, Agnes 
and Charley. The father of this family died 
November 7, 1889, most deeply mourned by 
the surviving members of his family and an in- 
numerable host of truly warm-hearted friends. 
Since the lamented death of Mr. Kinney, the 
business has been carried on by his widow, 
assisted by her sons. Mrs. Kinney now owns 
the property at the corner of Main and Merid- 
ian streets, on which is situated the first bank 
building erected in Ravenna; also a two-story 
frame business building adjoining and two 
dwellings facing Meridian street; also houses 
on Bowery and Third streets. As a matter of 
history, it may be stated that the second-old- 
est building in Ravenna township was removed 
from its original site (where the ^Etna House 
now stands) to property owned by Mr. Kinne\', 
where it was used as a barn. This old build- 
ing was erected by Gen. John Campbell, who, 
at that time (18 12), occupied it as a hotel, 
which was known on account of its peculiar 
color as the old "Yellow House. " It has re- 



346 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



cently been demolished, to make room for 
modern dwellings. And it may be further re- 
marked that Mr. Kinney was one of the stock- 
holders in the Hibernian Insurance company 
of Chicago, and lost, through the destructive 
conflagration of 1871, stock amounting to 
$5,000. The Kinney family to-day stand 
among the foremost citizens of Ravenna, and 
Mrs. Kinney may be cited as being one of the 
most intelligent business women of the county. 



^"V'AMUEL KINSEY, one of the best- 
•^^^k" known farmers of Suffield township, 
K^^^_^ Portage county, Ohio, was born in 
Pennsylvania, October 7, 1831, a son 
of Samuel and Susan (Rhodamel) Kinsey, who 
came to Ohio in 1833 and located, first, on a 
farm at Osnaburg, Stark county, where they 
resided eight years, and then came to Portage 
county and purchased a farm on the road lead- 
ing from Suffield to Kent, on which our subject 
was reared from the age of ten years, and 
where he still resides. 

Samuel Kinsey, the father of subject, was 
also a native of the Keystone state, was reared 
a miller, but usually followed farming as a vo- 
cation. To his marriage with Susan Rho- 
damel there were born ten children, six of 
whom are still living, viz: Elias, John, Sam- 
uel, Jacob, Joel and Leonard. Mrs. Susan 
Kinsey was called from earth in 1856, and her 

husband followed her to the grave in i860 

both dying in the faith of the Dunkard church. 

Samuel Kinsey, the subject, assisted on 
the home farm until he reached his twenty- 
fir-st year, when he engaged in agricultural 
pursuits on his own account. In 1865 he took 
possession of the old homestead, and June 15, 
of the same year, was united in marriage with 
Miss Louise Rhodes, a daughter of David and 
Candace (Johnsonj Rhodes, and this union 



has been blessed with si.\ children, of whom 
four are still living, viz: Candace, wife of 
Charles Warner; Ellen, wife of William Brown; 
Alice, wife of Ira Snodgrass, of New Balti- 
more, and David S. , who still resides with his 
parents. Mrs. Louise Kinsey was born in 
Stark county, Ohio, December 11, 1840, her 
parents having come from their native state of 
Pennsylvania in 1835. They lived in Stark 
county until 1846, when they came to Portage 
county. Here the father, who was a shoe- 
maker by trade, engaged in farming and also 
worked a while in the potteries, and in his 
latter years became a dealer in live stock. 
He was twice married, and by his first wife 
was the father of one child, Sophie, who died 
but a few years ago; by his second wife, Can- 
dace Johnson, daughter of John and Catherine 
(Steffa) Johnson, he became the father of six 
children, five of whom are still living, viz: 
Henry, John, Herman, Louise (Mrs. Kinsey), 
and Catherine. The deceased child was named 
Edwin. Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes in early life 
had been members of the Reformed church, 
but before his death Mr. Rhodes united with 
the Universalist church, and in this faith he 
passed away in 1 860, at the age of sixty-three 
years. Mrs. Rhodes became a Dunkard in 
her latter years, and died in this faith in 
March, 1889, when she had reached the ripe 
old age of eighty-six years and six months. 
The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Kinsey was 
a native of England and attained the patriar- 
chal age of 100 years; the grandmother, who 
bore the maiden name of Steffa, was a native 
of Germany. These grandparents were early 
settlers of Stark county, were members of the 
Lutheran church, and had born to them ten 
children, all now deceased. 

Samuel Kinsey is a stanch republican in 
politics; his wife is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Mr. Kinsey is one of the 
most successful farmers of Suffield township. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



347 



has been an upright citizen, and is justly hon- 
ored for his morahty, industry and hfe of un- 
selfish usefulness. 



OSCAR C. KIRN, the well-known me- 
chanical engineer and millwright of 
Akron, Ohio, has his office at the 
corner of Broadway and Church 
streets. Mr. Kirn established an office in 
Akron in 1892, and does all kinds of mechan- 
ical engineering, especially that pertaining to 
factory and mil! construction for cereals and 
textile fabrics. Among some of the leading 
plants he has constructed may be mentioned 
the Illinois River Paper compan3''s strawboard 
mill at Marseilles, 111., the Pearl Barley mill 
at Milwaukee, Wis., and the oat-meal mills at 
Buffalo, N. Y. , for Edward Ellsworth & Co. 
Mr. Kirn had been well trained to the business 
he now follows and for seventeen years he was 
in the employ of the Schumacher Milling com- 
pany of Akron and was chief supervisor of the 
construction of the plant uf that company. 

Oscar C. Kirn was born in .\kron, Ohio, 
February 9, 1857, and is a son of John M. 
and Catherine (Augne) Kirn, natives of Ger- 
many. John M. was a carpenter and builder, 
came to America a single man and was mar- 
ried in Akron. He rose to considerable local 
distinction as a citizen and republican and for 
some time served as a member of the school 
board, and died in 1878, a member of the 
I. O. O. F. ; his widow survived until June, 
1895, when she, too, was laid to rest. Their 
family of nine children were born in the fol- 
lowing order: Rudolph, now deceased; Julia, 
wife of Fred Horix, of Akron; Cotilda, wife of 
Jacob Keller, also of Akron; Oscar C, the 
subject; Mary; Martin J., millwright; Ulysses 
G., millwright and draftsman; Walter F., 
bookkeeper, and Susie L. , wife of Dr. Charles 



E. Norris — all these being also residents of 
Akron. 

Oscar C. Kirn received a very good educa- 
tion in the public schools of Akron, which he 
attended until fifteen years of age, and then 
for a time was employed by a civil engineer. 
In 1875 he entered the employ of the Schu- 
macher Milliiig company, with whom he 
learned miliwrighting and mechanical engin- 
eering, and for seventeen years was one of the 
company's most trusted employees. 

The marriage of Mr. Kirn took place in 
December, 1881, to Miss Mary K. Fuchs, of 
Akron, and two children — William R. and 
Raymond O. — now add sunshine to the happj' 
family home at No. 237 Carroll street. The 
parents affiliate with the Universalist church, 
and fraternally Mr. Kirn is a member of Ato- 
lia lodge, K. of P. As a business man, Mr. 
Kirn has achieved a success but rarely met 
with by a man of his years, and this success 
in so complicated a business is entirely owing 
to his unusual skill, strict integrity and inces- 
sant industry, which have gained for him an 
unwonted degree of respect and confidence 
wherever he has had transactions. 

Mr. Kirn now manufactures special oat- 
meal machinery, and recently has furnished an 
oat-meal plant for John Inglis & Sons, at 
Leith, Scotland. Mr. Kirn has been verj' suc- 
cessful in his business career, and is one of the 
leading business men of the city of Akron. 



eETER KLINE is a native of Suffield 
township. Portage county, Ohio, where 
he is still a respected tiller of the soil. 
His birth occurred May 7, 1844, and 
he is a son of George and Elibabeth (Yaker) 
Kline, natives of Germany, who settled in this 
township in 1830, and of whom detailed men- 
tion will be made further on. 



348 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Peter Kline, the subject, received a good 
common-school education in his native town- 
ship, pursuing his studies until his eighteenth 
year, and then assisted on the home farm until 
he attained his majority, when he began a 
three years' apprenticeship at carpentering 
under John Pero. After serving the stipulated 
term, he engaged in the trade on his own ac- 
count for two years, when he married and re- 
sumed farming. His first marriage took place 
May 5, 1869, to Miss Elizabeth Luly, daugh- 
ter of Henry and Margaret (Shaffer) Luly, to 
which union were born seven children, in the 
following order: Henry, Leonard, Frank, 
George, Lawrence, Annie and Rosa. Mrs. 
Elizabeth Kline passed away, at the age of 
forty- two years, April 29, 1889, in the faith of 
the Catholic church, and Mr. Kline was next 
married, November 29, 1892, to Miss Eliz- 
beth Green. This lady was born in Germany 
and came alone to the United States in 1874; 
she was employed, on her arrival, by a farmer, 
who resided near Mr. Kline's home, with 
whom she remained ten years, and then be- 
came Mrs. Ivline. 

The parents of Peter Kline were both born 
in Germany, and the parents of the mother of 
subject were Anthony and Elizabeth Yaker. 
The children born to George Kline and wife 
were five in number, viz: John C, Barbara, 
Peter (subject), John C. and George A. — Bar- 
bara being the wife of Adam Rothermal. The 
deceased child, Mrs. George Ley, died in 1895, 
at the age of fifty. On coming to America, 
Mr. Kline, with his then small family, settled 
in Suffield township, and being an industrious 
and thrifty farmer, acquired a comjietency. 
His death took place August 19, 1870, at the 
age of fifty-eight years, and that of his wife 
occurred April 17, 1889, when she was seventy- 
five years old. Both were devoutly pious and 
died in the faith of the Roman Catholic church, 
and both were greatly honored for their un- 



swerving purity of character and kind-heart- 
edness, 

Peter Kline is a democrat in politics and 
has been supervisor of his township for four 
years, and still holds the office. In religion 
he is a true Catholic. He has prospered in 
his vocation as a farmer, and as a citizen and 
neighbor is highly respected by all the resi- 
dents of his native township of Suffield. 



HLBERT A. KOHLER, M. D., one 
of the most successful physicians and 
surgeons of Akron, Ohio, with his 
office in rooms Nos. 18 and 19, Doyle 
block, was born in Juniata county. Pa., Sep- 
tember 12, 1863, a son of Andrew and Sarah 
(Fisher) Kohler, of German and English 
descent. 

Andrew Kohler, father of subject, was a 
miller by calling, but was engaged in general 
merchandising in Pennsylvania prior to com- 
ing to Akron in 1870. Here he engaged in 
the grocery trade until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1885, at the age of sixty-three years. 
He was a member of the Lutheran church, a 
Freemason and Odd Fellow, and had been a 
member of the Akron city council. There 
were born to him seven children, viz: Charles 
F. , a business man of Wabash, Ind. ; Maggie, 
wife of F. L. Deibolt, of Cleveland, Ohio; 
John F., a miner and prospector of Rossland, 
B. C. ; William, deceased; Albert A, the sub- 
ject of this biography; Warren A. , farmer and 
hardware merchant of Leesburg, Ind., and 
James L., a grocer of Akron, Ohio. 

Dr. Albert Kohler was educated in the 
public schools of Akron, also at Buchtel col- 
lege in the same city, and graduated from the 
latter in 1887; he then read medicine under 
Dr. Thomas McEbright, of Akron, and in the 
fall of 1887 entered the Western Reserve 
Medical college of Cleveland, from which he 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



349 



graduated in 1890, and has since been en- 
gaged in active and successful practice in 
Akron, at the address given above. 

Dr. Kohler is a member of the Celsus club 
of Akron, also of Summit lodge. No. 50, I. O. 
O. P., and of McPherson lodge, No. 63, K. of 
P. He was married November 27, 1894, to 
Miss Alice C. Slade, daughter of William H. 
Slade, of Columbus, Ohio. The doctor has 
his residence at No. 1083 South Main street, 
and in this cheerful home he and his wife are 
surrounded by a circle of warm and admiring 
friends, who delight in making their social 
visits. The doctor is a progressive young 
practitioner who keeps constantly abreast of 
the advances made by his noble profession, 
and, beside attending to his long list of pa- 
tients, found time to serve the city as health 
officer from 1890 till July, 1S94. In politics, 
he is a democrat. 



>T^OHN W. KREIGHBAUM, a substan- 
M tial farmer, of Green township. Summit 
A 1 county, Ohio, is native here, was born 
on his father's farm February 18, 1843, 
and is of remote Pennsylvania-German de- 
scent. 

The grandfather of subject, who also bore 
the name of John W., was a native of Lan- 
caster county, Pa., and there married Christina 
Weaver, by whom he became the father of the 
following children: Jacob W. , John, George, 
Elizabeth, W. F. , Sarah, Daniel, Christina 
and Jonathan. In 181 5, Mr. Kreighbaum 
brought his family, as then constituted, to 
Ohio, and bought a farm of 280 acres in the 
wilderness of Green township, which farm is 
now owned by his grandson, our subject. He 
had but few neighbors in those pioneer days, 
excepting, perhaps, the Indians and wild ani- 
mals, but he was industrious and succeeded in 
clearing up a good farm, on which he passed 



the remainder of his life. He was an elder in 
in the first Lutheran church in Union Town, 
and in politics was a Jacksonian democrat. 

George Kreighbaum, father of the subject 
of this memoir, was born in Lancaster county. 
Pa., February 17, 181 3, and was consequently 
but two years of age when brought to Ohio by 
his parents. He was reared on the home farm, 
receiving his education in the pioneer schools, 
and first married Sarah Spade, daughter of 
John Spade, also a pioneer from the Keystone 
state. This lady died in Springfield township. 
Summit county, leaving two children — John 
W. (subject) and William B. Mr. Kreigh- 
baum next married Mrs. Rebecca Brubaker, 
daughter of Jacob Dillier and widow of Samuel 
Brubaker. To this marriage were born two 
children — Jacob and Irvin. Mr. Kreighbaum 
was the owner of 140 acres of good farming 
land, was a democrat in politics, a highly re- 
spected citizen, and died November 18, 1889, 
in the faith of the Lutheran church. 

John W. Kreighbaum received his prelim- 
inary education in the district school, and at 
the age of nineteen years entered the Greens- 
burg academy, which he attended seven or 
eight terms. He then adopted teaching as a 
vocation and was very successful, but when he 
had taught two terms in one district and five 
terms in another, failing health warned him to 
relinquish the profession and to resume agricult- 
ural pursuits. 

April 9, 1866, Mr. Kreighbaum was united 
in marriage with Miss Mary J. Brubaker, who 
was born in Ashland county, Ohio, March 7, 
1844, a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca 
(Dillier) Brubaker, the former of whom was a 
carpenter and joiner and a son of Jacob Bru- 
baker, a pioneer of Ashland county from Penn- 
sylvania. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Kreighbaum have been born two children, viz: 
Cordia G. , April 16, 1867 (died November 22, 
1884), and Lloyd C. , who was born March 2. 



350 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



1878, and attended the graded school at Union 
Town, and has also attended Buchtel college, 
and is now a student at Eastman's Business 
college, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

Mr. Kreighbaum has a well-improved farm 
of 1 36 acres, but resides on a one-acre lot near 
Lake, in order to be close to business and the 
post-office. In politics he is a stanch demo- 
crat, and has been justice of the peace of 
Greene township twenty-one years, and is also 
a notary public, having been commissioned by 
Gov. Bushnell. He is a member of Apollo 
lodge, No. 83, F. & A. M., and is also a 
Roj-al Arch Mason. In religion his wife affil- 
iates with the Reformed church, while Mr. 
Kreighbaum is a member of the Lutheran 
church, which he aids liberally to support. 
He is a very popular gentleman as well as a 
substantial citizen, and he and family are a 
credit to the township. 

Mrs. Kreighbaum is a native of Ashland 
county, Ohio, and was born March 7, 1844, 
at Mohican. Her father was born in the Key- 
stone state. He was a sound democrat in 
politics and a true Methodist. He was a man 
who was ready to advance the public good. 
He was born in 181S and died December 19, 
1848. The mother was also a native of Leb- 
anon, Pa., was born in 18 18, and died in 
March, 1874. Mrs. Kreighbaum's grandpar- 
ents, Jacob and Elizabeth Brubaker, were 
Pennsylvanians by birth, and the former a 
farmer by occupation, and to their marriage 
were born nine sons and four daughters. 



BRANK KUNKAL, a successful farmer 
and a greatly respected citizen of 
Suffield township, Portage county, 
Ohio, is a native of Belgium, and was 
born September 13, 1825. His father, An- 
drew Kunkal, was a farmer by occupation, and 
to him and his wife, Mollie Kunkal, were born 



two children, of whom John died at the age of 
fifty years, the other being Frank, the subject 
of this biography. The mother was called 
from earth in 1838, at the age of forty-eight 
years, and the father in 1855, when sixty-three 
years old, both dying in the faith of the 
Roman Catholic church. 

Frank Kunkal was reared on his father's 
farm, received a fair common-school education, 
and in 1851 came to America in a sailing ves- 
sel, landing in the city of New York, where he 
remained one year, when he came to Ohio. 
F"or two years he lived in Cleveland, where he 
met and married Miss Elizabeth Moledore, a 
daughter of Dominic and Catherine (Oluch) 
Moledore, the ceremony being performed June 
10, 1855, and the marriage resulting in the 
birth of eight children, viz: Henry, born Sep- 
tember 13, 1856; Mary, born November 29, 
1859, and now the wife of B. Weideman; 
Frank, born Jul}-, 1862; Jacob, who was born 
December 18, 1863, and died June 22, 1881; 
Sylvester, born January 11, 1866; Barbara, 
now Mrs. John Beasler, born January 14, 1870; 
Clara, born October i,. 1872, and married to 
Lewis Rothermal, and Dora, born Ma}' 12, 
1876. 

Mrs. Elizabeth (Moledore) Kunkal was 
born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, January 
12, 1835, where her father died in 1838 and 
her mother in 1843, both in the faith of the 
Catholic church and the parents of six chil- 
dren, four of whom died in childhood, the two 
survivors being Henry and Mrs. Kunkal. 
This lady left her native land in 1853 and 
came alone to America. For a short time she 
lived in Randolph, Portage county, Ohio, then 
went to Akron, Summit county, and then to 
Cleveland, where she worked as a domestic 
until met by and married to Mr. Kunkal at the 
date mentioned above. 

Immediately after his marriage Mr. Kun- 
kal came to Suffield township. Portage county, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



351 



and bought the farm on which he still resides, 
and on which his children, named above, have 
been born and reared. The farm is located 
about one mile west of Suffield Center, and 
fifty rods east of Suffield station, on the Cleve- 
land, Canton & Southern railroad, and Mr. 
Kunkal has made it one of the most product- 
ive and profitable in the township, his long 
experience having made him an e.xpert agri- 
culturist, as everything about his premises 
clearly indicates. In politics he is a democrat 
and for two years has served as township su- 
pervisor, doing his duty well, faithfully and 
satisfactorily. He and family are members of 
St. Joseph Catholic church, and are among 
the most highly respected residents of Suffield 
township. 



eLI LEONARD, a prosperous and now 
retired farmer and prominent citizen 
of Franklin township. Portage county, 
Ohio, where he was born February 5, 
1825, is a son of Sewell and Sally (Bettys) 
Leonard, natives of Massachusetts. His ma- 
ternal grandfather, Nathaniel Bettys, was an 
early settler of Tallmadge township, Summit 
county, Ohio, at a point now known as Bettys 
Corners. He was a captain in the war of 
1812, was an influential citizen, and died on 
his farm at the greatly advanced age of ninety- 
four years. 

Sewell Leonard, father of subject, came to 
Ohio about the year 18 18, being then about 
twenty-five years of age, and, being a farmer, 
soon settled, after marriage, on a farm near 
Lake Brady, where his death occurred March 
5, 1852, and that of his wife in 1880. They 
were the parents of six children, viz: Fred- 
erick, a farmer, who died at Nashville, Tenn., 
while serving as a soldier in a Michigan regi- 
ment of volunteers; Nathaniel, who has been 
a business man at Bellefontaine, Ohio, for 



many years; Eli, the subject of this biography; 
Ives, who resides in Akron, Ohio; Lyman, 
who was killed in a powder-mill explosion in 
Bedford, Ohio; and Roland, who died at the 
age of twenty-six years. 

Eli Leonard was reared a farmer and this 
has been his life-long calling. He was a filial 
son and took good care of his parents, who 
were both crippled, the father by disease and 
the mother by an accident to her buggy while 
attending a county fair, which accident caused 
her to use crutches for many years. Mr. 
Leonard was married, in Franklin township, 
April 14, 1859, to Miss Antoinette Bull, who 
was born in Shalersville, Ohio, in May, 1840, 
a daughter of Samuel and Catherine (Freeby) 
Bull. Her father, Samuel Bull, or, rather, 
Buell, as the name was originally spelled, was 
born in Berks county, Pa., June 11, 1809, a 
son of Samuel and Barbara (Godfrey) Bull, 
who settled in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 
1826, and were the parents of eleven children. 
Samuel, Jr., was married November 14, 1833, 
to Catherine, who was born in February, 
1809, a daughter of George and Catherine 
(Ecker) Freeby, of Coventry, Ohio, and to 
this union were born six children, viz: Henry 
Austin, who was killed while serving in the 
Seventh Ohio volunteer infantry; Maria, who 
was married to Elisha Smith, and died in Kent; 
George W. , a school-teacher and farmer, who 
died in Denver, Colo. ; Antoinette, now Mrs. 
Leonard; Marvin, who died in infancy; and 
Samuel, a farmer of Brimfield township. Port- 
age county. The father of this family died in 
1886, a member of the Kent Methodist Epis- 
copal church, as was also his widow, who died 
December 14, 1896. To Eli and Antoinette 
(Bull) Leonard have been born three children, 
viz: Eva, June 28, i860, now the wife of Li- 
nus Meloney, of Kent; Addie, April 19, 1865, 
died March 28, 1884; George, born August 7, 
1868, a business man of Canton, Ohio, mar- 



35'J 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ried to Lou Johns, and the father of one child, 
Helen A. 

Mr. Leonard, who still owns his farm, has 
for the past six years lived in retirement in 
Kent, where he owns, also, a pleasant resi- 
dence property. In politics he has always 
been independent, voting as suited his judg- 
ment, and has never held any office excepting 
that of school director. Mrs. Leonard has 
been a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church of Kent since 1859, and has always 
been faithful in her devotions, as well as faith- 
ful as a wife and mother. 



<>^ ALPH H. LODGE, proprietor of Sil- 

I /«^ ver Lake park, one-half mile from 

l^P Cuyahoga Falls, and an honored and 

respected citizen, was born near this 

city August 3, 1830, a son of George A. and 

Rebecca (Smith) Lodge. 

George H. Lodge was born fifteen miles 
below Philadelphia, on the Delaware river, in 
New Jersey, was a mason and farmer, and 
married, in Philadelphia, Rebecca Smith, of 
that city, daughter of Ralph Smith, an exten- 
sive builder. In 1829 Mr. Lodge came to 
Ohio and settled in Stowe township, where 
he bought a farm and lived on it sixteen years. 
He then went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he 
engaged in mercantile business, beside con- 
ducting an extensive market garden for many 
years and sold immense amounts of his 
vegetables in his own store. He finally re- 
turned to Cuyahoga Falls, retired, and died 
here in 1880, at the age of eighty years. In 
politics he was first a whig, but became a 
republican on the organization of this party. 
He was a man of high character and of great 
integrity. His children were Ralph H., Emma 
S., George, Mary, Cornelia and Caroline. 
The Lodge family descends from French stock, 
and the name was originally spelled DeLodge. 



The founder of the family in America came 
from England in the same ship with William 
Penn and settled on the Delaware river. The 
old homestead is still in the family name. 
Samuel Lodge, grandfather of our subject, 
married Abigail Horner, of New Jersey. Her 
parents were from Germany, and their children 
were Isaac, Hannah, Benjamin and Elizabeth, 
Samuel and George. 

Ralph H. Lodge received his education at 
the public schools and went to Cleveland with 
his father when he was sixteen years old and 
was engaged with him in the business of gar- 
dening, and conducted this business after his 
father retired. He married, April 7, 1870, 
at Cuyahoga Falls, Julia A. Plum, born Janu- 
ary 7, 1847, at Massillon, Ohio, a daughter of 
Henry and Nancy (North) Plum. 

Henry Plum was born October, 18 14, in 
Middletown, Conn., of English-Puritan an- 
cestry, who came from England early in the 
settlement of this country. The Norths were 
of the same stock. Henry Plum married in 
Middletown, Conn., and moved to Ohio about 
1836-7, and settled at Monroe Falls, where he 
established a shoe business. He afterward 
moved to Cuyahoga Falls and engaged in the 
same business and afterward went to Massillon, 
Ohio, where he engaged in the mercantile 
business as early as 1857 and conducted this 
business nearly forty years, when he retired. 
Fraternally, he is a Mason. Mr. and Mrs. 
Plum are both members of the Methodist 
church, of which Mr. Plum is trustee and 
steward. Politically he is a republican, and 
was one of the founders of the party in Ohio. 
His children are Mary, Wilbur, Charles (died 
an infant), Lucy, William R. , Julia A., Emma, 
Lillian, Rose and Carrie. William R. Plum, 
one of the sons, is an attorney at law in Chi- 
cago, was on Gen. Thomas' staff during the 
war as telegrapher and afterward graduated at 
Yale with high honors. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



353 



Mr. and Mrs. Ralph H. Lodge settled, 
after marriage, in Cleveland, where they lived 
six years, and came to Summit county in 
April, 1865, rented land, farmed until January 
10, 1875, then bought 135 acres of land, con- 
trolling Silver Lake, for the purpose of making 
a summer resort. To Mr. and Mrs. Lodge 
have been born Ballard, Lillian, William, 
George, Lewis, Evelyn Anna, Mabel, Laura, 
Julia (who died six years old) and Ralph H., 
Jr. Mrs. Lodge is a member of the Methodist 
church and in politics Mr. Lodge is a repub- 
lican. 

Silver Lake park is one of the most beau- 
tiful summer resorts in the state of Ohio. Mr. 
Lodge has spent thousands of dollars in or- 
namenting and beautifying the grounds and 
providing many attractions for pleasure seek- 
ers. The lake is about three-fourths of a mile 
long and the water is as clear and pure as 
crystal. It is known to be a mammoth spring 
or many springs combined in one. In places 
it reaches a depth of over forty feet. Its 
bottom is comprised of sand and it affords ex- 
cellent bathing facilities. Many bath houses 
are provided and also a toboggan slide into the 
lake. The lake is surrounded by gently slop- 
ing grounds, well wooded, and the scenery is 
charming and diversified. In addition to the 
natural forests of oak, chestnut and hickory, 
Mr. Lodge has set out a variety of shade trees 
which in twenty years have attained a large 
growth and are from one to two feet in diam- 
eter, but the luxuriant hard and soft maple 
predominate. Excellent bathing facilities for 
200 persons are provided, with commodious 
private drying rooms. A fleet of about fifty 
row boats, an electric launch, and a steamer 
afford plenty of boating facilities for those who 
enjoy boating. The extensive groves make 
pleasant camping grounds and as many as 300 
people have camped here at one time. Tents 
and floors are provided, if desired, and all nec- 



essary camp equipments. Plenty of clear and 
pure ice is in store for the use of the estab- 
lishment. Mr. Lodge has a large experience 
as a caterer to the public, and a talent for 
amusing the patrons of his place. Among 
these attractions is a menagerie including three 
elks from their native forest. The stag is a 
splendid specimen of this animal, with wide, 
branching antlers. Two bear-pits — twenty 
feet in diameter — with caves and subterranean 
passages and trees for climbing, give comfort 
to six glossy, black bears, who live here con- 
tentedly with their cubs. The bears breed 
and rear their young as in a state of nature — 
tv^felve of them have been born here. Foxes, 
raccoons, wolves and squirrels live here in the 
park as in their native wilds. A very valuable 
addition is the tiger, or jaguar, from South 
America. They are a delight to the children 
and a curiosity to grown people. For the past 
fifteen years the raising of gold-fish has been 
a prominent feature of the park — as many as 
40,000 being raised in one year. There are 
also birds of prey, such as eagles, owls, etc. ; a 
large merry-go-round, purchased at an expense 
of $3,500 with panoramic views, is another 
great attraction. So is the shell bazaar and 
photographic establishment — pavilions, with 
tables for the picknickers; also shooting galler- 
ies and billiard tables add to the amusements. 
Several cottages, built of logs, with huge old- 
fashioned fire-places, are rented to patrons 
who wish to stay for a week or more. About 
fifty attendants are necessary to care for the 
guests and provide for them during the busj' 
season, and as many as 10,000 people have 
been entertained in one day. The charges 
are mere nominal for the use of the grounds 
and popular prices prevail. Take it all in all, 
it is one of the most attractive places of sum- 
mer resort in the west, and it is conducted 
in the most orderly manner. No liquor is 
sold in the place or in the township, neither 



354 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



are any disorderly people allowed on the 
ground nor is the park open on Sunday. 

Three electric tracks connect the park 
closely with Cuyahoga Falls, Akron and Cleve- 
land. A fine base ball and bicycle track, with 
grand stand seating 400 persons, add- to the 
pleasure of the patrons. A fine brass band 
and concert orchestra were employed last 
season at an expense of $1,600, not including 
the board of the musicians. The lake and 
park together contain 2 1 5 acres of woodland 
and water and thirty-five buildings of impor- 
tance have been constructed within its limits. 
A fine water supply is furnished by a large 
windmill, with pump, -and large tank at an 
elevation of forty feet. This gives abundance 
of water for the guests, and in addition there 
is a large reservoir, supplying twenty drinking 
fountains. Mr. Lodge has now had twenty 
years of experience in his line, and, aided by 
his excellent wife and family, has created 
probably the finest pleasure resort existing 
to-day in Ohio. 



^ M ENAS KENT, of Kent, Ohio, was, at 
Jj^P the time of his death, one of the old- 
M M est citizens of Portage county, and 
almost, if not quite, the last of the 
business men who became identified with it in 
its infancy. 

He descended from the old Puritan stock, 
— his father having been a soldier in the Rev- 
olutionary war — and was born in Middletown, 
Conn., July 12, 1786. His childhood and 
early manhood were passed in Leyden, Mass. 
His educational advantages were necessarily 
meager, being those only of the common school ; 
but, limited as they were, he improved them 
to the best advantage. The arithmetic that 
he studied, a copy of Adams' old work pub- 
lished in 1802, is in the possession of his son. 



Marvin. Upon a portion of the leaves, left 
blank for that purpose, Mr. Kent worked out 
and proved every example in the book. When 
a young man he learned the trade of carpenter 
and joiner, the same that his father had fol- 
lowed. 

At the age of twenty-five he was united in 
marriage with Miss Pamelia Lewis, a native of 
Farmington, Conn. The father of Miss Lewis 
was a Revolutionary veteran, and also a car- 
penter and joiner. With these peculiar coin- 
cidences in their family history the destinies 
of this happy pair were united, and ne\er went 
apart until soon after the anniversar}- of their 
golden wedding, when they were severed by 
the death of Mrs. Kent, October 21,, 1862. 

In 1 81 2 the father of Mr. Kent emigrated 
to Ohio and located in Mantua, where he died 
at an advanced age. Young Zenas accom- 
panied the family to these western wilds, but 
soon afterward returned to the east for his 
wife, and, coming west again, settled in Hud- 
son, then a township of Portage county. At 
Hudson, he formed the acquaintance and se- 
cured the friendship of Capt. Heman Oviatt. 
He also, while there, built a tannery for Owen 
Brown, and taught school in "the winter sea- 
son. In the summer of 1815, Mr. Kent re- 
moved to Ravenna, and went into business, 
Capt. Oviatt furnishing the capital for that 
purpose. The captain always regarded Mr. 
Kent with peculiar interest and friendship, and 
years afterward, when he was a prosperous 
merchant, the captain would refer with great 
pride to the fact that he " sot him up." 

In commencing his mercantile career, Mr. 
Kent erected a wooden store building upon the 
site now occupied by the Second National 
bank, working upon it with his own hands. 
This building, which at once became a store 
and a dwelling, was some years afterward 
moved to the south side of Main street, and 
stands in what is known as Little's block. 




ZEN AS KENT DECEASED. 




MRS. ZEN AS KENT DECEASED. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



359 



The store building finished, the firm of Oviatt 
& Kent commenced operations. The partner- 
ship terminated in a few years, when the junior 
of the firm was able to repay the capital so 
kindly advanced by his early friend. Once more 
Mr. Kent undertook a building enterprise after 
he commenced trade, the only diversion of the 
kind he allowed himself, for other parties, dur- 
ing his long mercantile career. In 1826 he 
took a contract to erect the present court- 
house in Ravenna. This building was then the 
architectural wonder of the surrounding coun- 
try. Mr. Kent's mercantile enterprise proved 
a grand success, and in energy and persever- 
ance found a rival only in that of the late Cy- 
rus Prentiss. With all its increased facilities 
and manifold advantages, the present day does 
not give us so great a development of the tact 
and enterprise that characterised the pioneer 
tradesman. 

" What heroism, what perils then, 

How true of heart and strong of hand, 
How earnest, resolute, the pioneer man." 

From 1 83 1 to 1850, Mr. Kent had a store 
in Hudson, which was known as that of Kent 
& Brewster. It did a very profitable busi- 
ness. In 1832 Mr. Kent, in company with 
David Ladd, purchased five or six hundred 
acres of land in the township of Franklin, em- 
bracing a water-power of the Cuyahoga river 
at that place. lu the same year he erected 
Kent's flouring-mill, which for the third of a 
century enjoyed the highest reputation. The 
first flour shipped from northern Ohio to Cleve- 
land went from this mill, via the Ohio canal. 

The connection of Mr. Ladd with this 
property was temporary, and Mr. Kent be- 
came sole proprietor. In 1836 he sold the 
entire property for $75,000 to the Franklin 
Land company, which afterward became the 
Franklin Silk company. After Mr. Kent 
bought out Mr. Ladd, he arranged with John 

Brown — afterwards of Osawatomie fame — to 
11 



carry on the tanning business, a tannery estab- 
lishment having been previously commenced. 

In 1837 Mr. Kent built the large brick 
block containing a hotel, stores, etc., near the 
eastern bank of the Cuyahoga. In the wind- 
ing up of the disastrous affairs of the silk com- 
pany in 1843, most of the original property 
found its way back into the hands of Mr. Kent. 
In 1845 Mr. Kent sold his stock of goods in 
Ravenna to his sons, Marvin and Charles H. 
Kent, and, after a successful career of thirty 
years, retired from active business. After a 
fifteen months' business in Ravenna, the firm 
of M. Kent & Co. sold out to S. A. & R. A. 
Gillette, who also purchased the large brick 
store building of Mr. Kent, Sr. Subsequently 
the property adjoining this store, used as a 
residence, was purchased by H. L. Day, and 
with this transaction terminated the mercan- 
tile business identification of Zenas Kent with 
Ravenna. 

In 1849 the Franklin Bank of Portage 
county was established, and Mr. Kent chosen 
its president. This position he held until 
1864, when the bank closed its business, and 
in its place was organized the Kent National 
bank, of which Mr. Kent was made president, 
which place he occupied at the time of his 
death. In 1850 Mr. Kent commenced the 
erection of a cotton factory, at the same time 
built a fine dwelling house for his own occu- 
pancy. When the latter was completed, in 
185 1, he removed to Franklin, where his finan- 
cial interests had all become centered. In the 
spring of 1853, Mr. Kent was chosen treasurer 
of the A. & G. W. R. R., which position he 
retained until May, 1854, when he resigned, 
and E. P. Brainerd became his successor, and 
held the office until 1864. 

In April, i860, having previously built a 
city mansion on Euclid avenue, he removed to 
Cleveland, and in November, 1864, Mrs. 
Kent having died on the 21st of the preceding 



360 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



October, he returned to Franklin, the name 
having been changed to that of Kent, where he 
passed the remainder of his Hfe. 

Mr. Kent was not marked by any brilHant 
or dashing characteristics. He possessed 
good common sense, to which were added in- 
domitable will, native shrewdness, and unflag- 
ging energy, and, better than all, an inflexible 
integrity, which gave him the confidence of 
all with whom he had dealings. 

As a tradesman he was more methodical 
than speculative, and his devotion to his busi- 
ness was almost unparalleled, and his manage- 
ment always safe and prosperous. It is related 
of him, as a sample of his caution, that in the 
early days of his store-keeping he once re- 
fused twenty bushels of wheat for a pound of 
tea, fearing that the former would not replace 
the latter when a new purchase should be 
made. As illustrative of his industry, it may 
be stated that upon one occasion, when in 
New York city for the purpose of purchasing 
goods, a representative of a silk house called 
upon him at his hotel, at the usual hour of 
commencing business, to solicit his patronage. 
Mr. Kent replied: " If you expect to sell me 
goods, you must get up early in the morning. 
I bought all my silks before breakfast." 

As a specimen of the spirit of his integrity, 
it may also be stated that when the Franklin 
Silk company tendered him the presidency of 
their banking department Mr. Kent required 
them to place in his hands the means to re- 
deem their issues, saying that he would place 
his name upon no paper without having the 
power to protect it from dishonor. The ar- 
rangement was made. The disastrous history 
of the silk company is well known, but their 
paper was all redeemed, dollar for dollar. 
Mr. Kent's entire business life was a grand 
success, and he left behind him an estate es- 
timated to be worth fully $300,000. 

In personal appearance Mr. Kent was tall, 



remarkably erect, of graceful carriage and dig- 
nified mien. He was not so much given to 
sociability as many, but was nevertheless 
pleasant and agreeable in all of his relations. 
Though popular as a tradesman for his fair- 
ness and honesty, he formed few intimate 
friendships, and fawned upon no man. His 
very firmness caused him, at times, when his 
confidence was abused, or when an injury 
was done him, to resent it with impulsive im- 
petuosity; still malice was no part of his com- 
position. Underneath a natural dignity, bor- 
dering at times upon austerity, he carried a 
warm and sympathetic heart. He never for- 
got a kindness done him, and the few friend- 
ships he formed were retained until the last. 
His personal habits were remarkable. He 
never used tobacco or other stimulant, and 
for thirty years never had an hour's sickness. 
Mr. Kent was blessed with a family of 
thirteen children, nine of whom were living at 
the time of his death, and of whom four sur- 
vive at this time, viz: Marvin, Frances E., 
Emil}' K. and Amelia L. Mr. Kent died sud- 
denly at his residence at Kent on the 4th of 
October, 1865, in the eightieth year of his age. 
His remains were interred in Woodlawn cem- 
etery — Cleveland's beautiful city of the dead. 
In a lovely spot overshadowed by the cypress 
and the willow, by the side of the wife of his 
youth and the companion of his mature years 
and green old age, reposes all that death left 
of this noble man. 



EON. MARVIN KENT, retired cap- 
italist of Kent, Portage county, Ohio, 
projector and ex-president of the At- 
lantic & Great Western (now forming 
the four western divisions of the Erie) railroad, 
was born in Ravenna, Portage county, Sep- 
tember 21, 1 8 16, a son of Zenas and Pamelia 
(Lewis) Kent, both of Connecticut birth and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTlfeS." 



361' 



of 'ante-RevohitionaTy descent^ — the father of 
each having borne arms in the struggle for 
American independence. 

Hon. Marvin Kent, whose name opens 
this memoir, passed his early years in his 
father's store and in attendance at Tallmadge 
academy, E. T. Sturtevant, A. M., principal, 
and at Claridon academy, under Rev. Sher- 
man B. Canfield. In his nineteenth year he 
was dispatched to Philadelphia and New York 
to purchase a stock of spring goods for his 
father, with instructions to rely on his own 
judgment as to his investments, and the sagac- 
ity he displayed on this mission was very grat- 
ifying to the parent. The year after attaining 
his majority he was admitted into partnership 
with his father at Franklin Mills, now Kent, 
but precarious health caused him early to re- 
linquish this business. He then assumed the 
management of the tannery built by his father 
for John Brown, of Osawatomie fame, and 
while thus engaged married Miss Maria Stew- 
art, daughter of Col. William Stewart. In 
1844 he resumed mercantile pursuits, and at 
the same time became largely interested in the 
manufacture of flour, continuing in the latter 
for nearly twenty consecutive years. 

In the history of Portage county it is writ- 
ten: 

In the early days the pioneers devoted 
themselves to the task of building up a town 
on the Cuyahoga river with remarkable energy; 
not, however, until the various enterprises were 
taken hold of by the master hand of Marvin 
Kent did theories of progress put forward by 
the old settlers assume practical shape. 

In 1850, in connection with others, he 
erected and put in successful operation the ex- 
tensive window-glass factory at Franklin Mills, 
and the same year entered upon the most 
important enterprise of his life, which has se- 
cured to him a business reputation co-exten- 
sive with the inauguration and completion of 
a great public transportation route between 



the!' east' and \vest — devising and projecting' 
the Atlantic & Great Western railroad, de-' 
signed to connect the Erie with the Ohio &' 
Mississippi railroad, thus forming a grand trunk' 
line, with uniform gauge throughout, from New' 
York to St. Louis. In 185 1 the necessary' 
legislation was procured, but in order to se- 
cure the charter he was obliged to subscribe 
for the full amount of stock required by 
law for the organization of the company, 
as well as to indemnify some of the first board 
of directors for the payment of one share sub- 
scribed by each to render them eligible for elec- 
tion, which fact furnishes a significant ilUustra- 
tion of the want of faith in the success of an 
undertaking of that magnitude at that time. 
The organization of the new company was 
completed and Mr. Kent made its first pres- 
ident. The position he filled with a success 
characteristic of his great business tact, en- 
ergy and ability, until the final completion of 
the road in 1864, save an interval of about 
three years. On the 21st of June of that 
year, he had the proud satisfaction of looking 
back over many years of unremitting labor and 
anxiety at last crowned with success, and also 
of driving home the last spike in the last rail. 
In his maiden speech on that occasion, he re- 
ferred to the fact that on the fourth day of 
July, A. D. 1853, he broke ground for the new 
road by removing the first shovelful of earth 
with his own hands. There were none then 
to withhold from Mr. Kent a most generous 
compliment for the completion of this road, 
which, uniting the Erie and Ohio & Missis- 
sippi railways, formed a grand continental 
line from New York to St. Louis. A meeting 
was called, on the completion of the Atlantic 
& Great Western railroad, at Dayton, Ohio, 
June 21, 1864. President Marvin Kent an- 
nounced the object of the meeting and T. W. 
Kennard, William Reynold, president of the 
Pennsylvania and New York division of the 



362 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



road; H. F. Sweetser, general superintendent, 
and Mr. Kent proceeded to lay the last rail; 
the ceremony of spiking was introduced with 
considerable merriment, Mr. Kennard driving 
the first spike in the last rail at four sturdy 
blows. Others followed in succession, one or 
two driving home in three, but the major por- 
tion from four to a dozen sledge-hammer 
strokes each. Those who participated in the 
ceremonies are included in the following list: 
T. W. Kennard, engineer, vice-president and 
general manager of the A. & G. W. railroad; 
Marvin Kent, president of the Ohio division; 
William Reynold, of Meadville, Pa., president 
of the New York and Pennsylvania division; 
Jacob Crall, Jacob Riblet and O. Beach, di- 
rectors of the A. & G. W. railroad; H. F. 
Sweetser, general superintendent; William 
Lee, superintendent of construction; James 
Reynold, track master; F. W. Commins, 
master machinist; J. W. Tyler, secretary of 
the Ohio company; D. C. Coolman, resident 
engineer; R. J. Dukes, assistant resident en- 
gineer; C. E. I^lakesley, secretary of the gen- 
eral manager; R. M. N. Taylor, general 
superintendent of the dining department; R. 
M. Shoemaker, vice-president of the Dayton 
& Michigan railroad; Lieut. -Governor Charles 
Anderson, of Ohio; Maj.-Gen. A. McD. Mc- 
Cook, Valentine Winters, T. A. Phillips, R. D. 
Phillips and W. D. Bickham, (editor and pro- 
prietor of Dayton Journal); S. S. L'Homme- 
dieu; president, John W. Ellis; vice-pres- 
ident; D. McLaren, superintendent; F. H. 
Short, secretary; C. H. Hill and George T. 
Steadman, William Becket and John Young, 
directors of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Day- 
ton Railroad company; Gen. William H. 
Clement, president of the Little Miami Rail- 
road company; Joseph C. Butler, director; 
Hon. M. R. Wait, Toledo; William Rietsel, 
editor of the Western Reserve Chronicle, 
Warren, Trumbull county; Paul F. Nichol- 



son, correspondent of the New York World; 
George C. Harding, correspondent of the Cin- 
cinnati Commercial; I. C. Bollman, corres- 
pondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer. At ten 
o'clock, A. M., President Kent took the sledge 
and addressed the company briefly as follows: 

Gentlemen: Before proceeding to drive the 
last spike, I desire to call your attention to 
the fact that on the fourth of July, 1853, in 
company with several warm friends of this en- 
terprise, we proceeded to the line of this rail- 
way, and broke the first ground; and as I had 
the pleasure of removing the first earth, it is 
especially gratifying to me to be present on 
the occasion of laying the last rail and driving 
the last spike; but, before performing this last 
service, permit me to express my obligation 
to the gentlemen who have contributed so 
largely to the success of this enterprise; I al- 
lude to T. W. Kennard and James McHenry, 
Esqrs. ; those gentlemen, by their energy, their 
perseverance and great financial ability, have 
achieved the great end which we had in view, 
and had it not been for the success that at- 
tended their efforts in prosecuting this great 
work, we would not be assembled on an oc- 
casion so important and interesting as this. 

Before closing these remarks, I should do 
great injustice to one other gentleman by 
omitting to acknowledge my obligations for the 
valuable service he has rendered. I refer to my 
friend here, J. W. Tyler, Esq., who has been 
my confidential legal adviser from the incipi- 
ency of the project, and who has ever been a 
steadfast and efficient co-operator in this work 
— I desire, therefore, that he should drive the 
spike preceding the last, deeming it befitting 
that, having commenced the work together, 
we should together conclude it. 

After which Hon. J. W. Tyler made the 
following remarks: 

Gentlemen: However undeserving the 
compliment conferred upon me by Mr. Kent, 
the president of the company, I must proceed 
to the accomplishment of the work. But 
before doing so, allow me to say that the early 
friends of the road have a right to congratu- 
late themselves upon the final completion of 
this great enterprise, connecting the tide 



■''m-- 



■ ;■-?'-? 





^>^ 



i-^t^ 







^^kj7'-t^~i^-i'^' 




.^^ 




MRS. MARVIN KENT. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



367 



waters of the Atlantic with the Mississippi 
river; particularly has Mr. Kent, who con- 
ceived the project, cause for congratulation. 
He, to my knowledge, in the fall of 1850, was 
the first man to trace the line of the road on 
the map, and, having fully satisfied himself of 
its importance, drew the charter under which 
the company is now acting and which passed 
the legislature verbatim as submitted by him. 

On his first report he suggested the name 
which the company now bears, a name which 
it must be admitted is at least eminently 
proper. At first the people along the line in 
Ohio acknowledged its importance, gave it 
encouragement, and subscribed largely to its 
stock. But financial difficulties coming on, 
they generally became discouraged, and but 
few friends adhered to the enterprise. I recog- 
nize some here to-day who have risked their 
fortunes and reputations on the accomplish- 
ments of the great enterprise, conspicuous 
among whom is Marvin Kent, who risked his 
own means and those of his relations. 

Those, indeed, were the dark days of the 
road, even portending utter night. At that 
critical juncture Mr. Kennard, arriving in this 
country from England, saw at once its great 
advantages and immediately made favorable 
representations to European capitalists, secur- 
ing James McHenry, of London, as financial 
operator and contractor of the great work; 
since which there have been no great difficul- 
ties in financial matters, nor in the comple- 
tion of the main line and all its tributary 
branches. May the friends of this road live 
to see the day when this cruel war is over and 
and the country restored to new life, that the 
west and her thriving cities may yearn for 
greater facilities than the lines now con- 
structed can furnish, and this road require its 
double track; then, and not until then, will be 
fully appreciated what has been accomplished 
by those who conceived and prosecuted to 
completion this immense artery in the com- 
mercial world. We hope to make, not many 
years hence, the first trip to San Francisco 
over this road and the Union Pacific. 

At the close of these remarks Mr. Tyler 
accepted the sledge, and with four sturdy 
whacks he sent home his spike. Only one. 



an Irish track layer (James Reynolds), had yet 
sent home a spike in three blows, but this was 
professional ; President Kent, with nervy grasp 
struck straight — one, two and three — and the 
welkin rang with applause. The work was 
well done, and the last rail of the Atlantic & 
Great Western was laid and the last spike 
driven to the head. 

The construction of this road encountered, 
perhaps, more obstacles and greater opposi- 
tion than any other in the country. Yet Mr. 
Kent showed himself equal to any and every 
emergency, and with heroic faith and one pur- 
pose, he made success possible and victory a 
verity. The Portage County Democrat (now 
the Ravenna Republican) of June 3, 1863, 
contained this truthful tribute: 

The location of the shops at Franklin Mills 
is doubtless due to the position and influence 
of Marvin Kent, Esq., the president of the 
road, who resides at that point. If any man 
ought to be gratified and benefited by the lo- 
cation of the shops it is President Kent. He 
was not only the friend of the road, but, if we 
are correctly informed, he originated the idea 
of its construction. In carrying forward this 
great improvement to its completion, he has 
toiled and struggled for over twelve years 
amid doubt and discouragement, amid jeers 
and sneers and obloquy. While others hesi- 
tated, he stood fast; when the faint-hearted 
turned aside, he persevered with unfaltering 
nerve and courage; when timid friends forsook, 
he succeeded in raising up other friends, and 
in attracting capital to this great work; and 
thus, with a patience, a courage, and assiduity, 
and unswerving fidelity to a single aim that 
reaches the point of real heroism, he has held 
on his way through twelve laborious years of 
fluctuations, vicissitudes and uncertainties, 
neglecting or abandoning his private busi- 
ness, pledging or imperiling, or at least 
casting into the hazard of success, his large 
private fortune, for the benefit of his cher- 
ished enterprise. And yet he has labored 
all this time without general appreciation, the 
select few more intimately associated in official 



368 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



relations with iiiin only knowing and appre- 
ciating his trials and his toils. But it is time the 
man to whom more than to any other the 
bountry is indebted for this great and leading 
road should be understood and appreciated, 
for every man and every community benefited 
by the construction of this road owes to Marvin 
Kent a debt of gratitude. He is to be congrat- 
ulated on the success which the intelligence, the 
ability and the fi.xed and resolute purpose which 
he has brought to bear on the enterprise have 
accomplished. 

The Kent Saturday Bulletin, June 26, 1880, 
had the following complimentary article re- 
garding this great enterprise: 

The "Broad Gauge" is no more. Its 
name and local characteristics no longer exist, 
but it has a history that ought not to entirely 
perish from the earth. The real original pro- 
jector of the road was our own distinguished 
citizen, Marvin Kent. In 1850 he conceived 
and inaugurated the project of building the 
Atlantic & Great Western railway, designed to 
connect the Erie with the Ohio & Mississippi 
railroads, forming a grand trunk line of si.x feet 
uniform gauge from the city of New York to 
Saint Louis. 

March 10, 1851, the charter was secured, 
which required a special act of the legislature, 
as it was under the old constitution, and this 
was among the last thus granted, since which 
time all incorporated companies are organized 
under the general laws of Ohio. In order to 
save the charter, a paid-up subscription of 
$20,000 was required, which Mr. Kent himself 
took. At that time no one had sufficient faith 
in the enterprise and courage to take more 
than one share; this was required and taken 
by a sufficient number to render them eligible 
as directors. From that time on in the varied 
history of its construction it became a heroic 
struggle to "sink or swim " with Mr. Kent. 
He shouldered the responsibility and went 
bravely in. He lifted the first shovel of earth 
and drove the last spike, and between these 
two events twelve long years elapsed, and 
they were years of unfaltering nerve and cour- 
age and fidelity to a single aim and purpose on 
the part of Mr. Kent, and which alone was the 
secret which crowned the effort with complete 



success. The construction of the road and 
location of the shops at Kent means a village 
now of over 3,000 people full of energy, push 
and enterprise, giving employment to hundreds 
of people, and more than doubling the value 
of every rod of land within a mile of the cen- 
ter of the town, and in many cases the increase 
has been a hundred fold. Beside what it has 
done for us, the road with its connections be- 
came one of national importance. We quote 
an extract from an editorial in the New York 
Tribune of June 19, 1864. It says: 

By the completion of this enterprise, now 
assured, Cincinnati, Louisville, Saint Louis, 
etc. , will be brought into more direct and easy 
communication with our city, while Columbus, 
Dayton, Indianapolis and nearly the whole of 
Ohio and Indiana have received a new and in 
many respects superior outlet to the seaboard. 
The value of the Erie railroad to its stock- 
holders and to our city is nearly doubled by it 
(the A. & G. W.) as the rapid and vast ap- 
preciation of its stock for the past year sufficient- 
ly indicates. Ultimately the rapidly growing 
states of the central gold mining region, but 
especially that of Arizona and the head springs 
of the Arkansas, the Rio Grande and the Gila, 
will reach us in good part over the Atlantic 
& Great Western railroad. This city could 
well afford to pay the entire cost of this work 
rather than do without it; yet we think less 
than $1,000,000 in all have been paid by New 
Yorkers toward its construction. The more 
urgent, then, is the duty of honoring those by 
whose forecast, faith, energy and public spirit 
so magnificent a result has been noiselessly and 
frugally achieved. 

Among the prominent coadjutors of Mr. 
Kent in the enterprise we may mention James 
McHenry and T. W. Kennard, of England; 
Henry A. Kent, Dr. W. S. Streator, Henry 
Doolittle, E. P. Brainard and William Rey- 
nolds. Mr. Kent was the first president of 
the company, but in the varying vicissitudes 
of its subsequent history he sustained to the 
road no official relations. As an investment 
for the original stockholders the road has not 
been a success. For the development of the 
country and as a servant of the people it 
has been eminently successful. By a recent 
sale of the road and change of ownership a 




RESIDENCE OF HON. MARVIN KENT, OF KENT, OHIO. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



sm 



complete re-organization of the company was 
the adopted policy, the most conspicuous of 
which was the change of name; the reduction 
of the " broad gauge " to the standard of the 
roads throughout the country, the present very 
efficient management, however, to be retained. 
Preparations for narrowing the road have 
been going on along the line for some months, 
and on Tuesday, June 22d, the appointed day, 
at four o'clock in the morning, three thousand 
men began work, and at 6:25 A. M. an en- 
gine was run from Kent to Akron, and at 8:25 
an engine came in to Kent from the Cleveland 
& Pittsburg road. At 11:10 A. M., engine 
No. 134, John Bull engineer, came in with 
baggage car and coach, bearing Chief Engineer 
Latimer. At 11:30 A. M., regular train No. 
7, from > the east arrived, only one hour late, 
regular time. In six hours the entire line 
from Levittsburg to Dayton was narrowed up 
— the shortest time was made on the section 
between Urbana and Dayton, being two hours 
and fifty-five seconds — ^and we close as we 
begun: The "broad gauge" is no more. 

Upon the successful completion of this 
road, Mr. Kent substantially retired from active 
business, to the enjoyment of private life. 
Upon the death of his father in 1865, he be- 
came his successor as president of the Kent 
National Bank, which position he has held 
ever since. In October, 1875, he was elected 
state senator from the Twenty-sixth district 
of Ohio, and he served his constituents for two 
years with credit and ability. Mr. Kent is a 
gentleman of varied experince and of varied 
business qualifications — equally capable as an 
engineer or as financial manager to conduct a 
great public work. He has remarkable tenac- 
ity of purpose, and once resolved as to the 
value of an enterprise, no ordinary obstacle 
can prevent him from carrying it out. He is 
a man of liberal views and generous impulses, 
and has, in a great variety of ways, aided in 
advancing the material welfare of those among 
whom he lives. He has been a generous pro- 
moter of every business enterprise in the city 



of Kent, which bears his name. There are 
enduring monuments of his public spirit on 
every hand in the community in which he lives, 
such as public and private edifices, business 
blocks, mills and factories, and about them all 
there is an evidence of permanency and dura- 
bility, of exactness in details, and adaptability 
to the uses designed. 

To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Kent 
have been born two children — Henry L., the 
elder, is now deceased, leaving a widow and 
two children: Ella Southwick, wifeof John W. 
Reed, and Grace Emily, wife of Charles E. 
Curtis. The younger son, William S., is vice- 
president of the Kent National bank. The 
city of Kent is named in honor of Marvin Kent, 
and is one of the most thriving towns of Por- 
tage county; and it may well be said that the 
names of both are imperishable. 



^y-w»ILLIAM V. ALFORD, lecturer, of 
mm I Garrettsville, Ohio, is a representa- 
mjL^ tive of one of the pioneer families 
of Windham township. The fam- 
ily is of English origin, and the first members 
that came to America were among the early 
settlers of the Massachusetts colony. The 
history of the family can be traced back only 
to Elijah Alford, who was born in Massa- 
chusetts, and was there married in 1725. His 
son Elijah was born in the town of Becket, 
Mass., where he became a prominent dea- 
con in the Presbyterian church. He also 
became a member of the co ony which pur- 
chased the tract of land now forming Wind- 
ham township. He reared a family of seven 
children — Elijah, Oliver, Levi, Ruth, Sally, 
Anna, and Olive. 

In March, 181 1, Elijah and Oliver went 
to Ohio to prepare a home for the family, 
which followed later, traveling the entire dis- 
tance with an ox-team. After being several 



370 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



weeks on the road they arrived at their jour- 
ney's end in July and began the erection of a 
dwelling. This was a log cabin and was the 
first house built in Windham township. A 
momument has since been erected to com- 
memorate the place. Of the children of Eli- 
jah Alford, mentioned above, Levi, grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, was born 
in Becket, Mass., in 1789, and on April 6, 
1 8 14, was married to Edna C. Conant, who 
was born October 8, 1795. After his mar- 
riage he settled on a farm in Windham town- 
ship, and followed the occupation of farming 
the remainder of his life. 

He was an energetic man, always taking 
an active interest in public improvements, and 
working for the welfare of the community in 
which he lived. His character was so well 
appreciated that he was elected to many local 
offices of trust and honor. He died February 
12, 1869. His wife followed him January 23, 
1873. Their children were Elizabeth Olive, 
who was born January 8, 1815, married Ly- 
man Wright, resided in Nelson township, and 
died in October, 1896; Rebecca E., now 
Mrs. Henry Palmer, a resident of Windham 
township; Sidney L. is now an inmate of 
the Odd Fellows' Home, at Cincinnati, but 
was a resident of Portage county; Samuel 
Newell lived in Putnam county, Ohio, and 
died in Leipsic; Edward lost his life October 
23, 1836, at the age of eleven, being con- 
sumed in a burning building; Elijah resides on 
the homestead first occupied by the family in 
181 1 ; Darius M., father of the subject of this 
sketch, and the youngest son, was born Au- 
gust 3, 1832. He still lives on the farm 
whei^ he was born. He married Cathaline 
Brewster, a lineal descendant of the Elder 
Brewster who was one of the Pilgrims who 
came to America in the Mayflower in 1620. 
In the line of descent she is of the eighth gen- 
eration. Mr. AlforH has followed the business 



of farming all his life. In the Civil war he was 
in the 100 days' service. He is an ardent 
supporter of the principles of the republi- 
can party, with which he has affiliated since 
its organization. 

William V. Alford, the subject of this 
sketch, is the only son of Darius M. and Cath- 
aline (Brewster) Alford who has lived to at- 
tain his majority. He was born October 7, 
1858. From infancy to manhood his home 
was on the farm. His education was of the 
character usually received by boys in the coun- 
try. After leaving the common school he 
entered the high school in Garrettsville, from 
which he graduated in 1879. After leaving 
school he became a civil engineer. He fol- 
lowed this business for several years, being 
engaged in railroad work in many states. 

In 1887 he went to Central America as as- 
sistant engineer on the Nicaragua canal. He 
was engaged in this work for a period of one 
year, when he returned home and began the 
study of photography, in which branch of art 
he prosecuted his studies for four years, be- 
coming thoroughly proficient in the business. 
In the autumn of 1895 he again returned to 
Central America, this time to obtain photo- 
graphic views of its ancient ruins, its strange 
aboriginal peoples, and its grand and romantic 
scenery. Of these he obtained about 1,000 
views. He crossed the country from ocean to 
ocean fourteen times between Panama and the 
Mexican boundary. He climbed eight of the 
highest volcanoes and examined their craters, 
and enjoyed the novelty of sleeping in three 
of them. Without doubt he was the first 
white to visit certain of the aboriginal tribes, 
and was fortunate in obtaining many photo- 
graphs of these people. In his journeys he 
nearly always traveled alone, except when 
accompanied by Indians. The last 400 miles 
of his journey was made on foot. 

In the latter part of 1896 he returned 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



373 



home and has since given illustrated lectures 
before colleges in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
These lectures are instructive and ought to 
encourage the scientist to pursue his investi- 
gations, to induce the ethnologist to enter into 
a deeper study of the races and tribes of men 
inhabiting that country, and to prove an in- 
centive to the arch^ologist to a more thor- 
ough research among the relics and monu- 
ments of that ancient Indian civilization whose 
glory long antedated the arrival of the Span- 
iards in Central America. 

Mr. Alford was married August 23, 1883, 
to Libbie Barnes, daughter of Peter and Julia 
(Stone) Barnes. She was born in Crawford 
county, Pa., on April 7, 1858. Her father 
was a native of New Jersey, an agriculturist 
in Crawford county. Pa., a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and a republican 
in politics. Mrs. Barnes was from Erie, Pa. , 
They had a family of five children: William 
died in Crawford county, Pa., from wounds 
received in the Civil war. He was a member 
of a Pennsylvania regiment and became a vet- 
eran; Francis, died in Erie, Pa., in 1896; 
Emily married James Proctor, of Crawford 
county, Pa.; Joseph died in 1895. 

To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Alford have 
been born three children: Carrie, born Sep- 
tember 27, 1885; Marguerite, born February 
27, 1888; William Brewster, born November 
24, 1891. Mr. Alford is a member of I. O. 
O. F., and Mrs. Alford is a consistent mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. The 
family live in Garrettsville, where they are 
numbered among its most respected citizens. 



•HE KENT COURIER was founded 
in 1886 by Charles H. Scott, who 
conducted the journal until April, 
1 89 1, when William S. Kent assumed 
the business management, with J. G. Paxton 




as editor, and with the exception of three 
months this arrangement has existed until the 
present day. The Courier is a six-column 
eight-page paper, is all home print, and in 
politics is emphatically republican. It has a 
large circulation throughout Portage and ad- 
joining counties, an extensive advertising pat- 
ronage, is ably edited, and under the manage- 
ment of Mr. Kent has been financially suc- 
cessful. 

William S. Kent, son of Marvin and Maria 
(Stewart) Kent, whose biographies will be 
found on an adjacent page, was born in Ra- 
venna, Ohio, August 24, 1847. He was pri- 
marily educated in the schools of Kent, then 
attended the preparatory department of West- 
tern Reserve college at Hudson, Summit 
county, Ohio, and concluded his studies at 
the Polytechnic institute of Philadelphia, Pa. 
His first business venture was in the grocery 
tra'de at Kent ; his second was in the hardware 
trade, which business he disposed of in 1886 and 
engaged in the dry-goods trade until 1893, 
since when he has devoted his attention to the 
management of the Courier and to banking, 
being now vice-president of the Kent National 
bank, of which full mention is made in the bi- 
ography of Marvin Kent. 

William S. Kent was united in marriage 
October 9, 1875, with Miss Kittie, daughter of 
W. C. North, of Cleveland, but Mrs. Kent 
died May 28, 1886. 

As will easily be inferred, Mr. Kent is 
strongly republican in politics. 



eDWARD G. LEWIS, farmer and ex- 
soldier, is a native of Brimfield town- 
ship, Portage County, Ohio, where 
he still resides, and is a son of John 
and Alphena (Bassett) Lewis. The father was 
a native of Connecticut, who came to Ohio 
when a young man, engaged in farming, and 



374 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



to his marriage with Miss Bassett were born 
six children, of whom four are still living, viz: 
Hannah, wife of L. Edson; Frank, Edward 
G., the subject of this sketch, and William. 
The deceased were named Maria and Mary, 
and of these Marj- died in 1871. The father 
of this family died in December, 1882, but 
had been preceded to the grave by his wife, 
who died in May, 1881, aged seventy-six 
years, both being consistent members of the 
Congregational church. 

Edward G. Lewis was born July 21, 1839, 
was reared on his father's farm, and at the 
age of twenty-two years went to Illinois, 
where he was at work on a farm when the 
Civil war broke forth, when he enlisted, No- 
vember 20, 1 86 1, in the Sixty-fourth Illinois 
volunteer infantry, and performed faithful serv- 
ice for four years. At the battle of Charlton, 
1862, he was wounded in the side by a shot, 
which disabled him for a short time, but he 
veteranized in the same company and contin- 
ued in the service until long after the cessa- 
tion of hostilities. He then went to Missouri, 
where he remained until 1870, when he re- 
turned to his native township, farmed a year, 
then went to Indiana, and for twelve years 
was engaged in the lumber business, and then 
finally returned to Brimtield township and set- 
tled on his present farm. 

The marriage of Edward G. Lewis took 
place February 17, 1870, to Miss Amelia 
Fenn, who was born November lo, 1840, 
daughter of Gibe B. and Jane (Wakeman) 
Fenn, which union was blessed with one 
daughter — Nellie June— a bright young sten- 
ographic graduate, but who has been teaching 
school the past four years. The parents of 
Mrs. Lewis were both natives of Connecticut, 
and her mother was a daughter of John and 
Ruhamah (Goodsell) Wakeman. Mr. and 
Mrs. Fenn had born to them one other daugh- 
ter, Mabel, who was educated a physician and 



is now the widow of Dr. Robert King; a son» 
Berry Fenn, died in infancy. Gibe B. Fenn 
was a clock-case maker, was a faithful mem- 
ber of the Episcopal church, and died Decem- 
ber 29, 1893, at the age of eighty-five years, 
his estimable wife having died October 22, 
1870, when sixty-three years of age. Archi- 
bald Fenn, paternal grandfather of Mrs. Lewis, 
was a native of Watertown, Litchfield county, 
Conn., and was one of the pioneers of Portage 
county, Ohio. To his marriage with Miss 
Mabel Beecher were born two children. Gibe 
B. and Julia. To the marriage of John Wake- 
man, the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Lewis, 
with Miss Goodsell were born seventeen chil- 
dren, of whom sixteen were reared to matur- 
ity, viz: Medad, Gideon, Elihu, Orman, .Aus- 
tin, Uriah, Amelia, Ellen, Adelia, Ruhamah, 
Maria, Jane, Susan, Henry, Ellen and Me- 
dad, Jr. 

Edward G. Lewis is greatly respected for 
his splendid military record, and his civil life 
has been such as to place him high in the es- 
teem of the community in which he was born 
and in which he still lives. 



m 



ILLIAM H. LOVE, a rismg young 
attorney at law, of No. 168 South 
Main street, Akron, Ohio, was born 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., September 2. 
1865, a son of Washington and Sarah (Hamil- 
ton) Love, natives of the north of Ireland and 
of Scotch-Irish descent, and who came after 
marriage to the United States, early in the 
'fifties, residing in Brooklyn until 1867, when 
they came to Ohio and settled at Salem, Co- 
lumbiana county, where the father still resides. 
He is a republican in his politics and has al- 
ways been active in local party affairs. To 
the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Love were born 
ten children, four of whom are dead. 

William H. Love, who was an infant' when 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



375 



his parents settled in Salem, Ohio, was reared 
in that town and educated primarilj' in its dis- 
trict school. He next attended Mount Union 
college, and after graduating passed some four 
years in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and other 
parts of the west, prospecting and teaching 
school. Returning to Salem, he read law with 
Hon. J. A. Amber until admitted to the bar in 
June, 1893, when he opened an office for the 
practice of his profession in Leetonia, Columbi- 
ana county, Ohio, meeting with the most flatter- 
ing success in his private practice, and where he 
was elected solicitor of the town, in which ca- 
pacity he served until August, 1896, when he 
resigned his office to come to Akron, where he 
has also met with abundant success. 

In politics Mr. Love is a stanch republican, 
and in the fall campaign of 1896 took a very 
active part, making many eloquent speeches 
in advocacy of the principles of his party and 
materially aiding its success. Fraternally, Mr. 
Love is a member of K. O. T. M., No. 289. 

Mr. Love was united in marriage, in 1891, 
with Miss Ella Bawman, of Wooster, Ohio, 
and one child — Ralph A. — has blessed the 
happy union. The residence of the family is 
at No. 807 South High street. Mr. Love has 
made his mark as a lawyer, and it is only a 
matter of time as to when he will stand in the 
front rank of the Summit county bar, as he 
has already manifested a superior knowledge 
of the technicalities of the profession which he 
has chosen to be that of his life. 



*-|-» EWIS MELVIN LONG, sheriff of 

I r Portage county, Ohio, was born in 

I ^ Elkhart county, Ind. , June 17, 1849, 

a son of John and Lydia Ann (Frank) 

Long, natives of Pennsylvania. The father, 

who was a farmer, was twice married, and to 

the latter marriage there were born, beside the 

subject, three children, viz: David, in 1851; 



Jacob H., in 1853, and Eva L. , now Mrs. Lot 
B. James, in 1857. Both parents died in Van- 
dalia, Cass county, Mich. — the father in 1886 
and the mother in 1896. 

Lewis M. Long was educated both in the 
common and high schools of Bristol, Elkhart 
county, Ind., and at Vandalia, Mich., and 
after finishing his education became a teleg- 
rapher. In 1872 he was given employment, 
as a substitute, by the Michigan Southern Rail- 
way company at Dowagiac, Mich., and for two 
years filled the places of "regulars," during 
their temporary absence from their posts of 
duty. He then came to Ohio and for a short 
time worked in the wholesale grocery store of 
W. P. Southworth & Co., on Ontario street. 
Cleveland. In 1880 he came to Suffield, Port- 
age county, and was employed by the C. , C. 
& S. Railroad company as station agent and 
operator, also served as mail messenger, and 
later became a retail coal dealer. 

The marriage of Mr. Long took place April 
6, 1880, in Sufheld, to Miss Mary Creque, a 
native of the village, born November 4, 1862, 
and a daughter of Ferdinand and Anna E. 
Creque, natives, respectively, of France and 
Germany. Mr. Creque died in Suflield in 
1869, and there his widow died in April, 1897. 
Mrs. Long was educated in the common schools 
of her native town and in the graded school at 
Marlborough, Stark county, and for a time 
was herself a school-teacher. Two children 
have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Long, viz: Evalena, born April 18, 1883, 
and Mabel, born May 5, 1884, both in Suf- 
field, and both now attending the high school 
in Ravenna. 

In politics Mr. Long is an active republic- 
an, served for some time as constable in Suf- 
field, and in the fall of 1896 was elected sheriff 
of Portage county by a majority of 124 over 
his opponent, Thomas Griffith, of Cyclone, 
Paris township. Fraternally, he is a member 



376 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



of Mogadore lodge, No. 568, Knights of Pyth- 
ias; in religion he and family are consistent 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
Since residing in Ravenna, Mr. Long has se- 
cured many warm friends, and he and family 
enjoy the respect and society of the best peo- 
ple of the cit}-. 



(D 



ARK G. McCASLIN, eminent as 

an attorney at law in Kent, Ohio, 

was born in a log house near Mer- 

car, Pa., November 8, 1S51. He 

passed his boyhood days largely in Mercer and 

Lawrence counties, but extensive details of 

his life career will be given further on. 

Andrew McCaslin, grandfather of subject, 
was born in the north of Ireland, of Scottish 
ancestors. He came to the United States early 
in the year 1 800 and settled in Venango 
county. Pa., where he followed mercantile pur- 
suits and also owned and operated an iron fur- 
nace, was elected sheriff and was, in many 
other ways, closely identified with the official, 
industrial and moral progress of the county. 

George B. McCaslin, father of subject, was 
born in Venango ceunty, Pa. , was there reared 
to manhood and married Eliza J. Gray, a na- 
tive of the same county, and shortly after this 
event moved to Mercer county. In April, 
1 86 1, although then forty-five years of age, he 
offered his services as a soldier to do battle for 
the preservation of the Union, which were ac- 
cepted, and he was mustered into company B, 
One Hundredth Pennsylvania volunteer infan- 
try (Otherwise known as the Roundhead regi- 
ment), and was sent to the front. He died in 
the service, and his remains lie interred in the 
National cemetery, at Le.xington, Ky. ; his 
widow now makes her home in Kent, Ohio. 
To George B. McCaslin and wife were born 
nine children, of whom eight lived to reach 
the years of maturity, viz: William, a farmer 
and contractor in the state of Washington; 



Mary, wife of Sylvester Preston, of Cuba, 111. ; 
Angle, married to L. D. Harris, of Omaha, 
Nebr. ; Josephine, married and residing in 
Stockton, Cal. ; Mark G., of this notice; Eliz- 
abeth; wife of C. L. Whitney, of Walla Walla, 
Wash. ; George A., a lawyer, who died in But- 
ler county. Pa. , and Lydia Muse, now dead. 
Mark G. McCaslin was educated in the 
public schools near his home and in the acad- 
eni}' at Sewickley, Pa. He next read law 
under Hon. Joseph N. McClure, at Sharon, 
Pa., and then entered the Ohio Union law 
college at Cleveland, from which he graduated 
in 1872, receiving the degree of B. L., and 
was admitted to the bar at Mercer, Mercer 
county. Pa., at the September term of court 
preceding his arrival at his majority, and at 
once entered upon the practice of the legal 
profession in Mercer and Butler counties. He 
was licensed to preach in 1877, graduated 
from the Drew Theological seminary at Madi- 
son, N. J., in 1882, receiving the degree of 
B. D., and for a time filled the Methodist 
pulpit at Linden, N. J., and in 1880 was ad- 
mitted to the East Ohio conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and thencefor- 
ward devoted his whole attention to the 
preaching of the gospel until 1884, having re- 
ceived the degree of B. S. from the Wes- 
leyan university of Bloomington, 111., on ex- 
amination; in 1884 he withdrew from the con- 
ference and resumed the practice of law at 
Colville, Stevens county, Wash. The same 
year he received the nomination by the repub- 
lican party for joint assemblyman to represent 
Stevens and Spokane counties in the legisla- 
ture, but, although he ran ahead of his ticket, 
was defeated by forty-nine votes. This de- 
feat was occasioned, beyond all doubt, by his 
strict adherence to the cause of temperance, 
in which he had always been an earnest 
worker, and could not be swerved from his 
convictions of right, even through the reward 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



377 



of an elective office. In 1886 Mr. McCaslin 
returned to Ohio and settled in Kent, where 
he has since largely devoted his time to law 
practice, with most flattering success. Since 
1 89 1 he has somewhat modified his political 
views and has affiliated with the prohibition- 
ists — although he has always been independ- 
ent and never bound by strictly party ties — 
and in 1893 was the prohibition candidate for 
secretary of state of Ohio. He has ever 
sought to do the right and to aid the weak, 
and although the work of reform has been 
slow, discouraging, attended with financial 
loss and at times with danger, he has never 
faltered in his adherence to the cause of hu- 
manity. When he left the republican party 
he was township chairman of the republican 
committee and a member of the county com- 
mittee for Portage county, and' naturally in 
the way of political preferment, and when it 
was known he was about to leave the party 
this fact was ably urged upon him, but feeling 
it to be his duty to help the little band of pro- 
hibitionists in their battle against what he re- 
garded as the arch enemy of humanity, and 
his country, he cast all political ambition and 
personal considerations behind him and united 
with a party whose success he recognized to 
be very far in the future, if it came in his day 
or generation, thus laying all hope of prefer- 
ment upon its altar. 

Mr. McCaslin was twice married; by his 
first wife he had two children, Nellie, who 
lives in the west, and Paul, who is a student at 
Buchtel college, and is a very brilliant and 
promising young man. 

May 15, 1 89 1, Mark G. McCaslin was 
united in the bonds of matrimony with Miss 
Mary Bradrich, daughter of Rev. I. B. Brad- 
rich, of Columbus, Ohio, and this union has 
been blessed with three children — Wendell 
Phillips, Mark Donald, and Edith Louise, all 
of lovely personality. 



at 



H. McCONNELL, M. D., physi- 
cian and surgeon of Brimfield, Port- 
age county, Ohio, was born in Wash- 
ington county, Md., June 6, 1831, 
a son of John and Ellen (Moore) McConnell, 
both natives of Pennsylvania and of Scotch- 
Irish descent. 

James McConnell, father of the doctor, 
was a blacksmith by trade, but later became a 
farmer in his native state. He married Miss 
Ellen Moore in Pennsylvania, and eleven chil- 
dren were born to this union. The father of 
this family reached the advanced age of nine- 
ty-eight years, and the mother attained the 
extraordinary age of 10 1 years. Both were 
life-long members of the Presbyterian church, 
of which the father was an elder. 

Dr. McConnell received his preliminary 
education in the district schools of his native 
county, subsequently attended Florence acad- 
emy, in the same county, and Hopetown acad- 
emy in Beaver county. Pa. In 1853 he came 
to Ohio, and read medicine with Drs. Day & 
Willson for three years, and then entered Jef- 
ferson Medical college, of Philadelphia, from 
which he graduated in 1857, and at once lo- 
cated in Bolivar, Ohio, where he practiced one 
year; he then removed to Stark county, where 
he practiced his profession for twenty years. 
After a seven months' service in a hospital at 
Louisville, Ky. , during the Civil war, he con- 
cluded to go west, and sold out, with the in- 
tention of settling in Kansas, but, on account 
of the advanced age of his parents, decided to 
remain in Ohio, and the same year located in 
Ravenna, Portage county, where he practiced 
one year, and then came to Brimfield. 

The doctor was united in marriage, Novem- 
ber 5, 1863, with Miss Savilla Royer, the 
union resulting in the birth of three children, 
viz: Carrie B., wife of Merritt Russell; Clar- 
ence L. and Estella. In politics the doctor 
is a republican, and fraternally is a Mason and a 



378'. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



member of various medical societies. Socially 
he and family stand very high, and he is as 
much respected in society as he is esteemed in 
professional circles. 



HNTHONY McFARLIN, one of the 
most highly respected agriculturists 
of Bath township, Summit county, 
Ohio, wasbornhere January 24, 1835. 
John McFarlin, father of the subject, was a 
native of Bristol, Ontario county, N. Y. , born 
July 27, 1805, and when a young boy was 
brought to Ohio by his parents, who located 
in Sharon, Medina county, at first, but in 18 19 
came to Bath township. Summit county, and 
purchased 165 acres in the wilderness, which 
the elder Mr. McFarlin cleared up and im- 
proved with substantial buildings. Here John 
McFarlin grew to manhood and first married 
Miss Azubah Lowe, who was born in Canan- 
daigua county, N. Y. , and came to Bath 
township in 1830. To this marriage were born 
five children, viz: Anthony, Adeline, Emily, 
Eliza Jane and Harriet, of whom Anthony, 
the subject, is the only survivor, and is living 
on the old homestead. Mrs. McFarlin was 
called away October 1 1, 1862, and on October 
13, 1863, Mr. McFarlin married Mrs. Elsie A. 
Swan, of Medina county, who bore him one 
child — Jessie E., born February 20, 1865, and 
died March 21, 1869. Mr. McFarlin was a 
thrifty farmer and a public-spirited citizen, 
and was elected to several positions of trust 
and honor, among which may be mentioned 
that of justice of the peace, which office he 
held many years. He was also twice elected 
county commissioner — first, in 1858, for three 
years, and again in 1864, for the same length 
of time, and was a member of the board when 
the present extensive infirmary buildings were 
erected. He died September 14, 1877, at the 



age of seventy-two years, honored as one of 
the best citizens Bath township ever had. 

Anthony McFarlin was educated in the dis- 
trict schools and reared to manhood on his 
father's farm, which he now owns. Novem- 
ber 15, i860, he married Miss Frances M. 
Hurd, the third child born to Asa and Sarah 
(Beebe) Hurd, her birth occurring March 25, 
1840. To this union have been born three 
children, in the following order: Corinne, 
July 10, 1864 — now the wifeof Jason Sumner, 
a prosperous farmer of Bath township ; May A. , 
May 30, 1869, and John H., December 20, 
1871 — both residing on the homestead. Mrs. 
McFarlin is an active member of the Disciples' 
church, at East Granger, and in polities Mr. 
McFarlin is a stanch republican, and cast his 
first presidential vote for Honest Abe Lincoln. 
He has twice been elected township trustee, is 
at present a member of the school board, and 
for fourteen years has been a member of the 
Summit County Agricultural association. He 
is an upright, honorable gentleman in every 
respect, and no one in the township is more 
highly esteemed. The old family homestead 
is situated on the highlands in the western 
part of the township and contains all modern 
improvements and up-to-date buildings, and is 
one of the best cultivated farms in Summit 
county. Mrs. Sumner has been a student at 
Hiram college and at Buchtel college, at Akron, 
Ohio. Miss May was educated in Buchtel col- 
lege and at the old time-honored college of 
Oberlin. John was a student at Hiram col- 
lege for three years. 

Mr. Hurd, the father of Mrs. McFarlin, 
was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., and was 
reared to the life of a farmer. He emigrated 
to Ohio about 1835, and died at the age of 
seventy-two. Politically, he was a repub- 
lican. Mrs. Hurd, the mother, was also a 
native of New York. She died at the age of 
seventy-three. In religious faith the Hurds 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



379 



were Baptists. There were only four chil- 
dren, three sons and one daughter, in the 
Hurd family, and three of the four are living. 



ISAAC MADLEM, one of the most sub- 
stantial farmers and respected citizens 
of Springfield township, is of German 
descent. His grandfather, Thomas 
Madlem, was a native of Lancaster county, 
Pa., where he married and reared a family, 
later moving to Lake township. Stark county, 
Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his 
days. He was a leader in the German Lu- 
theran church, and a Jacksonian democrat in 
politics. The subject's father, George Mad- 
lem, was born in Lancaster county. Pa. He 
received a common-school education and mar- 
ried Catherine Hocker, who was born in that 
county in April, 1817. To Thomas Madlem 
and wife were born the following children: 
John, Isaac, Lena, Daniel, William, George, 
Susannah and Sarah. George Madlem moved 
to Stark county, Ohio, and after a few years' 
residence there located in Suffield township, 
Portage county, Ohio, where their permanent 
home was made, the father dying at the age 
of forty-one years. The mother is still living 
at a hale old age. Their pioneer days were 
full of privations and hardships of which the 
present generation have little or no concep- 
tion, but they endured and braved all, and 
were fairly successful in the end. The father 
was engaged in the woolen manufacturing 
business, and was highly regarded as a man 
and as a citizen in the community in which he 
lived. He was a democrat in politics, and a 
member of the Reformed church. At his 
death the widow was left with four children, 
whom she reared as best she could, giving 
them the advantages of the rather limited 
common-school system of that day. 

Isaac Madlem, the subject, was born in 



Lancaster county. Pa., October 7, 1841. He 
was nine years of age when his parents moved 
to Portage county. He remained on the farm 
until he was seventeen years of age, when he 
was bound out to the carpenter trade, in which 
he became a competent craftsman, engaging 
in the same for two years before the war and 
for eight or nine years after his service in the 
army. Since retiring from his trade he has 
lived on his present farm. On September 30, 
1 86 1, he enlisted in company G, Twenty- 
ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served 
through the war, being mustered out July 13, 
1865. He was a participant in some of the 
most notable engagements of the war. His 
regiment was engaged in Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, 
Kentucky, New York and Indiana, and saw 
some very hard service, being in the main line 
of battle at Cedar Mountain and Chancellors- 
ville, where heavy loss was sustained by the 
regiment. At Gettysburg this regiment was 
in the right wing of battle and suffered heavily. 
At Gulp's Hill it was in the main line and met 
a heavy loss, and also at Buzzard's Roost, 
Ga. , where carelessness resulted in a large and 
unnecessary loss to the regiment. It saw 
service at the battle of Lookout Mountain, 
was in the campaign before Atlanta and 
marched with Sherman to the sea, and was 
distinguished as one of the finest in that host. 
Mr. Madlem was appointed corporal July i, 
1864, and on the 23d of the same month was 
promoted to the position of sergeant. He is 
now a member of Hill post. No. 218, G. A. R. 
On November 12, 1865, Mr. Madlem was 
married to Catharine Royer, who was born 
June 15. 1846, the daughter of John and 
Hettie (Royer) Royer, both natives of Lancas- 
ter county. Pa., the former being born No- 
vember 12, 1808, and the latter January 3, 
1809. John and Hettie Royer were married 



380 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in that county and afterward moved to Stark 
county, Ohio, where they settled on a fine 
farm, which they improved highly. They 
were the parents of the following children: 
Elizabeth, Martha, Maria, Daniel, Sarah, 
Catherine, Leah and Salina. Mr. Royer was 
an old-line whig, afterward a republican. 

Joseph Royer, paternal grandfather of Mrs. 
Madlem, was a native of Lancaster county. 
Pa., was an agriculturist, and he and wife 
were devoted members of the German Baptist 
church. He was one of the earliest advocates 
of republicanism. His death took place Feb- 
ruary 1 1, 1890, at the age of eighty-two years, 
two months and twenty-six days, and the in- 
terment of his remains was made February 14. 
His wife was also a native of the Keystone 
state, and died July 13, 1891, aged eighty-two 
years, six months and ten days, her interment 
taking place July 15. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Madlem were born the 
following children: C. Etta, wife of Alvin 
Wearstler, and residing on the Madlem home- 
stead; EmmaB., wife of Gustus Mishler, of 
Springfield township; and Dora May, at home 
and attending school. 

After their marriage they lived in Portage 
county for six years, and then moved to Spring- 
field township, buying their present farm of 
sixty-six acres, the larger part of which is well 
improved, and on which there are very valua- 
ble deposits of fine potter's clay. These clay 
banks, covering about thirty-five acres, have 
been developed until at present Mr. Madlem 
is taking out about 3,000 tons per year. He 
is a stanch republican politically, and cast 
his first presidential vote for " Honest Abe," 
and takes an active part in the affairs of his 
party in this county. Officially Mr. Madlem 
has been director of the schools of his district 
for years. He was township trustee for one 
year, and also treasurer of his township for 
three years. His wife is a member of the 



German Baptist Brethren church, and is a 
great help in that body. They are well-known 
and highly respected people. 



<>^ETER LEPPER, a wealthy and hon- 
1^ M ored citizen of Springfield township, 
^ Summit county, Ohio, and a success- 

ful farmer and live-stock raiser, and 
a self-made man of business, was born in Mil- 
ton township, Trumbull (now Mahoning) coun- 
ty, Ohio, October 7, 1826, and is a son of 
John A. and Magdalena (Stine) Lepper, of 
whom mention will be made in full toward 
the close of this biography. 

At the age of three years, Peter Lepper 
was taken by his parents to Suffield township, 
Portage county, where, his parents being in 
somewhat indigent circumstances, and the 
country covered with forest growth, he began, 
at the age of twelve years, to make his own 
living by chopping wood and by assisting the 
neighbors in clearing up their lands. He next 
engaged as a driver for a canal-boat for three 
summers, and in 1840 went on the Mississippi 
river as a cabin boy, and in the fall returned 
to Suffield township, where he attended school 
three months, and in the spring of 1841 re- 
engaged in boating on the canal, as bowsman, 
under Capt. Woodard, filling the position 
throughout the summer. Being yet a boy, he 
thought himself fortunate when he had ac- 
cumulated sufficient cash to buy himself an 
ax and saw, which he took to what is now the 
city of Akron, and for two years went from 
house to house, sawing and chopping cord 
wood, and in this way earned enough money to 
pay for a two-horse team, and for two years en- 
gaged in general hauling. In 1845 he sold his 
team and for the following two years employed 
himself in peddling groceries, cigars, etc. 
About this time an elder sister started a gro- 
cery store in Suffield, and induced Mr. Lepper 




C-<3^;^^feI^ 




OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



385 



to form a partnership with her, he to do the 
purchasing, in conjunction with his peddling, 
and she to manage the store. 

In 1847 Mr. Lepper bought a tract of 
forty-seven acres in Suffield township, ad- 
jacent to twenty-six acres owned by his parents, 
who, however, were well advanced in years 
and their property under mortgage. The son 
began cultivating his land, and also made an 
agreement with his parents, conditional on the 
transfer of their property to himself, to re- 
lease the mortgage and to care for the par- 
ents the remainder of their existence — condi- 
tions he faithfully complied with, clothing 
them and providing them with every neces- 
sary until their decease. Mr. Lepper con- 
tinued farming, also dealing extensively in 
live stock, in Suffield township, until 1855, in 
the meantime marrying, May 20, 1848, at 
Hartsville, Stark county, Miss Catherine 
Sausaman, daughter of Isaac and Catherine 
(Jarrett) Sausaman, the union being blessed 
with seven children, viz: John H., who is 
conducting a large grocery in Brittain, 
Summit county, and is married to Miss Anna 
Kling, daughter of George Kling; Louisa, still 
at home; B. Frank, unmarried and proprietor 
of a large sheep range in Montana; Margaret 
A. , wife of Henry Swartz, a farmer of Edin- 
burg. Portage county, Ohio; Mary Elizabeth 
and Jefferson, twins, Jefferson having been 
twice married — the first time to Ollie Smith, 
daughter of Orren Smith, but who died 
January i, 1890, the mother of one son; his 
second marriage was to Maria Adams, daugh- 
ter of Horace Adams; Catherine is the wife of 
Frederick Hawk, who resides on a farm be- 
longing to Mr. Lepper, in Brimfield township, 
Portage county. 

Mr. Lepper, while still a resident of 
Suffield township, in addition to farming and 
stockraising, also ran a threshing machine for 
fourteen years, and after a residence in that 

12 



township of nearly forty years came to 
Springfield township in 1869, and purchased 
the farm of 255 acres, then known as the 
Philip Kramer farm, and situated on the road 
running from Mogadore to Akron, and now 
one of the finest farms in the county. Here 
Mr. Lepper has lived ever since, and has princi- 
pally but not entirely devoted his attention to 
general farming and sheep raising, and is to- 
day one of the largest shippers of stock in this 
section of the country. For twenty-five years 
he has handled farm machinery and agricult- 
ural implements, and for many years has been 
a member of the Agricultural society, of 
which he has served as president, director and 
superintendent of stock. 

In politics Mr. Lepper is a tariff democrat, 
and in the affairs of his party takes an active 
interest, and, although not an office seeker, 
has filled, as a matter of public duty, several 
important local offices, such as township 
trustee and assessor of Suffield township, and 
in 1890 was elected real estate appraiser of 
Springfield township, and has been a member 
of the school board for many years. He is a 
member of the Reformed church of Suffield, 
and while a resident there filled the office of 
deacon. In this faith his wife died July 9, 
1896, her death being a sad blow to himself 
and the surviving members of the family. She 
was a loving wife, a kind mother, a true 
Christian, and a woman possessed of many 
rare virtues. Their daughter, Louisa, is now 
managing the household for her father, and 
manages it well. 

The parents of Peter Lepper were natives 
of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. John A. 
Lepper, the father, was born in June, 1779, 
was a miller by trade, and married, in 1803, 
Miss Mary Magdalen Stine, who was born in 
April, 1780, a daughter of Henry and Louisa 
(Von Writtenhousen) Stine. To John A. and 
wife were born the following children, of 



386 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



whom Peter Lepper is the only survivor and 
the only one born in America. The deceased 
were Elizabeth, who died an infant on the 
ocean; Adam, died at the age of seven years 
in New Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio; 
Philip, who owned a farm in Missouri, was 
shot dead in the Civil war, in 1864, at the 
age of fifty-one years; Goodhart died, at the 
age of fifty-two years, ten months and twenty- 
one days, January 11, 1865; Catherine died 
the wife of Joseph Crase; Louisa, the wife of 
Philip Hommel, died in Germany in 1893. 

On the eve of embarkation of the Lepper 
family from the port of Bremen, Germany, 
after the passage to America was paid, which 
amounted to about $510, and whilst the colony 
of emigrants were waiting, a man by the name 
of Philip Damm found a bullet, about the size 
of a small walnut, in the street, and gave it to 
the third child of the Leppers, Philip by name, 
who, boy like, attached a string to the bullet 
and was swinging it in a circle, when the 
string broke, and the bullet flew at a tangent 
and crashed into a large mirror, valued at 
$400. This was unfortunate for Mr. Lepper; 
the company owning the building imme- 
diately attached the passage money, which 
caused great consternation in the minds of the 
family, for Mr. Lepper had determined to 
come to free America. The pieces of the mir- 
ror were gathered up and many of the colonists 
purchased pieces, paying a goodly sum, which 
greatly aided Mr. Lepper in liquidating the 
damage, but the balance yet amounted to over 
$200. The family were in a peculiar condition. 
The captain of the outgoing vessel had 
taken a liking to Mr. Lepper, since he was an 
educated German, and would have been very 
useful on board, should an insurrection arise 
during the voyage. He however said to Mr. 
Lepper, ' ' Sir, I am very sorry for your mishap, 
but I cannot take you at all, unless the balance 
of your passage is made up and you will be 



compelled to remain." The old gentleman 
said — "No, sir; I am going to America," and 
seeing the decision and candor in the person of 
Lepper, he said, "Come back in a few days 
and I will decide whether I will take you 
across, and upon what conditions." Upon the 
the return of Mr. Lepper, the captain said, 
"Lepper I will take you to America with this 
understanding, hard as it may seem to you — 
that upon the arrival of our vessel at Balti- 
more, you and family be placed on the block 
and be sold for the balance of the passage 
money." Mr. Lepper immediately answered — 
"I accept the proposition," and when the ship 
reported at Baltimore, the sale of a family for 
passage across the Atlantic was promulgated 
through the streets, and the daughter Catha- 
rine, a maiden of fourteen years of age, was 
put up and sold at the stipulated price, to re- 
main in a family till her majority, twenty-one 
years of age, the family then resuming their 
westward bound trip to Northumberland 
county. Pa. , where the father soon secured em- 
ployment in his trade, that of a miller. The 
people were in great sy mpathy with the Leppers, 
so a subscription was taken up, the requisite 
amount raised and a messenger sent to Balti- 
more to secure the release of the daughter, but 
he being a villain and a dishonest man, hypoth- 
ecated the money. Another subscription was 
taken and a citizen and merchant of the village 
was then delegated to Baltimore to bring the 
daughter Catharine home, which was accom- 
plished to the delight and unsurpassable joy of 
the family. This incident is presented to show 
the determined will of the Leppers, which is 
still apparent in the life of Summit county's 
honored citizen, Peter Lepper of this sketch. 
The family reached America in 18 19, be- 
ing ninety-one days on the water, during 
forty-one of which they never saw daylight, 
and at the termination of this tempestuous 
voyage disembarked at the port of Baltimore, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



387 



Md., whence they went direct to Northumber- 
land county, Pa. , where the father followed mill- 
ing three years, and then came to Ohio with his 
family. Here for three years he followed his 
trade in New Lisbon, then at Milton one year, 
and then for one year at Tinker's creek, near 
Cleveland; he next came to Akron, worked 
two years, then came to Springfield township 
and worked one year at Millheim, and then 
bought twenty-six acres of land in Suffield 
township, and also took charge of the Ran- 
dolph flouring-mill, his family working the 
farm until it was transferred to his son Peter, 
as mentioned in a preceding paragraph. At 
the age of seventy years he retired from active 
work, and died at the home of Peter, in Suf- 
field township, December ii, 1868, a faithful 
member of the Lutheran church. His widow 
survived until December 11, 1871, when she 
passed away in the same faith, also at the 
home of her son Peter, who had come to 
Springfield township. 

John A. Lepper, grandfather of Peter Lep- 
per, our subject, was also a native of Hesse- 
Darmstadt, was a miller, and was the father 
of eleven children, of whom three served in 
the German army — John A., father of Peter, 
having enlisted at the age of fourteen years 
and serving ten years, and John and Anthony, 
who were members of the same regiment with 
John A., and who were both killed on the field 
of battle. 

Henry Stine, maternal grandfather of Peter 
Lepper, was also born in Hesse-Darmstadt, 
Germany, was a sutler, a wealthy man, and 
to his marriage with Miss Louisa von Written- 
housen were born four children, of whom 
Mrs. Lepper was the eldest; the others were 
named Catherine, Margaret and Goodhart. 

Isaac Sausaman, father of Mrs. Peter Lep- 
per, was born in Union county, Pa., was a sad- 
dler by trade, and on coming to Ohio, about 
1842, located in Union township. Stark county. 



where he followed his trade many years, and 
then purchased twelve acres of land in Suffield, 
Portage county, where he passed the remain- 
der of his life. To his marriage with Miss Cath- 
erine Jarrett, daughter of John Jarrett, were 
born nine children, of whom four are still liv- 
ing, viz: Henry and Frederick, twins, residing 
in Fulton county, Ind. ; Amelia, wife of Joseph 
Dickerhoof, of Akron, Fulton county, Ind., 
and Isaac, of Suffield township. Portage county, 
Ohio. The deceased were named John; Dan- 
iel; Esther, who was married to Aultman Hein- 
man; Lydia, who died in Indiana, the wife of 
David Long, and Mrs. Peter Lepper, who was 
born September 25, 181 8, and died at the date 
mentioned above. 

Peter Lepper has done an immense amount 
of work toward the development of Springfield 
township, morally and temporally, and has 
given a helping hand to many of his less fortu- 
nate fellow-citizens. A man of most generous 
impulses, he has lost thousands upon thousands 
of dollars in saving others from ruin, or in 
helping them to repair their shattered fortunes, 
although he was but a poor boy himself when 
he began his business career, becoming through 
his own industry, sagacity and temperate life 
one of the wealthiest men in the county. He 
has given, and will yet give, with an open hand 
and cheerful heart, to those in distress, and the 
people of Springfield may well feel proud, as 
well as grateful, that they have in their midst 
so munificent a philanthropist. 



^V^ ENJAMIN F. MANDERBACH, chief 

l/"^ of the Akron, Ohio, fire department, 

J^^J was born in New Berlin, Stark county, 

Ohio, January i, 1844, and is a son 

of Jacob and Anna (Davis) Manderbach. 

The earliest paternal ancestor of whom the 
subject has any knowledge was his great- 
grandfather, who was stolen by gypsies in 



388 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Germany, brought to America, and reared to 
manhood in Lancaster county, Pa. Martin 
Manderbach, grandfather of subject, was born 
in the county named, and there died. His 
son Jacob, father of subject, was born in 
the same county in December, 1816, came to 
Ohio in 1842, and kept a hotel in New Ber- 
lin, Stark county, and later at Union Town, 
in the same county, until the breaking out of 
the late Civil war, when he engaged in distill- 
ing, an occupation he followed until 1865. He 
then came to Akron with his son Benjamin F., 
and was here engaged in the flour and feed 
trade, under the firm name of Manderbach & 
Son, for fourteen years, when he retired. Of 
his four children two still survive — Benjamin 
F. , the subject, and Hattie E. , the wife of 
William H. Miller. 

Benjamin F. Manderbach was reared in 
New Berlin and Union Town, Ohio, attending 
public school until about seventeen years old, 
when he enlisted, September 30, 1861, in 
company G. Twenty-ninth Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, and was discharged in December, 1863, 
to veteranize in the same regiment. He par- 
ticipated in the first battle of Winchester, Port 
Republic, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, 
Va, , and Gettysburg, and was then transferred 
to the western army, where he took part in the 
battles of Lookout Mountain, Dug Gap, Resaca, 
Pine Knob, Dallas, New Hope Church and 
Kenesaw Mountain, and in the last named was 
wounded in the head, June 27, 1864. He was 
a brave, faithful and true soldier, was pro- 
moted from private to corporal and to first 
sergeant, and, January 15, 1865, was com- 
missioned first lieutenant, with which rank he 
was honorably discharged July 4, 1865. On 
his return to Ohio he united in business with 
his father in Akron, as related in the foregoing 
paragraph. Since 1868 he has been a mem- 
ber of the Akron iire department, and since 
1883 has been its efficient and able chief. He 



is also a member of the I. O. O. F. , K. of P., 
G. A. R. and Loyal Legion, and in politics is 
a republican. As a useful citizen, enterprising 
business man and sagacious disciplinarian of 
the fire brigade of Akron, he has won and 
deserves the respect of the public, and this is 
freely accorded to him. 



eDWARD A. MONTENYOHL, M. D., 
a native of Akron, Ohio, was born 
June 5, 1873, and is a son of Henry 
L. and Mary E. (Atwood) Montenyohl, 
at present residing at No. 137 Bluff street, 
with an office at the southwest corner of Main 
and Exchange streets. The father is in the 
employ of the Standard Hardware company, 
and has spent twenty-five years in the hard- 
ware business. 

Dr. Montenyohl was educated in Akron and 
graduated from its high school; he then entered 
the office of Dr. J. V. Cleaver, under whom he 
read medicine until prepared for a higher 
course of study. He then entered Bellevue 
Hospital Medical college of New York city, re- 
mained there during the years 1892 and 1893, 
and then entered the Medical college of Ohio, 
at Cincinnati, from which he graduated in the 
class of 1895. and later took a special course 
in the treatment of diseases of the eye and ear, 
and then, after passing a competitive examina- 
tion, was appointed house surgeon of the 
Jewish general hospital at Cincinnati, where 
he spent one year, and while there became a 
member of the Hamilton county Medical so- 
ciety and was appointed a clinician in the 
department of the diseases of children in the 
Medical college of Ohio. The doctor is a ge- 
nial, whole-souled gentleman, well fitted by 
nature for the profession he has adopted as his 
life pursuit, as he carries, as it were, sunshine 
into the sick chamber, and it is a well-known 
physiological or spiritualistic fact that a ra- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



389 



diant countenance, working on the sympa- 
thetic patient, accoinpHshes as much, at times, 
as therapeutics. The doctor tceeps thoroughly 
posted on the advances made daily in his science, 
and both as a practitioner in general medicine 
and as an oculist has met with more than or- 
dinary success for one of his age. The doctor 
is now a member of the Union Medical society 
of Northeastern Ohio. 



-^Y* ULIUS D. MARSHALL, of Cuyahoga 
m Falls, Ohio, springs from an old colo- 
/• 1 nial New England family, of Scotch 
descent, and was born September 2, 
1828, at Bolton, Conn., son of Samuel and 
Mary (Cook) Marshall. 

Julius D. Marshall was but three years old 
when his father came to Ohio in 1831, located 
in Twinsburg, Summit county, but later re- 
moved to Cuyahoga Falls, and here sub- 
ject received his early education. He went 
to Michigan with his father when about fifteen 
years old and attended school in Berrien coun- 
ty. He married, when twenty-one years old, 
in Saint Joseph county, Mich., Julia A. Camp- 
bell, who was born in Canada, and to Mr. and 
Mrs. Marshall were born two children — Will- 
iam R. and Freddie E. Mr. Marshall returned 
to Cuyahoga Falls in 1861, learned the car- 
penter's trade, and here enlisted, March 28, 
1864, in battery D, First Ohio light artillery, 
Capt. James J. Cockerell, to serve three years 
or during the war, but was honorably dis- 
charged, on account of disability, September, 
1864. His services were at Nash\ille, Tenn. , 
but he was taken sick at Kno.xville with chronic 
bronchitis, caused by e.xposure, and was in 
hospital one week there. He was then in 
Cumberland hospital, Nashville, two months, 
when he was transferred to New Albany, Ind., 
and remained four weeks, and was then trans- 



ferred to Camp Dennison, Ohio, where he re- 
mained until discharged. 

After his return, Mr. Marshall followed his 
trade of carpenter, and resided some time in 
Cuyahoga Falls. His first wife died in Ber- 
rien county, Mich., and he next married Jo- 
hanna Bennett, and they had one child — 
Charles G. Marshall. The second wife also 
died in Berrien county, Mich., and he next 
married Harriet Clement, and they had three 
children — Anna B., Nellie E. and Hattie V. 
The third Mrs. Marshall died, and he next 
married Sarah H. Beckley; she died, and his 
fifth marriage took place June 3, 1884, to 
Anna B. Staufer, born June 16, 1850, near 
Lancaster, Pa., a daughter of Ephraim and 
Sarah (Kurtz) Staufer, of sturdy Pennsylvania 
Dutch stock, and Mennoaites in religion. Mr. 
Staufer was a tailor by trade and settled in 
Stark county, Ohio, in 1856-7, there passed 
his remaining days, and died aged thirty-nine 
years. His children were Martin K., Anna 
B., Emma and Elizabeth. Mr. Marshall is a 
member of the G. A. R., Eadie post, Cuya- 
hoga Falls, in which he has held the office of 
post commander. In politics he is a stanch 
republican. Mr. Marshall is greatly disabled 
and has not followed his trade for eight years, 
but previously was always an industrious, re- 
spected citizen, and still stands high in his 
community. 

Samuel S. Marshall, father of subject, was 
born in Connecticut and early left an orphan. 
He became a shoemaker, and married in Con- 
necticut Mary Cook, who, like him, was early 
left an orphan. Their children were Libbens 
R. , Julia A., Elizabeth L., Esther A., Laura, 
Gilbert R., William G. and Julius D. Mr. 
Marshall was a soldier in the war of 18 12, a 
member of the Presbyterian church, an up- 
right and industrious man, and in politics a 
whig, and died in Michigan at the age of 
seventy years. He had two sons, Julius D. 



390 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and William G., soldiers in the Civil war. 
William G. was in an Ohio infantry regiment, 
served two years, and was at one time guard- 
ing prisoners on Johnson's Island, Lake Erie. 
Julius D. Marshall's sons are named as fol- 
lows: William R., who married Ella Camp, 
of Cuyahoga Falls, where he is in the grocery 
business and has one child: Frederick E. mar- 
ried Dora Ulmer, is a street-car conductor, 
resides in Cleveland and has two children; 
Anna B. married F. E. Polhamus, a tinner, 
has one child and resides in Cu3'ahoga Falls; 
Nellie E. married Nathan Rook, a barber, of 
Cuyahoga Falls, and has seven children; 
Charles E. married Nellie Lockwood, has one 
child and resides in Michigan. 



>^OHN SPENCER MARVIN, of the firm 
m of Robert Smith & Co., lumber dealers 
^y of Ravenna, Ohio, was born in Lan- 
caster, Erie county, N. Y. , sixteen 
miles east of Buffalo, May 30, 1831, a son of 
John C. and Lydia (Phillips) Marvin, both na- 
tives of the town of Saybrook, Litchfield 
county, Conn. , where the Marvin family were 
among the first settlers, long before the Revo- 
lutionary war. To John C. and Lydia Mar- 
vin were born three children, viz: Sarah Ann, 
widow of Cyrus H. Norcut; John S., the sub- 
ject, and Franklin Norton Marvin, of Rock- 
ford, 111. 

Joseph Marvin, the paternal grandfather 
of subject, was a native of Connecticut, was a 
soldier in the Revolution, and was a carpenter 
and builder by trade. He married a Miss 
Hutchinson, reared a family of four sons and 
seven daughters, and died in his native state 
at the age of sixty-five years. The maternal 
grandfather of subject was also a native of 
Litchfield county. Conn., was a farmer by 
calling, and died in middle life. 

John C. Marvin, father of John S. , the 



subject, was a carpenter and builder, and was 
extensively engaged in contract work. He 
was first married to Lydia Phillips, and with 
her passed a few years in the west, and it was 
during this period that subject was born; and 
during which, also, that Mrs. Marvin died in 
Lancaster, N. Y. , in 1835. Mr. Marvin, how- 
ever, always considered his native state to be 
his home, and after his bereavement returned 
thereto, married Maria Thomas — by whom no 
children were born — and died in 1875, at the 
age of seventy-three years, a member of the 
Methodist church, to which denomination his 
family also belonged. 

John S. Marvin, whose name opens this 
biography, was reared in Litchfield county, 
Conn., from the age of four until nineteen 
years, having been placed in charge of an 
uncle after his mother's death. While yet a 
boy he was bound out to a shoemaker and 
worked four years for his board and $20 per 
annum, from which sum he paid for his 
clothes. His schooling was obtained at night. 
He then went to New Haven, Conn., learned 
cutting, receiving $4 per week the while, and 
later was paid $25 per week after he had at- 
tained proficiency. He then spent four years 
in New York, and afterward went to Balti- 
more, Md. , then to Morris county, N. J. , and 
in June, 1855, came to Ra\enna, Ohio, and 
here worked as a journeyman on the bench 
for a year. In 1856 he went to Tennessee 
and to Kentucky, and in 1857 returned to Ra- 
venna, formed a partnership with Ira W. Enos 
in the shoe and leather trade, which was con- 
tinued for about ten months, after which Mr. 
Marvin conducted the business alone for about 
twelve years, then sold out and bought a farm, 
which he cultivated for four years, and in July, 
1874, returned to Ravenna and engaged in his 
present business, which has since received his 
entire attention. 

Mr. Marvin was united in marriage. No- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



391 



vember 20, 1859, with Miss Sarah M. Wood- 
ruff, daughter of Chauncey and Paulina (Bray) 
Woodruff, and this union was made the more 
happy by the birth of eight children, viz: 
Anna L., Fannie C, Paulina L. , Charles L., 
John C, Edward W., Roland H. and William 
B. Of these, Anna L. and Paulina L. are 
still living with their parents; Fannie C. died 
in infancy; Charles L. , a paper-hanger and 
decorator, married Miss Minnie Gushing, and 
is the father of four children — Earl Faxter, 
Raymond, Harold and Lilah; John C. is rate 
clerk for the American Cereal company of 
Chicago, 111., and is married to Miss Maud 
Kaylor; Roland H. died January 4, 1895; 
William died September 26, 1895, thus leav- 
ing Edward W. as the sole survivor, who mar- 
ried Elizabeth Hartlerode, and now resides in 
Wooster, Ohio. The mother of this family 
was called away February 2, 1895. She was 
a lady of infinite worth and truly a helpmate 
to her husband; a loving mother and a warm- 
hearted friend, she was mourned alike by her 
bereaved family and a large circle of acquaint- 
ances. 

Mr. Marvin is in politics a republican, and 
is a master Mason fraternally. He is a shrewd 
business man and knows thoroughly the ins 
and outs of the lumber trade, as he before 
knew the shoe and leather business. Strictly 
conscientious in all his transactions, a customer, 
once secured, never quits him. Personally he 
is pleasant and agreeable in his deportment, 
and since his residence in Ravenna, now of 
some forty years' duration, he has drawn to 
himself many devoted friends. 



^V^ AVID LESLIE MARVIN, of Akron, 
I I one of the most eminent young at- 
/^„^ torneys of Summit county, Ohio, was 
born in Kent, Portage county, No- 
vember 17, 1862, and is a son of Hon. Ulysses 



L. and Dorena (Rockwell) Marvin, of Enghsh 
extraction. 

Ulysses Marvin, grandfather of David L., 
was born in Lyme, Conn., April 11, 1801, was 
a chairmaker by trade, as well as fuller, and 
on attaining his majority established a woolen 
mill in his native town and operated it several 
years. In 1829 he came to Ohio and cleared 
up a farm in Stowe township. Summit county, 
and died at the age of eighty-six years. He 
had married, in Connecticut, May i, 1822, 
Miss Elizabeth Bradley, daughter of Arba and 
Esther (Chamberlain) Bradley, of Middletown, 
Conn., and to this union were born six chil- 
dren, viz: Arba B. ; Jane E., wife of S. C. 
Weeks; Sophronia, married to H. C. Wilcox; 
Asahel M. ; Chloe B., now Mrs. Milton C. 
Danforth, and Ulysses L. The mother of 
this family, after a married life of over sixty- 
two years, passed away in 1884, at the age of 
eighty-four years. 

Ulysses L. Marvin, father of David L. 
Marvin, was born in Stowe township, Summit 
county, Ohio, March 4, 1839, was educated 
at Twinsburg institute and Franklin institute, 
and was admitted to the bar in i860. In i86i 
and part of 1862 he held the position of prin- 
cipal of the Kent union school, and in August, 

1862, enlisted in the One Hundred and Fif- 
teenth Ohio volunteer infantry. He was at 
once detailed as clerk in the judge advocate's 
office in Cincinnati, and served until July, 

1863, when he was commissioned first lieuten- 
ant of a company in the Fifth United States 
colored troops, and was promoted to be cap- 
taiij during the siege of Richmond. April 29, 

1864, he was wounded at Newmarket Heights, 
one of the defenses of Richmond, and on his 
return to duty, two months later, was assigned 
as adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. G. W. 
Shurtleff, and at the close of the war was 
brevetted major for gallant and meritorious 
services, and appointed judge advocate on the 



39'2 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



staff of Gen. C. J. Paine, in which capacity he 
served until mustered out in October, 1865. 

On his return from the war, Major Marvin 
engaged in the practice of the law in Kent for 
two years, and in November, 1867, came to 
Akron. Here, in 1869, he was elected pro- 
bate judge of Summit county by the republic- 
an party, and filled the office six years. In 
May, 1S83, he was appointed common pleas 
judge, which office he filled six months. Since 
then he has served as judge of the circuit court, 
Eighth judicial circuit of Ohio. In 1884, also, 
he was elected presidential elector for the 
Twentieth congressional district of Ohio, and 
cast his vote in the electoral college for Blaine 
and Logan. In March, 1895, he was re-elected 
circuit judge for the full term, and still fills the 
office. 

The marriage of Judge U. L. Marvin took 
place November 24, 1861, to Miss Dorena, 
daughter of Hon. David L. and Mary L. 
(Palmetter) Rockwell, of Kent, and this mar- 
riage has been blessed with four children, viz: 
David L. (subject), George U., Charles A. and 
Francis R. 

David L. Marvin was reared in Akron from 
the age of five years, was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of this city, and in Kenyon college, 
and was graduated from the law department 
of Columbia university, Washington, D. C. 
In November, 1882, he was appointed an ex- 
aminer in the United States pension office at 
Washington, and was the youngest man ever 
appointed to that position, but resigned in 
June, 1884, to engage in newspaper work dur- 
ing the cotton exposition at New Orleans, La. 
He passed the year 1885 in Chicago, 111., then 
returned to Ohio, and February 9, 1886, was 
elected assistant engineer of the public works 
of Ohio, and was re-elected in 1888 and 1890. 
During his incumbency of this office he read 
law during leisure hours, and was admitted to 
the bar in December, 1889; February 15, 1891, 



he resigned his office as assistant state engineer 
and returned to Akron, where he has ever since 
been employed in the active and successful 
practice of the legal profession. On his res- 
ignation of his position as assistant state engin- 
eer, the superintendent's board adopted a res- 
olution, expressing their regret at parting with 
Mr. Marvin "both as a friend and officer," 
and stating that he had discharged his duties 
with marked ability and fidelity, and that he 
had manifested uniform courtesy in all his re- 
lations with them. 

Mr. Marvin was most happily married May 
16, 1888, to Miss Frances Saxe Fish, daughter 
of Cortes F. and Helen (Carlisle) Fish, of 
Shelby, Ohio, this union being made the more 
happy by the birth of one child, March 24, 
1892, who bears the euphonious name of 
Helen Dorena. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin are con- 
sistent members of the Episcopalian church, 
and fraternally Mr. Marvin is a member of the 
Loyal Legion, and Iota chapter of Psi Upsilon 
collegiate society. He is a stanch republican 
in politics, but has never been an office seeker. 
Professionally Mr. Marvin has made a most 
marked success, and his social standing is de- 
cidedly with the best in the city. 



y'^V'DGAR W. MAXSON, one of the fore- 
■ I most attorneys at law of Ravenna, 
^^^^ was born in Geauga county, Ohio, 
February 3, 1844, a son of William 
and Salina C. (Mumford) Maxson, natives of 
Connecticut and New York respectively, and 
parents of two children — Edgar W. and Victor 
R., the latter a resident of Hiram, Ohio. 

Joshua Maxson, paternal grandfather of 
subject, was a native of Connecticut, served 
in the war of 18 12, and died at Hiram, Ohio, 
at the age of eighty-four years, a deacon in the 
Baptist church. William Mumford, the ma- 
ternal grandfather, was born in New York, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



393 



was a farmer, and died in Troy, Ohio, aged 
seventy-seven years. 

William Maxson, father of Edgar W. , was 
about twelve years of age when brought to 
Ohio, in 1825, by his parents, who settled in 
Hiram township, Portage county, where he 
was reared to manhood on the home farm, 
and later followed farming on his own account. 
He died in 1876, at sixty-two years of age, his 
widow surviving until September, 1894, when 
she died at the age of seventy-four. 

Edgar W. Maxson received his preliminary 
education in Hiram in the Western Reserve 
Eclectic institute, afterward Hiram college, 
and at the age of fifteen entered Hiram col- 
lege; he next entered Michigan university, at 
Ann Arbor, from which he graduated, in 1865, 
in the literary and law courses, following which 
he spent five years in Springfield, 111. , as a 
school-teacher, and then traveled three years 
as state agent for the New York Underwriters' 
agency, an insurance company. In 1870 he 
commenced the practice of his profession in 
Garrettsville, Portage county, Ohio, where he 
found active employment for his talents until 
1886, when he came to Ravenna, where his 
field for practice would have a broader scope. 

The first marriage of Mr. Maxson took 
place November 7, 1867, with Miss Elizabeth 
C. Mull, of Galesburg, 111., a daughter of B. 
S. and Harriet (Voorhis) Mull, of Otsego 
county, N. Y., and this union has been blessed 
by the birth of one daughter, Maud M., who 
is a graduate of the Cleveland School of 
Music, and a teacher of music in Ravenna. 
Mrs. Elizabeth C. Maxson was called from 
earth September 10, 1875, and on the 14th 
day of December, 1876, Mr. Maxson united 
with his second life-companion. Miss Dora E. 
Lockwood, a daughter of Philander and Mary 
(Voorhis) Lockwood. 

Mr. and Mrs. Maxson are consistent mem- 
bers of the Congregational church, while 



Mr. Maxson is a member of Tyrian chapter, 
No. 91, royal arch Masons, and of Unity 
lodge, No. 12, F. & A. M., of Ravenna; he 
is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, and 
is regent of lodge No. 376, of Ravenna. Po- 
litically Mr. Maxson is a stanch republican, 
and served as prosecuting attorney of Ravenna 
from 1887 until 1890. As a lawyer he has 
achieved an enviable reputation, and as an 
official his name has never been tarnished by 
the slightest suspicion of dereliction in duty 
or corrupt practices. Socially his standing is 
very high, and his wife ^njoys, with himself, 
the esteem of all with whom they exchange 
the courtesies of life. 




HEODORE R. MASON, of Portage 
county, Ohio, is a native of Ithaca, 
N. Y. , and was born May 16, 1836, 
a son of Rufus I. and Amelia (Root) 
Mason. Rufus I. Mason was born in Castle- 
ton, Vt., and Amelia Root was a native of 
Watertown, N. Y. Their marriage took place 
in Ithaca, and in 1840 they came to Ohio, 
settling in Franklin county, where they lived 
for ten years. Of their three children, one 
son died in infancy; their daughter, Mrs. 
Seraph C. Young, resides in Hiram, and the 
third, Theodore R. , will be duly referred to a 
little further on. 

The Mason family is of English origin, and 
the American branch was founded in New 
England prior to the Revolution, in which the 
great-great-grandfather of subject served as a 
soldier; the paternal grandfather of subject 
was a drum-major in the war of 1812, and 
other ancestors were active in the early Indian 
wars. In fact, the Mason family may be con- 
sidered as Americans for more than two cen- 
turies, as many of its members were instru- 
mental in founding the settlements of the 
country at the east as well as in the west. 



394 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Theodore R. Mason, the subject, secured 
a good common-school education in Ravenna, 
and then was engaged as clerk and salesman 
until the breaking out of the Civil war aroused 
the patriotic spirit he had inherited from his 
ancestors. He enlisted in Cleveland in Sep- 
tember, 1862, and served in Com. Porter's 
fleet on the lower Mississippi river, for awhile 
on board the gunboat Mamora, on which he 
was steward, and then as steward of the receiv- 
ing boat at Cairo, 111., for two months; then 
again on board the Mamora as steward, was 
promoted to be paymaster's steward, and 
served until December, 1863, when he was 
discharged, having served three months over 
the term of his enlistment. He returned to 
Ravenna, and in September, 1864, enlisted in 
company G, One Hundred and Seventy-sev- 
enth Ohio volunteer infantry, in which he 
served until the close of the war. In this arm 
of the service he was placed as clerk in the 
quartermaster's department, medical directory, 
army of the Ohio. At the surrender of Gen. 
Johnston's army, subject was detailed to take 
account of the rebel camp equipage, etc., and 
to write the paroles of the Confederate pris- 
oners — a task that required two and one-half 
daj's of constant labor. He was ne.xt detailed 
to take account of the camp and garrison 
equipage of the Third brigade. Third division. 
Twenty-third army corps, and then, this duty 
ended, came his discharge as clerk of the med- 
ical directory of the army of the Ohio, as 
noted above. 

On his return home from the war, Mr. 
Mason was employed for about ten years as a. 
commercial traveler, after which he was ap- 
pointed as a railway postal clerk, but, the 
position being uncongenial, he resigned shortly 
afterward. He ne.xt served five years as 
marshal of Ravenna, health officer, constable 
of the city, and then as deputy United States 
marshal, and has filled some of these offices, 



also, since he was appointed deputy sheriff of 
Portage county fourteen years ago. 

In 1S59 Mr. Mason was united in marriage 
with Miss Mary C. Rood, a native of Portage 
county, Ohio, and of the two daughters born 
to this union, Kittie, the elder, died at the age 
of twenty-one years; Clara, the younger is the 
wife of Joseph Davis, a prominent attorney at 
law of Youngstown, Ohio. 

Mr. Mason has been prominent in G. .\. 
R. circles, being past post commander of 
David Mcintosh post of Ravenna, and for the 
past eleven years its adjutant, and being one 
of the organizers of the post. He has been 
secretary of the National Union for the last 
ten years, and in no position that he has ever 
held has he failed to give the utmost satis- 
faction. As a member of the G. A. R. he has 
been a delegate to several national encamp- 
ments, representing, notably, the posts of 
Portage and Summit counties in the national 
encampment at Saint Paul, Minn., in 1896; 
and for three years he also acted as aid-de- 
camp on the staff of the department com- 
mander. In politics he is a stanch republic- 
an, and in religion he s\'mpathizes with his 
wife, who is a devout member of the Congre- 
gational church. 



>VOHN E. MERKEL, an old soldier of 
■ the Civil war, the head of a respected 
A 1 family and one of the most enterpris- 
ing farmers of Stowe township, was 
born in Hudson, Ohio, December 2, 1838. 

Stephen Merkel, father of John E., was 
born December 24, 1809, in Baden, Germany, 
and came to America when about twenty years 
of age, landing in New York city. He was a 
farmer and lived two years in Connecticut and 
then came to Hudson, Ohio, and worked at 
farm work. He married, in Hudson, Barbara 
Fillius, who was born about 181 1 in Bavaria, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



395 



Germany, a daughter of Philip Fillius, who 
came from Germany to Hudson at an early 
day. Mr. Merkel bought forty acres of land 
in Stowe township and lived here until 1852, 
when he moved to Hudson township. In 
1857 he moved to Minnesota and bought 160 
acres in Rice county and lived there fifteen or 
sixteen years, then moved to Faribault coun- 
ty, Minn., and bought 160 acres, where he 
lived until he retired, and now lives with his 
son, Curtis S. Merkel, in Minn. His chil- 
dren were John E. , Jacob and Curtis S. Mr. 
and Mrs. Merkel are members of the Method- 
ist church and in politics Mr. Merkel was first 
a democrat but later in life became a repub- 
lican. He was a hard-working industrious 
man and prospered well. 

John E. Merkel received a common educa- 
tion, became a farmer and went to Minnesota 
in 1857 with his father. August 4, 1862, he 
enlisted, at Cannon City, Minn., in company 
C, Sixth Minnesota volunteer infantry, to serve 
three years or during the war, and was honor- 
ably discharged May 23, 1865, at New Or- 
leans, La., by general order, as the war was 
closed. His service, the first year, was in 
fighting the Siou.x Indians, under chief Little 
Crow, who made a raid on the Minnesota 
frontier in 1862 and massacred many settlers, 
especially at New Ulm. Mr. Merkel's regi- 
ment was sent to Fort Ridgley and pursued 
the Indians to Wood Locke, where they had 
a hard fight. After this service the regiment 
went to Arkansas in the spring of 1864 and 
guarded Helena for three months and there 
Mr. Merkel was taken sick with malaria ty- 
phus fever and was in hospital in Jefferson 
Barracks, Mo., for three or four months, came 
near death, and has never recovered from this 
disability. After partially recovering, he joined 
his regiment at New Orleans. He was then 
detailed a clerk for a while at St. Louis, and 
February 14, 1865, was detailed from his regi- 



ment as clerk at headquarters, adjutant-gen- 
eral's office, department of the Gulf, New Or- 
leans, and was transferred February 23, 1865, 
to headquarters of military division of the West 
Mississippi at New Orleans and here served as 
clerk until discharged. Until taken sick, Mr. 
Merkel was an active soldier and performed 
his full duty promptly and cheerfully. 

After the war, Mr. Merkel returned to 
Ohio and married, in Stowe township, July 
20, 1865, Frances Eleanor Walker, who was 
born in Stowe township, December 16, 1843, 
a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Robinson) 
Walker. Samuel Walker was born January 
26, 1809, in Stowe township, a son of one of 
the original pioneers of the township. William 
\\^alker, who was born in Virginia, came to 
Summit county in 1802 and built a log cabin 
the same year, which is believed to have been 
the first in Stowe township. He lived to be 
sixty-two years old. His wife was Rachael 
Stewart and they were married in Virginia. 
Samuel Walker owned two farms and had a 
good education for his day and taught school 
several terms in Columbiana county, Ohio. 
He married Sarah Robinson, of Columbiana 
county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Eleanor 
(Hueston) Robinson. John Ivobinson was a 
soldier in the war of 1812. Samuel Walker 
settled in Stowe township and cleared up a 
good farm of ninety acres, which he bought of 
Leonard Case. Mr. and Mrs. Walker were 
the parents of two children — Frances E. and 
Frank. Mr. Walker lived to be sixty-five 
years old and died on his farm February 21, 
J 874. In politics he was a democrat, held 
the office of trustee of township, and was an 
honored citizen. Mrs. Merkel has a conch 
shell which was given to Sarah Robinson (her 
mother) by her mother, Eleanor Hueston. 
This shell was used during the war of the 
Revolution by members of the Robinson fam- 
ily to give notice when returning home, and 



396 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



when blown upon emitted a loud sound much 
like a dinner horn, and was thus used in the 
family for generations. Mrs. Merkel also had 
an old-fashioned bear trap used in olden 
times, and at one time a man was caught by 
accident in this trap and held for several hours. 
She also had a surveyor's chain used in this 
county by George Walker in surveying land in 
early times, and several other interesting relics. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Merkel set- 
tled in Faribault county, Minn., and bought 
eighty acres of land, lived there nine years, when 
they came to Stowe township in January, 
1870, and bought fifty acres of their present 
farm, and added to it until they have 169 
acres; they built a substantial house in 1884, 
and have a very nice home. Their children 
are Edward C, John, Frank, Fannie A. and 
Charles E. In politics Mr. Merkel was first a 
republican but is now a populist and free-silver 
democrat. He is a prosperous citizen and has 
a fine farm. 

Edward C. Merkel, son of John E. Merkel, 
married Ella Stanley, is a machinist in Beaver 
Falls, Pa., and is the father of one child, 
Eleanor. The second son, John F. , is an 
electric engineer of Chicago. Mr. Merkel is a 
man of strictly moral character and integrity 
and stands high in the esteem of his fellow- 
citizens. 



eDWIN H. MERRILL, deceased, was 
born in Painesville, Ohio, February 9, 
1 808, and was a son of Abijah Merrill, 
who was born in Connecticut in 1777. 
Abijah was a potter by trade, married Miss 
Abigail Scott, who bore him six children, and 
came to Ohio at a very early day, established a 
pottery, and died in Middlebury in 1854, aged 
seventy-seven years. 

Edwin H. Merrill learned the potter's trade 
from his father, and was educated in the com- 



mon schools. At the age of twenty-two years 
he came to Springfield township. Summit 
county, Ohio, where, after working a short 
time for various potters, started in business 
for himself, about 1835, inventing machinery 
for the production of beer bottles, for which 
he secured letters patent; and soon after- 
ward commenced the manufacture of tobacco 
pipes, also by machinery. In 1847 he moved 
to Middlebury, Summit county, where, in con- 
junction with his brother, Calvin J. Merrill, 
he engaged in the manufacture of waterpipe 
and beer bottles, to which industry the manu- 
facture of stone pumps was added and con- 
tinued from 185 1 to 1856 — he being then in- 
terested in the respective firms of Hill, Merrill 
& Co., and Merrill, Powers & Co. He then 
engaged in the manufacture of vitrified sewer- 
pipe — the initiation of the present immense 
sewer-pipe industry of Akron and vicinity, and 
the first of the kind west of the Alleghany 
mountains. In i860, Mr. Merrill removed his 
bottle, pipe and stoneware works to the corner 
of South Main and Center streets, Akron, 
where, in 1887, it was incorporated as the E. 
H. Merrill company, which is now one of the 
leading establishments of its kind in Summit 
county. 

Mr. Merrill was married, in 1838, to Miss 
Emily Gleason, of Bedford, Ohio, the union re- 
sulting in the birth of seven children, of whom 
two only are still living — Henry E. , president 
of the above-named company, and William 
G. , in the pottery business in Pampton City, 
Va. Two of his seven children were daugh- 
ters, of whom Emma died at the age of thirty 
years, and Grace A. became the wife of F. W. 
Butler, and is now also deceased. The death 
of Mr. Merrill took place January 25, 1888, at 
the age of seventy-nine years, eleven months 
and sixteen days; his widow,' who was born in 
1817, survived until February 22, 1893. In 
politics Mr. Merrill was first a whig, but later 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



397 



became a republican and served as a member 
of the city council for a number of years. 

As illustrative of the enterprise and perti- 
nacity of Mr. Merrill, it may be stated that 
when he located in Springfield township there 
was but one pottery there, owned by Mr. 
Fisk; but, soon afterward, a Mr. Purdy started 
another factory, which discouraged Mr. Fisk, 
and at the end of about eighteen months be- 
came very anxious to sell. Mr. Merrill seized 
the opportunity, and thus became proprietor 
of the first pottery establishment in this part 
of the country. It was while operating this 
plant that he invented his machinery for the 
manufacture of beer bottles and water-pipe. 
He and his brother, Calvin J., built the first 
screw press for making sewer-pipe, and 
later went to New York city, and secured 
plans for a steam press — the first to be intro- 
duced in this part of the country for manufact- 
uring pipe by the aid of steam. In 1857 the 
financial crisis prostrated him, and he was 
compelled to start anew, on a very small 
scale, but he overcame all difficulties, and the 
present plant on Main and Center streets is 
the result of his indomitable perseverance. 
This plant has a frontage of 217 feet and a 
depth of 300 feet. Its output consists chiefly 
of meat tubs from fifty gallons down, beer and 
ink bottles, corroding pots for white lead- 
makers, white, glazed and other kind of stone- 
ware. The company employs some si.xty 
hands and its officers are Henry E. Merrill, 
president and superintendent, Frederick W. 
Butler, secretary and treasurer, and the cap- 
ital stock is $50,000. 

Henry E. Merrill, the president of this 
company, was born July i, 1839, and was ed- 
ucated in the public schools of Middlebury, 
Ohio. He learned the pottery business from 
his father, and in i860 became a member of 
the firm. In 1875 he became a partner of the 
firm of Merrill & Ewart, in the manufacture 



of roof tiling, and in 1882 sold his interest. 
He was a soldier in the late Civil war, having 
enlisted May 2, 1864, in company F, One 
Hundred and Si.xty-fourth Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, for the 1 00-day service, and is a mem- 
ber of Buckley post. No. 12, G. A. R., and of 
the Red Cross. In politics he is a stanch re- 
publican. He was married in May, 1877, to 
Miss Bell Bartges, daughter of Dr. S. W. 
Bartges (deceased), of Akron. This union has 
been blessed with two children — George B., a 
student in the university school at Cleveland, 
and Catherine E., at home. Mrs. Merrill is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and the family residence is at No. 106 Fir 
street, Akron. 

Frederick W. Butler, secretary and treas- 
urer of the E. H. Merrill company, of Akron, 
Ohio, was born in Worcester, Mass., June 25, 
185 1, a son of Horace W. and Sarah J. 
(Newell) Butler, both famiHes being of Eng- 
lish origin, and early settlers of Massachusetts, 
several of the earlier members having been 
soldiers in the Revolutionary war. 

Horace W. Butler owned and operated a 
sash and blind factory in Worcester, Mass., 
and was twice burned out. In 1864 he came to 
Akron, Ohio, and entered the employ of W. 
B. Doyle, as foreman of his sash and blind 
factory, and later was employed in the pattern 
department of the Webster, Lane & Camp 
establishment. He and wife were parents of 
three children — Frederick W., Albert B., de- 
ceased, and Charles J. , of whom the last is 
secretary of the Peoria Rubber Manufacturing 
company. Mrs. Sarah J. Butler was called 
away from earth August 13, 1891. Mr. But- 
ler is now living retired at the age of seventy- 
six years. 

Frederick W. Butler was educated in the 
public schools of Akron, and at the age of six- 
teen became a clerk for Hall & Bros., with 
whom he remained four years, and then ac- 



398 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



cepted a position in the First National bank, 
where he remained nine years as bookkeeper, 
teller and correspondent, consecutively, and 
then for eighteen months was cashier of the 
City National bank, when he resigned to ac- 
cept his present position with the E. H. Mer- 
rill company. He has been identified with 
this concern since 1880, when it was conducted 
as a co-partnership, and in 1887 became one 
of the incorporators, since when he has been 
the means of greatly advancing its prosperity. 
Mr. Butler is also president and secretary of 
the Akron Smoking Pipe company, which has 
plants at Mogadore and at Pamplin City, Va., 
and of which }ie was one of the organizers; he 
is also vice-president and director of the Akron 
Pottery company. In politics he is a stalwart 
republican. Mr. Butler was united in mar- 
riage, March 6, 1879, with Miss Grace A. 
Merrill, daughter of Edwin H. Merrill, but 
had the sad misfortune to lose his wife. May 
18, 1888, when she died at the age of thirty- 
one years, leaving three children — Henry Karl, 
Merrill W. and Frederick W., Jr. Mr. Butler 
and his children reside at No. 503 West Mar- 
ket street. 



aHRISTIAN MEYER, of Tallmadge 
township, Summit county, Ohio, 
was born in Allegheny City, Pa., 
September 27, 1845, and is a son of 
Christian and Eva Maria (Breitenstein) Meyer, 
who settled in Portage county, Ohio, in 1856, 
where Christian, the son, was reared to farm 
work and general labor. 

Christian Meyer, Sr. , father of subject, 
was born in Alsace, France, March 12, 1808, 
and was the son of Christian, a merchant, but 
was himself taught the tailor's trade. He 
served five years in the French army, and 
later married, in Alsace, Miss Breitenstein, to 
which union were born the following-named 



children: Philip, John, Magdalen, Eve M., 
Mary Elizabeth and Joseph. Mr. Meyer came 
to America in May, 1845, having embarked at 
Havre, France, in a sailing vessel, and was 
thirty-si.x days crossing the ocean. He locat- 
ed in Alleghenj- City, Pa. , where he followed 
his trade until April, 1856, when he came to 
Ohio and lived in Randolph, Portage county, 
until 1859, when he moved to Ravenna, but 
in 1 86 1 returned to Randolph, where his 
death occurred in 1877; his wife survived until 
she reached the age of thirty-nine years, and 
both died in the Catholic faith. 

Christian Meyer, our subject, enlisted at 
Ravenna, and August 30, 1864, was mustered 
in at \\'arren, Ohio, as a private of company 
F, Fifth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, 
under Capt. Stephen Coddington, and served 
until mustered out at Bladensburg, Md., re- 
ceiving an honorable discharge at Columbus. 
Ohio, June 18, 1865, the war having been 
brought to a close. He was with Sherman on 
his famous march from Atlanta to the sea, 
and was in the battle at Savannah, Ga. On 
this campaign he was taken ill with malarial 
fever, was confined in camp one month and in 
hospital three months, rejoining his regiment 
May 19, 1865 — although he still suffers from 
the effects of malaria. After the war he came 
to Tallmadge, where he engaged in farm labor. 

Mr. Meyer was united in marriage, at Alli- 
ance, Ohio, July 9, 1867, with Miss Mary 
Sawer, who was born in Carrollton, Ohio, 
October 7, 1845, ^ daughter of John and 
Frances (Linn) Sawer. John Sawer was of 
Alsatian parentage, and is now a retired farm- 
er of Michigan. His children, besides Mrs. 
Meyer, are George W. , Annie, Sarah, Frances 
and Eve M., of whom George W. served in 
the Civil war in an Illinois regiment. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Meyer lived 
for a short time in Alliance, but in 1868 came 
to Tallmadge, where, with the exception of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



399 



eight months spent in Akron, they have since 
resided. To their marriage have been born 
nine children, in the following order: Philip 
J., Mary A., Helen, Elizabeth, Christian J.. 
Fannie, George W., Lena and Alice. Mr. 
and Mrs. Meyer are consistent members of the 
Congregational church, and in politics Mr. 
Meyer is a democrat and a free silverite. Mr. 
Meyer is greatly respected as an upright and 
industrious man, possessed of an excellent 
mentality and well posted in the current events 
of his country. He has had his children well 
educated, Christian J. and Fannie being grad- 
uates of the Tallmadge high school, and in 
every way is a good and useful citizen. 



*-|-» UCIUS C. MILES, treasurer of Sum- 
I r mit county and of the city of Akron, 
1 ^^ Ohio, is a nativeof Brooklihe, Mass., 
was born February 3, 1859, and is a 
son of Lucius K. and Frances P. (Plimpton) 
Miles, who came to Akron about the year i S70. 
Lucius C. , the subject of this memoir, was 
educated chiefly in the public schools of Akron, 
and at the age of eighteen years entered the 
employ of Aultman, Miller & Co., with whom 
he remained about five years, and then was 
employed for two years by J. F. Seiberling 
& Co., after which he was engaged in the 
cement, flour and feed business, in partner- 
ship with Maj. Charles Dick, which partnership 
lasted five years, after which he entered the 
employ of the Seiberling Milling company. 
Always an ardent republican, Mr. Miles was 
elected, in 1894, treasurer of Summit county 
by the sweeping majority of nearly 700 votes, 
and in 1896 was re-elected by a majority of 
801 — running far ahead of his ticket — an evi- 
dence that he was fully competent to fill the 
responsible position and that the general public 
keenly appreciated the value of his services. 
He is now, also, a member of the Summit 



county republican executive committee and is 
a prime factor in the management of repub- 
lican politics in the county. He has been a 
member of the board of education a number 
of years, and fraternally he is a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the 
Knights of Pythias. In 1888 Mr. Miles was 
united in marriage with Miss Harriet M. Sei- 
berling, and their social relations are most 
select and genial. 



^>^^ ICHOLAS MILLER, a retired farmer 

I m of Suffield township, Portage county, 

M. - I Ohio, was born in Elsass (Alsace), 

Germany, in 1828, a son of Anthony 

and Delia Miller, and has lived in Suffield 

township since he was about five years of age. 

Anthony Miller had been a hotel-keeper in 
Germany, also had been a soldier under Na- 
poleon Bonaparte seven years, and in one of 
his campaigns against Russia was twice 
wounded within a half-hour. In 1833 he 
brought his wife and eight of his ten children to 
the United States and was one of the first set- 
tlers in Portage county, where he engaged in 
farming and where there were two additional 
children born to him. Of the ten, three only 
are now living, viz: Nicholas, our subject, 
who is the eldest; Clara, widow of Dr. Shuck, 
and John. Those who have been called away 
were Anthony; Catherine, who was married to 
L. Rhoads, also deceased; Meldi, who was the 
wife of D. Weldy; Andrew, who died of yellow 
fever on the Mississippi river; Joseph, George, 
and one who died in Germany. The father of 
this family died at the age of eighty-three 
years on his Suffield township farm, which was 
close to that on which Nicholas, his son, the 
subject, now resides, and the mothen passed 
away at the age of eighty-two, both in the 
faith of the Roman Catholic church. 

Nicholas Miller, the subject proper of this 



400 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGR.\PHICAL RECORD 



biography, was reared on his father's farm, 
but in his early days opportunities for a scho- 
lastic education were quite limited, so that he 
did not fare very well in this particular, but 
he learned the practical details of pioneer farm 
life completely and thoroughly. On attaining 
his majority he hired out to the farmers of his 
neighborhood and soon accumulated sufficient 
means to purchase a small place for himself, 
and when he found himself to be the possessor 
of $700, he purchased his present farm, on 
which he has since erected a large and hand- 
some residence and a substantial barn, with 
all necessary outbuildings, and has now one of 
the best farms in the township, consisting of 
112 acres. 

The marriage of Mr. Miller was solemnized, 
in 1844, with Miss Barbara Memmer, daugh- 
ter of David and Margaret (Earhart) Memmer. 
and this marriage has been blessed with one 
daughter, who is still unmarried and makes 
her home with her parents. Mrs. Barbara 
Miller is a native of Bayem, Germany, and 
was quite young when brought to America by 
her parents, who were early settlers of Suffield 
township, where the father became one of its 
most substantial farmers. Of the eight chil- 
dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Memmer, five are 
still living, viz: Margaret, wife of Frank Gulp; 
Mary Ann, widow of Matthew Shultz; Bar- 
bara, now Mrs. Nicholas Miller; Maria, wife 
of George Miller, and John. Of the deceased, 
George died at the age of thirty years; Joseph 
died when about twenty-three years old, and 
Lawrence died in 1896, when sixty-six years 
old. David Memmer, the father, passed away 
November 28, 1871, at the age of seventy- 
seven years, and his wife died aged seventy- 
nine years — both faithful members of the 
Catholic church. 

In politics, Nicholas Miller is a stanch sil- 
ver democrat and has served his fellow-citizens 
as school director for many years, and also as 



township trustee. In religion he is a true 
Catholic, and has been a very liberal contrib- 
utor to the support of his church. He has 
always been an industrious, temperate and use- 
ful citizen, is highly respected, and well de- 
serves the esteem -in which he is universally 
! held. 



aHARLES MERTS, president of the 
First National bank, Ravenna, Ohio, 
and a very prominent citizen of Port- 
age county, was born in Pittsburg, 
Pa., October i, 1833, a son of Frederick and 
Elizabeth Merts, who were the parents of six 
children, of whom three still survive, viz: 
Philip, of North Benton, Ohio; Frederick, of 
Illinois, and Charles, the subject of this biog- 
raphy. The father of this family was a shoe- 
maker by trade, and both he and wife died in 
Pittsburg, when Charles, the subject, was but 
three years of age. 

Charles Merts, having been thus early be- 
reft of his parents, was placed in charge of a 
kind Irish farmer, who reared him until seven- 
teen j-ears of age, inculcating the thrifty and 
industrious habits of farm life and giving him 
the advantage of a district-school education. 
At the age mentioned, young Merts began an 
apprenticeship of five years at carriage-body- 
making — a trade he followed, all told, for over 
forty years. In 1855 he came to Ohio, worked 
first in \\'arren, and in the fall of the same 
year came to Ravenna, where he continued to 
work as a journeyman until the breaking out 
of the late Civil war, when he and his brother- 
in-law, H. W. Riddle, formed a partnership 
and leased the carriage manufactory of N. D. 
Clark for five years, at the end of which 
time they purchased the factory and for some 
years confined their output to buggies, but 
gradually merged into heavy work and turned 
out coaches, hearses, etc. . employed eighty to 



ws 


^^^^H| 




J 




■ 




^^^^^^^^hI 




H 



,^;^^ ^^1 



A^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



403 



lOO hands, and produced so superior a class 
of vehicles that they came into demand 
throughout most of the states and territories. 
In 1892 Mr. Merts sold his interest in the con- 
cern to H. W. Riddle, who still carries it on. 
In the year 1892, also, an eastern firm came 
to Ravenna and started a shoe manufactory, 
employing 250 hands, but failed at the end of 
six months. Mr. Merts, being a stockholder, 
assumed charge of the concern, and he and F. 
M. Rumbaugh conducted it jointly for some 
time, and then organized a joint-stock com- 
pany, which is now doing an excellent trade, 
Mr. Merts having extricated the concern from 
the slough of disaster and placed it upon a 
sound foundation of profit and prosperity. The 
company at first manufactured about 150 pairs 
of shoes per day, but now turns out 500 pairs 
and gives employment to about ninety hands 
all the year round, holidays excepted. Mr. 
Merts has also been a stockholder in the First 
National bank of Ravenna for twenty years, 
has been a director for fifteen years, and has 
been its president about five years. Mr. Merts 
was one of the organizers of the Ravenna Gas, 
Light & Coke company, and is now the presi- 
dent of that corporation. 

Prior to his coming to Ravenna, Mr. Merts 
was united in marriage, in Pittsburg, Pa., in 
the fall of 1855, with Miss Mary A. Riddle, 
daughter of Hughey and Elizabeth Riddle, 
and this union was blessed with two children 
— Lida H. and Catherine M. Lida H. is 
married to C. W. Franzheim, president and 
manager of the Wheeling Pottery company, 
and a director of the German Bank of Wheel- 
ing, W. Va., and his wife is now the mother of 
five children — Charles M., George, Mary, 
Catherine and Kenneth; Catherine M. is the 
wife of J. Holcomb, of Ravenna, and has 
borne her husband two children — Lida and 
Mary Catherine. Mrs. Mary A. Merts, a mem- 
ber of the Congregational church, died in 

13 



April, 1887. Fraternally Mr. Merts is a mas- 
ter Mason. In politics he is a republican, and 
for seven or eight years was a city councilman. 
Mr. Merts has been a resident of Ravenna 
for forty-two years, and has had much to do 
with the building up of the city and in ad- 
vancing its prosperity. He is regarded as one 
of the foremost citizens, a reputation he well 
deserves as the result of his free expenditure 
of his means and his activity in promoting his 
own line of business, thus giving employment 
to large bodies of men, and his generosity in ad- 
vancing the means to promote works of a more 
comprehensive and public character — being, 
in truth, a factor in the development of one 
of the prettiest little cities in the state of Ohio. 
He is highly esteemed by the people at large 
for the good work he has done, and for his 
genial disposition, manly sense of justice and 
gentlemanly deportment. He is a blessing to 
the community, being tender hearted and 
kind, and holding a just regard for the rights 
and feelings of his fellow-men. While the 
present generation will honor and esteem him, 
generations to come will cherish his memory 
long after he shall have been called away from 
the cares and vicissitudes of life. 



•y— rf IRAM M. MILLER, a well-known 

1^^^ blacksmith, was born in Greensburg, 

M . r Summit county, Ohio, July 29, i866, 

and Greensburg has always been his 

home. 

John Miller, grandfather of Hiram M., 
came from Maryland to Ohio and settled on 
a farm in Franklin township. Summit county, 
near Manchester, to which town he retired in 
advanced years and there passed the declining 
days of his long and useful life. His son, 
Isaac, father of subject, was born in Maryland 
January 18, 1832, was reared a farmer, and 



404 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



also learned the blacksmith's trade. He came 
to Ohio with his father, took part in the Union 
service during the Civil war, then engaged in 
blacksmithing at Manchester, and later at 
East Liberty, for one year, and he has fol- 
lowed his trade thirty years in the village of 
Greensburg. He married Leah Dissinger, 
daughter of John and Mary (Waggoner) Dis- 
singer, of Franklin township, and to this mar- 
riage have been born two children, viz: Alma, 
wife of Augustin Steby, and Hiram M., the 
subject. Mr. Miller continued in the black- 
smith shop until his son, Hiram M., was old 
enough to take charge, and then retired to his 
farm, where he is leading a quiet life in the 
enjoyment of the respect of all his neighbors. 
In politics he is a strong republican, but pre- 
fers his genial farm life to the precarious pur- 
suit of public office. 

Hiram M. Miller received a good common- 
school education and was thoroughly trained 
to blacksmithing in his father's shop, becom- 
ing an excellent mechanic. October 14, 1893, 
he married Miss Annie Thursby, who was born 
August 5, 1873, a daughter of G. I. and Laura 
(Buchtel) Thursby. Her father, however, is 
now deceased, and her mother is married to 
Aaron Swarz. Mr. Miller is acknowledged to 
be one of the best blacksmiths in Summit 
county, and has prospered in his business, to 
which he adds the sale of buggies in the proper 
season. Beside his shop, he owns a nice two- 
story brick dwelling, and is in quite comfort- 
able circumstances. He is a stanch republican 
in politics, is very popular, and is now town- 
ship treasurer of Green township, having been 
elected by a majority of seventy votes out of 
a total of 500. Fraternally, he is a member 
of Hadassa lodge, I. O. O. F., and also of 
lodge No. 313, Jr. O. U. A. M., in which he 
has passed all the chairs. He is progressive 
and public spirited, and enjoys the respect of 
the entire community. 



^>^^APOLEON J. A. MINICH, pro- 
I M prietor and editor of the Saturday 
I f Bulletin, of Kent, Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Columbia, Lan- 
caster county. Pa., October 7, 1849, and is a 
son of Henry G. and Ann Catherine (Albright) 
Minich, natives of the same county. 

Jacob Minich, great-grandfather of sub- 
ject, came from Germany to America prior to 
the Revolutionary war and settled at Landis- 
ville, Lancaster county. Pa., where he followed 
farming until his death, at the age of sixty- 
three. His eldest son, also named Jacob, was 
the grandfather of subject. He was born 
in Landisville, Pa., was a farmer, distiller and 
proprietor of the Minich hotel, on the stage 
route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. This 
hostlery was noted for its excellent accommo- 
dations generally, and especially for its exten- 
sive stables adapted to the requirements of the 
six-horse teams then in ' use. He reared a 
family of fourteen children, and died in 1841, 
at the age of fifty-eight years. 

Henry G. Minich, youngest child of Jacob 
last mentioned and father of subject, was 
born May 25, 181 7, and lived in Lancaster 
county. Pa., all his life. He was a dealer in 
live stock, was an extensive contractor in 
meats during the Civil war, and also kept a 
meat market. He was very successful finan- 
cially, owned much valuable real estate, and 
was a very public-spirited citizen, being large- 
ly instrumental in establishing the Columbia 
Classical institute and in promoting many 
other important public enterprises. In pol- 
itics he was in early life a democrat, but at 
the outbreak of the Civil war became a re- 
publican. Although he never sought public 
office, he yet did his duty as a good citizen 
and filled several local official positions. To 
his marriage with Miss Albright were born 
eight children, viz: Jabob A., proprietor of a 
meat market in Columbia, Pa.; Thomas J., a 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



405 



real estate dealer in Chicago, 111. ; Charles W. , 
also meat market proprietor in Columbia, Pa. ; 
N. J. A., subject of this biography; Benjamin 
F., a veterinary surgeon of the same city; 
Henry J., proprietor of a meat market in 
Tampa, Fla., and two children that died in 
early life. The father of this family died May 
'9. 1895. an honored and respected gentle- 
man; the mother, who was born in Lancaster 
city, Pa., in 1819, still survives and resides in 
Columbia. 

The maternal ancestors of Napoleon J. A. 
Minich also came from Germany and settled 
in Pennsylvania in the colonial days. John 
Albright, the great-grandfather of subject, was 
born in Philadelphia, whence he moved to 
Lancaster, Pa., where he founded the first 
newspaper issued in that city. It was printed 
in the German language and bore the title 
Volks Freund. At his death, the publication 
of this journal was continued by his son, An- 
thony Albright, grandfather of subject, and 
after he had passed away his son continued 
the publication. 

Napoleon J. A. Minich graduated from the 
Columbia Classical institute in 1868 and then 
entered the office of the Columbia Spy and 
served an apprenticeship at the printing busi- 
ness until 1 87 1, when he went to Chicago, 111., 
but the great fire which swept that city in Oc- 
tober of the same year caused a change in his 
plans and he returned to Pennsylvania, and 
worked at his trade in Lancaster until May, 
1872, when he went to New York; September 
17 of the same year he came to Ohio and 
worked at case for a short time on the Akron 
Beacon, when he was promoted to the editor- 
ial staff. He left his establishment to aid in 
founding the Akron Daily Argus, on which he 
did editorial work, but in 1875 sold his interest 
in this journal and returned to the Beacon. 

Mr. Minich had now lost all his property 
and was not worth a dollar; nevertheless, two 



weeks after his return to the Beacon office he 
married, August 3, 1875, Miss Lottie E. Mc- 
Masters, who was born in Akron, a daughter 
of Henry and Emily McMasters. This happy 
marriage has resulted in the birth of one son, 
Harry S., born October 11, 1877, and now a 
student in the Akron Commercial college. He 
continued on the Beacon until May, 1876, 
when, having accumulated $400, he came to 
Kent and purchased the Saturday Bulletin, 
then a very small affair. 

The Saturday Bulletin was established in 
1866 by Marshall Dewey, and its publication 
had been suspended about five weeks when 
the plant was purchased by Mr. Minich in 
1876. The paper had been a four-page six 
columns to the page journal, but is now an 
eight-page paper, with seven columns to the 
page, a fact which clearly indicates that Mr. 
Minich thoroughly understands his business. 
He has never solicited anyone to subscribe to 
nor to advertise in the Bulletin, yet it has a 
subscription hst containing 1,500 names, and 
its columns devoted to advertising are filled. 
It is independent in politics and is devoted to 
the material interests of Kent, as well as to 
that city's moral and intellectual improvement, 
and is recognized as one of the best local news- 
papers in northeastern Ohio. In 1880 Mr. 
Minich built the Bulletin block, in which the 
office of the journal is located, and which also 
contains three large stores or salesrooms for 
retail mercantile purposes. 

In politics Mr. Minich is a republican. 
Fraternally he is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
the Royal Arcanum and the Protected Home 
Circle. As a citizen he has always been an 
advocate of improvements for the public good, 
and has used the Bulletin in successful efforts 
to secure good sidewalks, electric light and 
water worke for the city of Kent. Beside the 
Bulletin building, he owns several residence 
properties in the city, and is a stockholder in 



406 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



several manufacturing concerns. He is full of 
energy and enterprise, and has ever been active 
in promoting the best interests of his adopted 
city, both as an individual and as an editor. 



*y ^ A. MILLER, senior proprietor of the 
■''^V Actual Business college at Akron, was 
^L,r born near the town of Hudson, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, January 2 1, 1871, a 
son of Charles A. and Celinda (Werntz) Miller, 
but, on account of the early death of both 
their parents, little can be traced of the family 
history further than to the great-grandfather 
on either side. 

Perry Miller, great-grandfather of subject, 
was a native of Massachusetts, of Puritan 
stock, and was one of the original settlers of 
Hudson township. Summit county, Ohio, and 
it is thought that his calling was that of a 
blacksmith. His father, also named Perry, 
and likewise a settler of Hudson township, was 
either a blacksmith or tavern-keeper — prob- 
ably both. Mrs. Celinda (Werntz) Miller was 
one of a large family of children born to 
Charles and Elizabeth Werntz, the former of 
whom died in Clinton, Ohio, November 28, 
1850, at the age of forty-four years, and the 
latter in Canal Fulton, July 6, 1847, aged 
thirty-six years. Charles Werntz was a tailor 
and his father a blacksmith, and Charles and 
his wife both came from Lancaster county, 
Pa., being of what is known as Pennsylvania- 
Dutch stock. 

H. A. Miller received his early edcuation 
in the public schools of Akron, but did not 
quite finish the full course. At the age of 
thirteen years he was employed in the ship- 
ping department of the Enterprise Manufact- 
uring company of Akron, but a little later he 
returned to the public schools to spend another 
year in study; then became associated with 



George C. Himmelman, the druggist. At the 
end of a year thus employed, he went to Os- 
wego, N. Y., in March, 1889, to attend the 
Chaffee Phonographic institution. In Sep- 
tember, 1889, he returned to Ohio, and secured 
employment with the Otis Steel company, 
limited, of Cleveland. The following January 
he removed to Warren, Ohio, for more lucra- 
tive employment in the office of the Paige 
Tube company, then under the management 
of A. T. Paige, of Akron. In June, 1892, he 
removed to Toledo to accept a position with 
the Gendron Wheel company, and afterward 
became the manager of one of the depart- 
ments of that factory. This work was given 
up the following January for the purpose of 
establishing a commercial college in Akron. 
It was formally opened under the name of the 
Akron School of Standard Phonography, Feb- 
ruary 15, 1893, bearing the firm name of 
Miller & Booth — Booth retiring before active 
operations were begun. From that time until 
the first of April, 1895, phonography was the 
only branch taught. On that date the school 
name was changed to the Akron Commercial 
college, and bookkeeping and pen art under 
the direction of A. F. Regal were added. In 
March, 1896, the school quarters in the Arcade 
building on South Howard street, being too 
small, were abandoned and removal made to 
the I. O. O. F. Temple on South Main street, 
and the name changed to the Actual Business 
college. A new corps of teachers was added, 
making the faculty as follows: Miss Lulu E. 
Parker, physical and voice culture, elocution 
and reading; Miss Eva A. Taylor, vocal cul- 
ture; Miss Clara B. Smith, piano; W. A. Will- 
mot, commercial and English branches and 
pen art; H. A. Miller, shorthand and type- 
writing; and in September of the same year 
W. A. Willmot was admitted as a partner. 

Mr. Miller has made a grand success of his 
enterprise and now stands at the head of one 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



407 



the finest educational institutions in northeast- 
ern Ohio, it being more especially notable for 
its thorough system of business instruction. 



^^AMSON MOORE, one of the oldest 
•^^^k* and most substantial farmers of Cov- 
K^^T entry township, Summit county, Ohio, 
was born in county Antrim, Ireland, 
February 22, 18 19, of English ancestry, and 
has been a resident of America^ since three 
years of age. 

Samson Moore (first), grandfather of sub- 
ject, a native of England, was appointed by 
Esquire Harrad superintendent of the latter's 
large estates in Ireland, and there Samson 
(second) was born, in Ballymena, county 
Antrim. He married Jane Kerr, and to this 
union were born the following-named children : 
Robert, Mary (wife of Elisha Veirs), James, 
Margaret, William and Samson (the subject). 
In 1822 the parents of subject sailed from 
Belfast, Ireland, for America, in the good ship 
Atlas, and after a passage of nine weeks' dura- 
tion, safely landed in New York city, with 
their family. They immediately came to 
Ohio, and at Fairport the father started out to 
buy land, got wet, and died nine days later. 
His widow married, in Fairport, Lake county, 
Ohio, 'Squire James Hall, and in March, 
1826, the family came to Summit county and 
here subject has since made his home. The 
farm on which the family settled was in the 
primitive wilderness of Coventry township, 
and there was not a house between it and New 
Portage. To 'Squire Hall and wife was born 
one child — Nathaniel — and here the 'squire 
died the year following their arrival (in 1827), 
and his widow on the 5th day of Septem- 
ber, 1855. 

Samson Moore, the subject proper of this 
memoir, was educated in the old pioneer 
school-house in district No. 2 of Coventry 



township, and here learned his letters seventy 
years ago. He was reared to all the hard 
work of a frontier farm, and January 10, 1864, 
married Miss Mary E. Shutt, who was born 
June 5, 1846, a daughter of Abraham and 
Catherine (Gregg) Shutt. Her father, Abra- 
ham Shutt, was a native of Washington 
county, Md., and her mother, Mary E. Shutt, 
was a native of Jackson township. Stark 
county, Ohio, and a daughter of James and 
Catherine (Crum) Gregg, who were early pio- 
neers of Jackson township. The father died 
in 1855, ^^'^ the mother married John Sorrick 
and still lives on the old farm in Jackson 
township. By her first marriage she became 
the mother of the following children : Mary 
E., Simon J., James T. , William H., Adam 
M. and George W. ; to her second union were 
born Thomas J., Clara, Manias H., Minnie, 
John and Robert. To Samson and Mary E. 
(Shutt) Moore have been born Jennie C, 
Emma T. , Louisa M., James S. and Scott C. 

Samson Moore, since his earliest man- 
hood, has been identified with the progress of 
Coventry township, but he has never aspired 
to. public office. In politics he was first a 
whig and voted for Henry Clay, for president, 
in 1844; for Salmon P. Chase for governor in 
1855, and for Abraham Lincoln for president, 
in i860 and 1864 — and is still a stanch repub- 
lican. He has been a high steward in the 
Church of Christ since 1849, ''"d liberally 
contributed to the erection of the church edi- 
fice in that year. He has lived on his present 
farm of eighty-five acres for seventy-one years, 
and has done as much as any man in the 
township toward its development, and is now 
one of its most highly esteemed pioneers. 

Mr. Moore has in his possession many heir- 
looms that have come from as far back as the 
days of his grandfather, such as silver knee- 
buckles, shoe-buckles, a clock, etc., that to- 
day are veritable curiosities, and silver wed- 



408 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ding-spoons, with other articles of antiquity 
seldom guarded so carefully by families of 
America, even when they had them, and of 
these venerable relics of the past he is justly 
proud. 



>Y*ULIUS A. MORRIS, M. D., a native of 
M Portage county, Ohio, was born at Kent 
• 1 February 13, 1848, and is a son of 
Henry and Susannah (Jackson) Morris, 
natives of Lincolnshire, England, where they 
were married, and in the earlier part of 1835 
came to the United States, stopped for a short 
time in Utica, N. Y. , and in the fall came to 
Ohio and located, first, in Akron, and then, in 
1837, settled in Franklin Mills, now Kent. 

Henry Morris, father of the doctor, was 
born June 8, 1801, and by trade was a slater 
and plasterer. He was twice married, and had 
born to him by his first wife (who died in Eng- 
land) two children, one of whom, Eliza, came 
to the United States with her father, was mar- 
ried to William Musson, of Akron, and is now 
deceased. By the second marriage of Mr. 
Morris, to Susannah Jackson, there were born 
nine children, viz: Ann, who was first mar- 
ried to George Reed and next to Lewis Bry- 
son, and died in Benton county, Iowa; John, 
who was for many years attorney for the 
Union National bank of Chicago, 111., and 
later succeeded Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., in 
the printing and publishing business, and con- 
ducted the establishment under the style of 
the John Morris company from about 1882 
until icSgS; James, who died in Vinton, Iowa; 
Josephine, who is married to M. L. Robinson, 
of Kent, Ohio; one child that died in infancy; 
Henry, who was an assistant surgeon in the 
Forty-fifth regiment. United States regular 
army, and was drowned in the gulf of Mexico, 
in 1865, while in the service; Dr. Julius A., 
the subject of this memoir; Adeline E., mar- 



ried to George Bivin, of Indiana, and Lois, 
who died in infancy. 

When Henry Morris first located in Port- 
age county the population of Akron numbered 
about 700, and that of Franklin Mills less. 
He plastered the first county jail at Ravenna, 
and also did a great deal of work for Zenas 
Kent. He was a good manager, observed due 
economy and accumulated considerable prop- 
erty, including a number of residences in Kent 
and two farms, one of which adjoined the city. 
He was a man of positive views, never con- 
tracted a debt, and never was a member of a 
secret society or religious body. He had no 
fear as to the future life, being inclined to 
Universalism, and was of a uniformly cheerful 
disposition, enjoying a good joke up to his 
last days. He was a devoted student of as- 
tronomy even after seventy-five years of age, 
and his religious impressions were derived 
directly from Nature herself. In politics he 
was a democrat, and at times held various 
local offices. His wife died in 1 881, in the 
faith of the Episcopal church, of which she had 
been a member over fifty years, and his own 
death took place at his residence in Kent 
March 17, 1885. 

Dr. Julius A. Morris passed his boyhood 
days in Kent and received his elementary edu- 
cation in its public schools. He commenced 
the study of medicine under Dr. P. H. Saw- 
yer, and, when fully prepared, attended one 
course of medical lectures at the university of 
Michigan, and also a special course in chemis- 
try. He then entered Rush Medical college, 
at Chicago, from which he was graduated in 
1870, and then went to Duluth, Minn., also 
to Iowa and Illinois, without decidedly deter- 
mining on a place for locating as a practi- 
tioner, and in 1876 wisely concluded to settle 
in Kent, where he has met with abundant suc- 
cess. His practice is extensive and exacting, 
but, notwithstanding his arduous professional 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



409 



duties, he has found time to be' of service to 
his fellow-citizens. He affiliates with the 
democratic party, and is now serving his sec- 
ond term as president of the United States 
pension examining board for Portage county. 
He was elected three times to the city council, 
but at the last term resigned at the close of a 
year, his professional calls demanding all his 
attention. While in the city council. Dr. 
Morris was untiring in his endeavors to improve 
the condition of the city permanently, and was 
the originator of its present system of stone 
sidewalks, now covering over twelve lineal 
miles; also originated the waterworks system 
and the introduction of electric lights — all of 
which he succeeded in making realities, not- 
withstanding the opposition of many prominent 
citizens. The fact is, the doctor has filled 
office for the good he might accomplish, rather 
than from a desire to enjoy the flimsy honors 
that many • people suppose are attracted 
thereto. His name stands accordingly high, 
not only as a physician, but as a public 
benefactor. 



aHARLES MOTZ, one of the younger 
members of the bar of Summit county, 
Ohio, was born on a farm in North- 
ampton township, this county, Sep- 
tember lo, 1865, a son of Jacob and Eva 
(Schank) Motz, natives of Bavaria. 

Jacob Motz and wife were married in their 
native country of Rhine, Bavaria, and came 
to the United States in 1851. They lived for 
some time in Germantown, Pa., then came to 
Ohio, and lived in Hartville, Stark county, 
until 1864, and then came to Summit county 
and settled on a farm in Northampton town- 
ship, and Mr. Motz became one of its sub- 
stantial citizens, although he was a quiet, un- 
assuming gentleman and a lover of law and 
order. He followed his vocation of farmer 



until his death, September 4, 1896, at the age 
of seventy-five years, leaving his wife, who 
still survives, to mourn his loss. They were 
the parents of eight children, viz: Daniel, a 
farmer of Northampton township; Katie, de- 
ceased wife of Robert Quinn; Jacob and Henry, 
both deceased; William, also a farmer of 
Northampton township; Lizzie, deceased; 
Charles, the subject, and Carrie, a teacher in 
Summit county. All the children, with the 
exception of the eldest two, were college 
graduates, and all, with the same exceptions, 
were school teachers. Mention may especially 
be made of Jacob and Henry, of whom the 
former was a graduate of Buchtel college and 
one of its trustees; he read law with Judge 
Greene, and practiced at the Summit county 
bar about five years, was active in the Young 
Men's Christian association work, of which 
association he had served as president, was a 
Knight of Pythias, a stanch republican and a 
rising young attorney when overtaken by 
death. 

Charles Motz^ the subject, was primarily 
educated in the district schools and later at- 
tended Buchtel college; he read law in the 
office of Judge N. D. Tibballs, was admitted 
to the bar in March, 1893, located at No. 102 
South Howard street, Akron, and has already 
made his mark as a general practitioner. He 
is a member of the State Bar association, and 
in politics is an active democrat. 



* y ^ ARVEY MUSSER. the head of the 
l'^"\ law firm of Musser & Kohler, in the 
J ^ * Arcade building, Akron, is a native 
of Millheim, Centre county, Pa., was 
born August 30, 1858, and is a son of P. T. 
and Mary J. (Mumbauer) Musser, of old Penn- 
sylvania-German stock. 

P. T. Musser, M. D., father of subject, 
was a graduate of Jefferson Medical college. 



410 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Philadelphia, and was in active practice for 
many years. He was one of the early aboli- 
tionists of Centre county, Pa., and was ardent 
in his advocacy of the liberation of the slaves 
of the south. His death took place Decem- 
ber 31, 1 89 1, but his venerable widow still has 
her home in the Keystone state. Their chil- 
dren are three in number and are Ella, wife of 
Rev. A. J. Irey, in charge of the Baptist 
church at Warren, Pa. ; Dr. Charles Summer 
Musser, a graduate of Jefferson Medical college 
of Philadelphia, and of the Wills eye and ear 
hospital of the same city, a post-graduate of 
medical colleges in Berlin and Vienna, and 
since 1890 a practicing physician at Aarons- 
burg, Pa. ; and Harvey Musser, the subject of 
this memoir. 

Harvey Musser, the youngest of the above 
family, was primarily educated in the public 
schools of Millheim, and this education was 
supplemented by attendance at Aaronsburg 
academy and at Missionary institute, Selin's 
Grove, Pa. ; he then entered Franklin & Mar- 
shall college, at Lancaster, from which he 
graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1879; 
he then read law with Hon. A. O. Furst, of 
Bellefonte, Centre county. Pa., after which he 
entered the law department of the university 
of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he 
graduated in 1882 with the degree of LL. B., 
and was admitted to the bars of Michigan and 
Ohio in May of the same year. He then 
came to Akron and practiced alone until July, 
1886, when (having established an enviable 
reputation) he formed a partnership with R. 
W. Saddler, which was continued for about 
eighteen mouths. January 7, 1888, he be- 
came associated with Judge J. A. Kohler, 
under the firm style of Kohler & Musser, which 
obtained until December, 1895, when it was 
dissolved because of Judge Kohler's assuming 
his duties on the bench. The present firm of 
Musser & Kohler was then formed, a son of 



Judge Kohler becoming the associate of Mr. 
Musser, and this is now recognized as one of 
the ablest law firms in the city. 

In politics Mr. Musser is an active repub- 
lican and has served on the county re- 
publican executive committee for several 
"years. Fraternally he is a member of the 
Ohio State Bar association, of Summit 
lodge, No. 50, I. O. O. F., and of his 
college society. Phi Kappa Psi. In pro- 
moting the -interests of Akron in a business 
way, he was one of the incorporators and is 
now a director of the Citizens' National bank, 
and also an incorporator of the People's Sav- 
ings bank. 

The marriage of Mr. Musser occurred Oc- 
tober 4, 1888, with Miss Elizabeth Hammond 
Huston, daughter of James and Mary J. 
Huston, of Nittany, Pa., the union being 
blessed with three children, viz: Harvey Hus- 
ton, James Coburn and Philip Sumner. Mr. 
Musser is a member of Grace Reformed 
church, while his wife is a Presbyterian, and 
they have their home at No. 140 Ash street. 

Mr. Musser has been very successful pro- 
fessionally, and has achieved a fine reputation 
both as a general and as a criminal lawyer. 
He was retained by the defense in the cele- 
brated Cotell murder trial and also in the 
equally famous Carrier libel suit; he is now 
retained as attorney for the Citizens' National 
bank, by Robinson Bros. & Co. , by the Crown 
Fire Clay company, and by the Whitmore & 
Robinson company, while the miscellaneous 
business of the firm is sufficient to occupy the 
attention of both partners from morn until 
night. 

* y ^ ON. CHARLES B. NEWTON, attor- 

1''^^ ney-at-law of Kent, Ohio, and one of 

jL.r the foremost in professional standing, 

was born in Portage county, April 1 1, 

1850, a son of Justin B. and Eugenie (Bab- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



411 



cock) Newton, natives, respectively, of Massa- 
chusetts and Ohio. 

Rufus P. Newton, grandfather of sub- 
ject, was the first of the Newton family to 
come from New England to Ohio, and to set- 
tle in Franklin township. Portage county, 
about 1823, bringing his wife and six children, 
the latter named Justin B., Lamira, Alanson, 
Emily, Burtley and William. He prospered 
here and dealt largely in live stock in associa- 
tion with Bert King, and, under the firm name 
of Newton & King, shipped extensively to the 
eastern markets, the result being that he 
became the owner of a large amount of real 
estate in Portage county, where he passed his 
declining years in peace and comfort, respected 
by all who knew him. 

Justin B. Newton was a boy when he came 
to Ohio with his parents, and here the major 
portion of his life was passed in farming, he 
being the owner of a tract of sixty acres of 
good arable land. To his marriage with Miss 
Babcock there were born seven children, in the 
following order: Emily, who died in child- 
hood; Perry, who died at the age of fifteen 
years; Charles B. , the subject of this notice; 
Frances, married to Root Baker, of Medina 
:ounty; John, a resident of Kent; Henrietta, 
the wife of E. C. Allen, of Kent, and Burtley, 
also of Kent. The father of this family died 
in 18S4, at the age of sixty-three years; the 
mother makes her home in Kent. 

Charles B. Newton, the gentleman whose 
name opens this biographical notice, was 
reared on his father's farm through his boyhood 
years, and at the age of fifteen years entered 
the Union school in Kent, and later was two 
years under instruction in the private school of 
Prof. Suliot; he first read law in the office of 
Hon. S. P. Wolcott, of Kent, and later studied 
tinder W. B. Thomas, of Ravenna. He was 
admitted to the bar at Warren, Ohio, in 1874, 
and has always practiced on his sole account. 



For ten years he did a successful general busi- 
ness at Newton Falls, Trumbull county, estab- 
lishing an excellent reputation, and since 1885 
has been a member of the Portage county bar, 
with his office in Kent. 

The marriage of Mr. Newton took place in 
1875 with Miss Emma L. Hartle, daughter of 
A. B. Hartle, a farmer of Portage county. 
Mrs. Newton was born in Ravenna, and has 
borne her busband one daughter. Lulu, who 
graduated from the Kent high school, with 
second honors, in a class of twenty-eight, of 
which she was the salutatorian. 

In politics Mr. Newton is a stanch demo- 
crat and has always taken an active part in 
the promotion of his party's success, advocat- 
ing its principles in eloquent speeches through 
several campaigns and representing it in nu- 
merous conventions. While at Newton Falls 
he was for six years a member of the school 
board, having been elected without opposition, 
although the town was indubitably republican, 
and for six years, also, he was a member of 
the school board of Kent, and notwithstanding 
the fact that he was its youngest member, he 
was its president. Mr. Newton also served 
two terms as mayor of Kent, and during his 
administration of this office many valuable im- 
provements were made in the city, chiefly at 
his suggestion or on his recommendation, and 
he still takes a deep interest in its progress. 
He is at present a member of the board of 
charities of Portage county, but is not con- 
nected with any church or secret society. 

Mr. Newton devotes his time exclusively to 
his professional duties, which are extensive as 
well as multifarious, and holds an indisputable 
position among the foremost members of the 
bar of Portage county. He is a gentleman of 
unflinching integrity, and has the implicit 
confidence of the entire community. He has 
led an industrious life, and has earned his for- 
tune through his personal exertions, being pos- 



412 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



sessed of an indomitable determination, which 
was manifested even in his early manhood, 
when, unaided, he earned the means to defray 
the expenses of his education. He has built 
for himself a fine residence, in which the hours 
not devoted to business are passed in unalloyed 
domestic felicity. 



m. 



»ILLIAM H. MYERS, a thriving 
farmer of Norton township, Summit 
county, was born in Wadsworth 
township, Medina county, Ohio, 
March 21, 1846, and is descended from a 
Pennsylvania family of German origin. 

Alpheus Myers, father of subject, was 
born in Bucks county, Pa., and at the age of 
four years was brought to Ohio by his parents, 
who settled in Wayne county, where he was 
reared to manhood and taught the millwright's 
trade. He married Salome Myers, by whom 
he became the father of the following children: 
Mary M., wife of Isaac Tinsman; William H., 
subject of this biography; Lavina C, wife of 
S. K. Kraver; Harvey A. ; Joseva A., who was 
first married to Septimus Siberling and is now 
the widow of J. J. Slanker, the youngest child 
being Owen F. Mrs. Salome Myers was born in 
Bucks county. Pa., December 24, 1819; Al- 
pheus Myers, who became a farmer of Norton 
township in 1843, died here March i, 1878. 

William H. Myers, the subject of this 
biographical mention, passed his early life on 
his father's farm, then worked seven years in a 
flouring-mill in Wadsworth, then for two years 
lived in Akron. He bought his present farm in 
Norton township seventeen years ago, which 
consists of fifty-eight acres, is well improved, 
and affords, through his industry, a comfort- 
able and happy home. 

Mr. Myers was united in marriage, in De- 
cember, 1866, with Miss Emeline Johnson, 
who was born April 15, 1845, in Summit 



county, Ohio, a daughter of Joseph and Mary 
A. (Hartzell) Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. John- 
son came from Northampton county. Pa., two 
years after marriage, and settled in Summit 
county, Ohio, where the death of Mr. Johnson 
occurred October 31, 1894, leaving two chil- 
dren — Emeline and Fayette E. , the former 
the wife of Milton Siberling. The union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Myers has been blessed with the 
following-named children: Nellie V., Ira E. 
(married to Ida Everhart), Laura M., Corman 
A., and Nellie V., who is the wife of O. E. 
Loomis. Mr. Myers is a republican in pol- 
itics, as was his father before him, and he and 
wife are members of the Christian church, in 
the faith of which they are leading consist- 
ent lives. 



a APT. SUMNER NASH, secretary and 
treasurer of the Akron Belting com- 
pany, is a native of Bath township, 
Summit county, Ohio, was born May 
10, 1836, and is a son of Hophni and Lovisa 
(King) Nash, both natives of Hampshire coun- 
ty, Mass., where their marriage took place. 

The Nash family is of Scotch- Irish origin, 
but for many years several of its members re- 
sided in England, whence, early in the history 
of the United States, two brothers came to 
this country, one of -whom settled in Massachu- 
setts and the other, it is supposed, found a 
home in the sunny south. From the Bay state 
immigrant the subject of this biographical re- 
view descends, and many other of his descend- 
ants attained eminent positions in the learned 
professions and in the legislative halls of Mas- 
sachusetts. The King family was also among 
the early settlers of Massachusetts and was of 
Scotch-Irish extraction. Hophni Nash, shortly 
after his marriage at Chesterfield, Mass., April 
28, 1825, to Miss Lovisa, daughter of Eleazer 
and Mercy King, came from their native state 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



413 



to Ohio and located on a farm in Bath town- 
ship, Summit county. Mr. Nash taught school 
during the winter of 1827-28, at . or near 
Ghent, served as clerk of Bath township for 
many years — this office being afterward held 
by each of his three sons — and followed farm- 
ing until his death, at Akron, April 17, 1882, 
at the age of eighty-five years, his wife surviv- 
ing until January 6, 1892, when she died at 
Montrose at the age of ninety years. Their 
children numbered five, as follows: Harriet, 
who was first married to Curtis D. Barber and 
then to a Mr. Williams, and now, a widow the 
second time, is residing with a daughter in 
Pipe Stone, Minn.; E. King Nash, M. D., of 
Montrose, Ohio; Nancy Ellen, widow of R. 
D. Pierson, of Lincoln, Neb.; Thomas W., a 
bookkeeper for A. M. Barber, of Akron, and 
Sumner, the subject of this biography. 

Sumner Nash was reared on the home 
farm and was educated in the district schools 
and in the academy at Richfield. When about 
nineteen years of age he went to Wisconsin 
and drove stage between Oshkosh and New 
London, while the country was still wild 
and occupied to a great extent by Indians. 
He next took a contract at Plymouth, Wis., 
for clearing the timber from the surveyed line 
of the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railroad 
company, then being built from Plymouth 
west, by making the suitable timber into ties 
and by cutting the refuse into cord-wood. In 
the fall by 1856, at Oshkosh, he took charge 
of a hardware store during the absence of the 
proprietor at the south. In the fall of 1857 
he returned to his old home, attended the 
Richfield academy for a time, taught school 
several winters, and in the summer seasons 
worked his father's farm, and other leased 
land until August 6, 1862, when he enlisted in 
company G, One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio 
volunteer infantry, and served until July 7, 
1865, when he was mustered out as first lieu- 



tenant, although for months he had held the 
captaincy of a company. After his return 
from the war, in July, 1865, he purchased a 
farm in Livingston county. 111.; March 8, 1866, 
he married Miss Rebecca M. Means, of North- 
field, working the Illinois farm until 1868, 
when he returned to Summit county, Mrs. 
Nash dying July 18, 1869, leaving one child — 
Maud M. Spending two years on his father- 
in-law's farm in Northfield, and one season in 
Illinois, as agent for a lightning rod company, 
in the winter of 1872-73 he was appointed 
deputy county clerk by Clerk John A. Means, 
serving the balance of the term, and also 
through two terms for Clerk George W. Meeks, 
being himself elected clerk in 1878, and hold- 
ing the office two full terms of three years each. 
Mr. Nash is now secretary and treasurer of 
the Akron Belting company, fully written of 
elsewhere. June 23, 1874, Mr. Nash was 
again married — this time to Miss Linnie A. 
Cross, of Columbus, Ohio. 



(D 



ILTON J. NICOLA, of the popular 
"Pearl Steam" laundry firm of 
Nicola & White, Ravenna, Ohio, 
was born in Allentown, Pa. , No- 
vember 24, 1866, a son of John and Susannah 
(Geise) Nicola, the former of whom was a na- 
tive of France and the latter of Germany. 

After quitting the common schools, where 
he had been quite well educated, Mr. Nicola 
learned carriagemaking in Allentown, at which 
he worked three and a half years, and then 
went to Philadelphia and for three years there 
continued at his trade. He next came to Ohio, 
eventually secured a position in the carriage 
and hearse factory of Merts & Riddle in Ra- 
venna, where he remained seven years, then 
returned east, and for a year was engaged, in 
partnership with his brother, in the laundry 
business at Bethlehem, Pa. Returning to Ra- 



414 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



venna he formed a partnership with his now 
father-in-law, Charles White, and in March, 
1895, purchased the laundry then owned by 
F. D. Pitkin and located in the Riddle block. 
In November, 1896, the plant was removed to 
its present location, at the corner of Spruce 
and Prospect streets, the building being known 
as the New Laundry block. It is completely 
equipped with the most improved modern ma- 
chinery, and is patronized, not only by the best 
people of Ravenna, but by residents of the 
surrounding country, even, indeed, as far as 
Cleveland, and ten agencies are necessary to 
attend to the outside patronage. 

March 18, 1890, at Kent, Ohio, Mr. Nicola 
was united in marriage to Miss Ida Minerva 
White, who was born in Franklin, Pa., De- 
cember 4, 1866, and in 1867 was brought to 
Kent, Ohio, by her parents, Charles and Mary 
White. One child, George M., came to bless 
the union of Mr. and Mrs. Nicola May 20, 1892. 

Charles White, the father of Mrs. Nicola 
and the business partner of her husband, was 
born in Beaver county. Pa., January 15, 1842, 
a son of David and Mary Jane White, the for- 
mer of whom was a native of Scotland and 
the latter of Maryland. Charles was educat- 
ed in the public schools of Beaver and \'enan- 
go counties. Pa., and after leaving school 
worked in the oil fields of the vicinity several 
years. In 1865 he married Miss Mary C. 
Schaffer, who was born in Butler county. Pa. , 
May II, 1843, a daughter of Henry and Cath- 
erine Schaffer, natives respectively of Penn- 
sylvania and Germany. In 1867, as already 
mentioned, Mr. White came to Portage county, 
Ohio, bought a farm about a mile and a half 
from Kent, and followed agriculture until 
March, 1895, when he came to Ravenna and 
joined Mr. Nicola in the laundry. To the 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. \\'hite have been 
born eight children, viz: Ida Minerva, Lizzie 
Jane, David, John, Alfred, Flora, Mabel and 



Bertha; of these, David, John and Alfred are 
deceased. The family are members of the 
Congregational church, and in politics Mr. 
White is a republican. For thirty-one years 
Mr. White has been a member of Rockton 
lodge. No. 316, A. F. & A. M., of Kent, while 
his son-in-law, Mr. Nicola, is a member of 
Crescent lodge. No. 225, K. of P., and of the 
Royal Arcanum of Ravenna. 



OTIS & OTIS, a prominent law firm 
of .Akron, Ohio, with its office in the 
Arcade building, is composed of the 
two brothers, Edward P. Otis and 
Ellsworth E. Otis, natives of Tuscarawas 
county, Ohio, and sons of Rezin P. and Cath- 
erine (Bair) Otis, both natives of the Buckeye 
state, and respectively descended from New 
England and Pennsylvania ancestry. 

James Otis, the most remote of the Amer- 
ican ancestors of these brothers, was one of 
the early patriots who first protested against 
the tjTanny in New England of George III, of 
Great Britain, about 1764, and afterward be- 
came a soldier in the Revolution, losing his 
life through his patriotism. His descendants 
have in many instances achieved celebrity in 
the legal profession, in the ministry, and in the 
arena of politics — in the halls of congress, and 
in the government of the state. The name is 
prominent all through the history of Massa- 
chusetts and New England generally. The 
Bair family was also very prominent in the 
local affairs of Pennsylvania. 

Edward P. Otis received his elementary 
education in the district schools of his native 
county, then attended Oberlin college, next 
taught school awhile, and in 1877 entered 
Wittenberg college, from which he graduated 
in 1882, and at once began reading law with 
a legal firm of Mansfield, Ohio; next, studied 
under Nealy & Patrick, lawyers of New Phila- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



415 



delphia, and in the winter of 1884-85 attended 
the Cincinnati Law school. In June, 1885, 
he was admitted to the bar, and in August of 
that year came to Akron, where for two years 
he was associated in practice with W. E. 
Slaybaugh, a former classmate. In 1887, 
upon the graduation of his brother, Ellsworth 
E., from the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Law school, 
the firm of Otis & Otis was formed — Ellsworth 
E. having been admitted to the bar prior to 
graduation. The preparatory and literary ed- 
ucation of the younger brother had been ac- 
quired at Wittenberg college and the Wooster 
university, after which he had entered the law 
department of the Michigan university, and 
was graduated as above mentioned. The firm 
has secured a lucrative general practice, and 
to some extent makes a specialty of commer- 
cial cases, its patronage in these coming 
largely from abroad. They are young men of 
decided talent and ability, and are fully de- 
serving of the growing prosperity which at- 
tends them. 

In politics both the brothers, are repub- 
licans; fraternally, Edward P. is a Freemason, 
and Ellsworth E. is an Odd Fellow and a 
Knight of Pythias, while both are active mem- 
bers of their college society. Beta Theta Pi, 
Edward P. being president of the local chap- 
ter, and Ellsworth E. its secretary. Both 
brothers are members of the English Lutheran 
church, of which for several years past Edward 
P. has been superintendent of the Sunday- 
school, and for the past eleven years he has 
been a member of the board of directors of 
Wittenberg college. 

The marriage of Edward P. Otis took 
place September 21, 1887, with Miss Jessie L. 
Wolfe, a college acquaintance, a resident of 
Springfield, Ohio, and a daughter of Henry H. 
Wolfe. This union has been blessed with one 
child — Catherine Louise. Mrs. Otis is a 
highly accomplished lady and is one of the 



brightest ornaments to the society of Akron; 
she is widely known for her proficiency as a 
vocalist, and is frequently called upon to lend 
her musical talents to secure success to public 
entertainments. She is an active member of 
the social musical society known as the Tues- 
day Afternoon club of Akron, and is to a great 
extent the essence of its success. The pleas- 
ant home of Mr. and Mrs. Otis is at No. 121 
Adolph avenue. 

Ellsworth E. Otis was married June 27, 
1894, to Miss Mary Louise Guth, of Akron, 
the accomplished daughter of Jacob R. Guth, 
and they have their cheerful home at No. 986 
East Market street. 



eDWARD OVIATT, one of the oldest 
and most experienced of the attor- 
neys at law of Akron and the head 
of the firm of Oviatt, Allen & Cobbs, 
No. 102 North Howard street, has been a resi- 
dent of the city since 1842. He was born in 
Hudson, Summit county, Ohio, May 19, 1822, 
a son of Marvin and Mary (Foote) Oviatt. 

Capt. Heman Oviatt, grandfather of sub- 
ject, was a native of Connecticut, of French 
descent, and came from Goshen, that state, to 
Ohio, in 1800, and settled at Hudson with his 
wife and two children. Although reared to 
mercantile pursuits, he at once imbibed the 
spirit of progress exhaled by the pioneers and 
entered about 200 acres of land in the town- 
ship, and, with another gentleman, purchased 
a large tract of land in Richfield township. 
He opened a store in Hudson and had a large 
trade with the Indians, but suffered many of 
the hardships of frontier life, among others 
that of being compelled to go, by means of 
an ox-cart, all the way to Pittsburg, Pa., for 
his merchandise. But he was a man of great 
progressiveness, and a man of and for his day. 



416 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



He was a friend of religion and education and 
one of the founders of Hudson college, to 
which he made several munificent donations — 
one being for $3,000, a second for $10,000, 
and also several others of less amounts; he 
promoted the cause of foreign missionary 
work whenever practicable, and was ever 
prompt in aiding the public weal. In politics 
he was an active whig. 

Capt. Oviatt first married Miss Eunice 
Newton, who bore him four children, viz: 
Marvin, father of subject; Orson M., who for 
some time was a merchant in Richfield, Sum- 
mit county, but later was for a long time a 
beef-packer of Cleveland, became quite 
wealthy and was widely known; Harriet, who 
was first married to a Mr. Bronson, and later 
to Rev. D. A. Randall, and died in Columbus, 
Ohio; Louisa, the youngest child, married 
Ephraim Sturtevant, and died in Tallmadge, 
Ohio. The second marriage of Capt. Oviatt 
was with Miss Kilburn, of Hudson, who bore 
two children — a son, Heman, who for thirty 
years was a farmer in Summit county, but 
spent the latter part of his life in Cleveland, in 
the produce business; and a daughter, Eliza- 
beth. 

Marvin Oviatt, father of subject, was born 
in Connecticut in 1797, and came to Summit 
county, Ohio, with his parents in 1800. For 
some years he was here engaged in farming, 
but later went to Cleveland and embarked in 
mercantile trade; in 1825 he built a large 
block at the corner of Superior and Water 
streets, and other buildings in various parts of 
the city; in 1828 he went to Indiana, but in 
1833 returned to Summit county, Ohio, and 
located on a farm in Richfield township; in 
1850 he went to California, and was on his 
way homeward in 1853 when he met with an 
accident that resulted in his death. He had 
led a very active life, was a man of great pub- 
lic spirit, and in politics was a whig. His 



wife died in May, 1876, at the age of eighty- 
one years. The family of these parents con- 
sisted of six children, viz: Schuyler, who was 
a farmer of Richfield township for years, 
served as county surveyor and then as county 
treasurer four years each, and then removed 
to Cleveland, where his son held a position in 
the city engineer's office, and where he now 
has his home at No. 765 Genesee avenue; 
Tracy M., who was a graduate of Hudson 
college, was a teacher in Elyria academy, 
where he prepared Gen. Gilmore for West 
Point and Judge Burke for his legal career, 
and is now a retired minister of the Congrega- 
tional church and is residing in Gilroy, Cal.; 
Edward is the subject of this memoir; Celia 
M., who died in 1894, was the wife of Baxter 
Wood, formerly a merchant of Richfield, but 
now in the lumber trade in Medina and Lorain 
counties, Ohio; Virgil L. graduated from Hud- 
son college, but lived one year only thereafter, 
and Don Carlos, the youngest, died in Oil 
City, Pa., in 1865. 

Edward Oviatt, the subject proper of this 
biography, was educated at the Richfield 
academy, also at Granville, and at the West- 
ern Reserve college, and at the age of twenty 
years, in May, 1842, came to Akron and en- 
tered the law office of Carter & Bliss, under 
whose instructions he studied assiduously four 
years, and in 1846 was admitted to the bar. 
He was fully equipped for the practice of his 
chosen profession, and for a number of years 
conducted it alone, or until its increasing 
volume called for help. He was retained in 
some of the most noted trials that ever took 
place in the county, and was the counsel for 
Akron a number of years before its incorpora- 
tion as a city. In May, 1864, he answered 
his country's call for volunteers and enlisted in 
the 100-day service; he was appointed color- 
bearer and stationed on Arlington Heights (in 
Virginia, across the Potomac river from Wash- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



417 



ington, D. C. ), and served until late in the 
following September. 

In politics he was a whig until the disin- 
tegration of that party, when he united with 
the republicans. He was a member of the 
board of education for many years, and in 
1864 was elected prosecuting attorney, in 
which office he served four years, his name 
becoming a terror to criminals of all degrees, 
and during his long service in this capacity 
failed in two instances only in convicting the 
culprits whom he prosecuted. He is to-day 
recognized as one of the ablest members of 
the bar in the state. 

Mr. Oviatt is a member of the G. A. R. , 
and of the American and State Bar associa- 
tions; he is a stockholder in several national 
banks and is vice-president of the First Na- 
tional bank of Akron; he is also a stockholder 
in the Canadian Copper company, which sup- 
plies the government with nickel for coining, 
etc., and has many investments in other in- 
dustrial enterprises. 

The first matrimonial alliance of Mr. Oviatt 
was celebrated in 1 847, with Miss Anna, daugh- 
ter of Frederick Wadsworth. This lady died 
in August, 1854, leaving one child, Emma, 
now the wife of Calvin Edgerton, of Los 
Angeles, Cal. His second marriage was con- 
summated in December, 1855, with Frances 
A. Lansing, who died in August, 1881, the, 
mother of two children — Edward A., manager 
of and stockholder in the Linoleum company 
of Akron, and Olivia, wife of George Allen, 
attorney, and member of the firm of Oviatt, 
Allen & Cobbs. 

Mr. Oviatt has been one of the most pro- 
gressive and enterprising of the citizens of 
Akron, and the firm of which he is the senior 
member are attorneys for many of the leading 
corporations and business firms of the city and 
surrounding country, and certainly stand at 
the head of the profession. 



*'W ^ A. PALMER, a prominent business 
1^^\ man of Akron, was born July 16, 
m. . r 1 85 1, and is a son of William and 
Sophia (Brock) Palmer, the former 
of whom settled in Tallmadge, this county, in 
1 85 I, and here followed agricultural pursuits 
until his death, in 1876, leaving a widow whose 
death occurred in March, 1897 — both dying in 
the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
Ten children were born to them, all of whom 
survive, viz: William, Nellie, Clara, Fannie, 
Annie, Alfred, John, Harry A., Sadie and Char- 
lie — ranging in ages from sixty to thirty-five 
years respectively. The eighth child in order 
of birth in the above-named family, H. A. 
Palmer, was married, in 1873, in Onargo, 111., 
to Miss Mary C. Risser, formerly of Ashland, 
Ohio, and this union has been blessed with 
five children, viz: Lottie S., Theron R., 
Willie (deceased), Nellie May and Harry Guy. 
Of these the eldest two are graduates of the 
high school of Akron, in the classes of 1895 
and 1896, and Theron R. is now foreman of 
the soft rubber department of the B. F. Good- 
rich Rubber company, of Akron. 

H. A. Palmer came from Ashland, Ohio, 
to Akron in 1878, and established himself in 
the artificial stone business, which he con- 
ducted two years; he then became associated 
with the J. F. Seiberling Mower & Reaper 
company, and for seven years was superin- 
tendent of the harvester and binder depart- 
ment, and for two additional years was general 
agent of the company for territory covering 
three different states. In 1891 he became a 
member of the Akron Electrical Manufactur- 
ing company as business manager, and in 1895 
was elected secretary and general manager — a 
position he resigned in 1897. 

A republican in politics, he was elected, in 
1894, a member of the city council of Akron 
from the Second ward, was elected its vice-pres- 
ident, and on the death of its president, in the 



418 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



fall of 1894, became its president. The follow- 
ing spring he was again elected president of the 
council, which office he filled with dignit}' and 
impartiality until the close of his term. Fra- 
ternally, Mr. Palmer has been an Odd Fellow 
since 18S0 and is at present a member of 
Akron lodge, No. 547, of which he is a past 
grand, and is also a member of Akron encamp- 
ment No. 18, as well as of Colfax Rebekah 
lodge. No. 8, and grand canton Akron No. 2, 
patriarchs militant, and is a past representa- 
tive to the grand lodge of Ohio. In 1895 he 
was appointed major on the staff of J. C. 
Whitaker, commander of the patriarchs mili- 
tant of Ohio. 

Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are members of the 
Trinit3' English Lutheran church, in which 
Mr. Palmer has been teacher of a bible class 
for the past twelve years. Mr. Palmer is an 
upright and energetic citizen, progressive in his 
views and public spirited in an eminent de- 
gree, and is honored and esteemed by the 
entire community. 



VVOHN F. MOORE, county commis- 
m sioner, and one of Summit county's 
«1 most prominent agriculturists, was born 
in Springfield township, this county, 
November 22, 1837. His great-grandfather, 
Joseph Moore, of Scotch-Irish extraction, was 
a pioneer of Lake township, Stark county, 
Ohio, who moved with his family from Penn- 
sylvania, and whose son John assisted in im- 
proving the farm on which they settled in 
Ohio. John Moore, grandfather of the sub- 
ject, continued to reside on this farm until the 
year 1832, when he moved to Springfield 
township, Summit county, and established the 
home which was for so many years the home- 
stead of the Moores. His wife was Nancy 
Graff, who bore him three children: Joseph, 
Betsey (Mrs. \Vm. Johnson) and Sarah J. 



(Mrs. Wolcott Hitchcock). Joseph Moore 
was born December 6, 181 5. He was reared 
as a farmer and remained on the old home- 
stead until about 1872, when he rested from 
the active duties of life and moved to Akron, 
where he is living at present in a green old 
age a happy and retired life. His wife was a 
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Snyder) 
Fulkerson, natives of Germany and pioneers of 
Springfield township. She bore him four chil- 
dren: John F. , James G. , Victoria (Mrs. Sam- 
uel Steese) and Watson M. 

John F. Moore was reared on the old home- 
stead in Springfield township. He received 
all the common-school advantages of the 
neighborhood, to which was added a supple- 
mental course at the Greensburg academy. 
He remained on the old farm until 1862, when 
he purchased a farm in Copley township, upon 
which he has ever since resided, and which he 
has greatly improved and beautified, making of 
it a very pleasant and comfortable home place. 

On February 25, 1862, he married Mary 
L. , daughter of James and Elizabeth (Sawyer) 
Chamberlain, of Springfield township. To 
this union have been born five children: Ar- 
thur A., Jennie (Mrs. Jay Hawkins), Edwin 
D., Harry and Nellie. 

Mr. Moore is a very active and public- 
spirited citizen. He has given largely of his 
time to public affairs and the good of his com- 
munity, and his devotion to the interests of 
the commonwealth has commanded the atten- 
tion and recognition of the people of Summit 
county to the extent that he was, in 1895, 
called to serve in the responsible and im- 
portant capacity of county commissioner. His 
interest in local educational affairs is such that 
for twenty years he was a member of the 
school board, much of the time being the pre- 
siding officer thereof, and upon several occa- 
sions he was called to serve as township trus- 
tee. For thirty years he has been a member 




^,^M^^^?i^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



421 



and director of the county Agricultural society, 
of which he was president for some time and 
also vice-president. In politics he is an ar- 
dent republican and is a respected and valued 
counselor in the deliberations of his party, his 
sagacity and judgment in political matters be- 
ing given the heed that his advice on other 
public matters of a local nature commands, 
and by reason of which he wields so large an 
influence in the community interests of Copley 
township. 



at 



'ILLIAM HAMILTON CLARKE 
PARKHILL, cashier of the Kent 
National bank, of Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Brownsville, 
Pa., September 24, 1852, a son of William 
and Mary (McSherry) Parkhill. The father 
has been a bank cashier all his life and is still 
in the banking business in Brownsville; the 
mother died when the subject of this memoir 
was a small boy, and of her three children 
one died in infancy, and a daughter, Margaret, 
and the subject still survive. The father re- 
married, but to his second union there has 
been no issue. 

David Parkhill, great-grandfather of sub- 
ject, came from Ireland to America when about 
sixteen years of age, but soon went back to 
his native country; two years later he returned 
to America and was preparing for the ministry, 
but his health failed and he resumed his origi- 
nal trade — that of weaver. He married Mar- 
tha Morrow, and his first child was born in 
1769. William Parkhill, grandfather of sub- 
ject, was born in 1782, and William, father of 
subject, was born near Brownsville, Pa., 
in 1825. 

W. H. C. Parkhill resided in his native 
town until he reached his majority, meantime 
attending the common schools and later tak- 
ing a two-years' course in the Washington & 

14 



Jefferson college at Washington, Pa., and 
also a business course at Eastman's Commer- 
cial college in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. His first 
employment was as clerk on a steamboat on 
the Monongahela river, and he next came to 
Kent, where he has ever since been identified 
with the Kent National bank — first, in 1881, 
then as cashier, then as stockholder, and for 
two years as a director — but his position as 
cashier has never changed since he first as- 
sumed the duties of that office. 

The Kent National bank was organized 
late in 1864, its charter number being 652, 
with a capital stock of $100,000, and began 
business January 2, 1865, with Zenas Kent as 
its president and E. L. Day as cashier. Zenas 
Kent died October 4, 1865, and was succeeded 
by his son, Marvin, who still retains the posi- 
tion; Cashier Day was succeeded in January, 
1866, by James S. Cooke, and he by Charles 
K. .Clapp, and he by W. H. C. Parkhill, in 
May, 1 89 1. The bank is now officered as fol- 
lows: Marvin Kent, president; W. S. Kent, 
vice-president; W. H. C. Parkhill, cashier. 
The capital stock has been reduced to $60,000, 
the surplus is $12,000, and its deposits reach 
nearly $100,000, and it is to-day one of the 
strongest financial institutions of northeastern 
Ohio. 

Mr. Parkhill was united in marriage, in 
October, 1876, in Brownsville, Pa., with Miss 
Helen A. Wells, daughter of George W. and 
Frances E. (Kent) Wells, and granddaughter 
of Zenas Kent, through her mother. Mrs. 
Parkhill was born in Kent, but at the age of 
twelve years was taken to Brownsville, Pa., 
by her parents. The marriage of Mr. and 
Mrs. Parkhill has been blessed by the birth of 
one child — Frances Kent. The family reside 
in a handsome frame dwelling, erected by Mr. 
Parkhill to suit his own taste. In politics Mr. 
Parkhill is a republican, and while he always 
performs his duty at the polls as a citizen. 



422 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



never permits politics to distract his mind from 
business, but spares sufficient time to act as 
treasurer of three building and loan associa- 
tions. He is not a member of any church or 
secret society, but he and family are highly 
esteemed in social circles. 



aHARLES TUTTLE PARKS, the well- 
known funeral director, of No. 342 
South Main street, Akron, Ohio, and 
an ex-soldier of the Civil war, is a 
native of Summit county, Ohio, and was born 
October 27, 1844, a son of George and Ruth 
(Tuttle) Parks, the latter of whom was called 
to her resting place in the bosom of the earth 
about the year 1873. The father is still a 
resident of Summit county. 

Charles T. Parks, the subject, received a 
very good education in the common schools of 
his township, which he attended until near 
about the time of his enlistment, April 27, 
1 86 1, in company C, Sixteenth Ohio volunteer 
infantry, in which he served four months, and 
then veteranized by enlisting in company H, 
Sixteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, in which he 
served three years and three months, making 
a total service of three years and seven months, 
during which time his only serious injury was 
sustained at the siege of Vicksburg, Miss., 
where he lost the index finger of his right 
hand. After his return from this service he 
was for about seven years engaged in the lum- 
ber business at Wooster, Ohio, and in 1874 
entered into the undertaking business at the 
same place. In 1880 he relinquished under- 
taking, and came from Wooster to Akron, and 
was here employed in the Buckeye works until 
1888, when he resumed undertaking, having in 
the meantime taken a full course of instruction 
in embalming at Clark's school — the embalm- 
ing department of the Western Reserve uni- 
versity at Cleveland. His present place of 



business is ane of the best equipped for the 
purpose in the city of Akron, and, as a con- 
sequence, he commands a large share of the 
patronage of those who, in the course of 
nature, are bereaved of their relatives. 

In 1865 Mr. Sparks was united in wedlock 
with Miss Margaret Curry, of Wooster, Ohio, 
who diedin 1891. August 2, 1893, Mr. Parks 
was again married, choosing for his bride Miss 
Leora Allyn, of Akron. This lady is also a 
graduate from Clark's school for embalming, 
and is the only lady in Akron, or in Summit 
county, skilled in this art. In politics Mr. 
Parks is a republican, and fraternally he is an 
Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. He 
has been very successful as a business man, 
maintains an excellent name as a citizen, and 
socially he and Mrs. Parks are recognized in 
the best circles of Akron. 



eDWARD A. PARSONS, treasurer of 
the Railway Speed Recorder com- 
pany, Kent, Ohio, was born in North- 
ampton, Mass., January 25, 1829, and 
is a son of Edward and Clementine (Janes) 
Parsons, who settled in Brimfield, Portage 
county, Ohio, in 1831. 

Edward Parsons, father of subject, was 
born in Northampton, Mass., March 14, 1797, 
a son of Moses and Esther (Kingsley) Parsons, 
also natives of the Bay state and of English 
extraction. He learned the trade of carpen- 
ter, and when about twenty-nine years old 
married Miss Clementine (or Clementina) 
Janes, a school-teacher of Northampton, a 
daughter of Peleg Cheney and Martha (Coy) 
Janes, the former of English and the latter of 
Irish extraction — the marriage taking place 
January i, 1828. Two and a half years later 
Mr. Parsons, with his wife and son, Edward 
A., came to Ohio and first located in Brecks- 
ville, Cuyahoga county, but one year later 




p., 



^^kyUL^^^-z^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



423 



went to Cleveland, and six months still later 
settled in Brimfield township, Portage county. 
He there owned over 200 acres of land, on 
which he passed his life until 1S68, when he 
retired to Kent, and here ended his days, April 
6, 1874, a member of the Episcopalian church, 
and the father of six children, viz: Edward 
A., the subject; Timothy G. , whose memoir 
appears below; Harriet J., born in Brimfield 
township June 24, 1835 — died October 2, 
1876; Martha Kingsley, born April i, 1838; 
William Cheney, born February 19, 1841, and 
Clementina, born September 20, 1843. 

Edward A. Parsons, with whose name this 
biographical notice opens, was an infant in 
arms when brought to Ohio by his parents. 
He was reared on his father's farm, was well 
educated in the common schools, and so well 
availed himself of his advantage that, on quit- 
ting his studies, he was competent to teach, 
and for three terms conducted schools in Port- 
age county. He continued to reside on the 
farm until 1853, when he married, September 
25, of that year, Miss Mary J. Underwood, 
daughter of Freeman and Mercy Amelia 
(Lincoln) Underwood, who came from Massa- 
chusetts and settled in Brimfield township, 
Portage county, Ohio, in 18 18. Mrs. Parsons 
was born in Brimfield township in December, 
1832, and was there reared to womanhood. 

After marriage, Edward A. Parsons, with 
his wife, settled on a farm which he had pre- 
viously purchased, and which had been partly 
improved, and which he continued to improve 
until he owned one of the best in the township. 
In i860 he removed to Kent (then Franklin 
Mills), and for some time was a produce mer- 
chant. In the latter part of 1863 he embarked 
in the lumber trade, and in 1864 formed a 
partnership with Porter B. Hall, under the 
firm name of Parsons & Hall, built the first 
planing mill in town, continued the business a 
year or so, then formed a partnership with his 



brother, Timothy G., and carried it on un- 
der the style of E. A. Parsons & Bro. until 
1869, when he withdrew, the brother succeed- 
ing him. Mr. Parsons then associated with 
George O. Rice, under the firm name of Par- 
sons & Rice, in the produce trade, but the 
year after Mr. Parsons sold out his interest in 
this concern. In 1875 he re-engaged in the 
produce business as a member of the firm of 
Parsons & Foote, but a change was again 
made, and Mr. Parsons was for a time alone 
in the same line. In 1875, also, Mr. Parsons 
became interested in the patent covering the 
railroad speed recorder, and the first machines 
in this interest were constructed at his resi- 
dence under the supervision of his son-in-law, 
J. B. Miller. 

In January, 1877, the Railway Speed Re- 
corder company was formed as a joint-stock 
concern and a factory built. Of this company 
Mr.- Parsons was elected secretary, and in 1878 
was also elected treasurer, and filled the 
double of^ce until 1887, when he was released, 
to some extent, of his overweighing duties and 
elected to the single office of treasurer, to 
which he has since given his entire attention, 
with the exception, perhaps, of three years. 
The company has a capital stock of $250,000, 
gives employment to about fifty men, and is 
one of the most prosperous industries of the 
city of Kent. 

In politics Mr. Parsons was in his early 
manhood a democrat, but at the outbreak of 
the Civil war became a republican. His first 
public office was that of clerk of Brimfield 
township; he then became assessor, and later 
a justice of the peace, and still later was 
elected township treasurer after his removal to 
Kent. In 1874 he was elected county com- 
missioner to fill an unexpired term, and in 
1875 was elected for a full term, having 
proved himself to be efficient in the perform- 
ance of the duties of this office as well as of 



424 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



those he had previously filled, and in this 
position was the projector of the fine arch 
bridge which spans the Cuyahoga river at 
Kent, his service ending in 1878. He has 
since served as a member of the city council 
five terms, and in this body was one of the 
strong advocates-of the legislation which gave 
to Kent her electric lights, waterworks and 
permanent sidewalks. He has also served 
five terms as a member of the school board, 
and in that capacity was always forward in 
promoting the efficiency of the public schools. 
Mr. Parsons is a member of Rockton lodge. 
No. 316, F. & A. M., and attends the Univer- 
salist church, with which his wife is united. 
They occupy a fine residence which Mr. Par- 
sons built in 1868, and here have reared, be- 
side their own children, Effie, the wife of J. 
B. Miller, a farmer near Kent. Mrs. Parsons, 
for a long time a school-teacher prior to her 
marriage, and a most estimable lady, has 
been a faithful helpmate in aiding her husband 
to reach his present exalted position in the 
community of Kent. 




UMOTHY GRAVES PARSONS, plan- 
ing mill proprietor and lumber dealer 
at Kent, Ohio, was born in Brimfield, 
Portage county, September 17, 1832, 
a son of Edward and Clementine (Janes) Par- 
sons, natives, respectively, of Northampton 
and Brimfield, Mass., were there married in 
1828 and in 1830 came to Ohio, stopped in 
Cleveland a year and then came to Brimfield 
township, where they cleared up a farm, on 
which they resided until 1863, when they came 
to Kent, where the father died at the age of 
seventy-six, April 4, 1874, and the mother in 
1892, at ninety years. To their union were 
born six children, viz: Edward A., of Kent; 
Timothy G., subject; Harriet J., who was 
married to Sherman M. Blake, and died in 



Richwood, Union county, Ohio; Martha K. , 
wife of Hon. George W. Grouse, of Akron; 
William C, of the same city; and Clementine, 
married to Charles H. Barber, of Kent. 

Edward Parsons, father of subject, beside 
being a farmer, had in early life learned the 
carpenter's trade, and while in Cleveland as- 
sisted in the erection of the American House, 
now an old landmark in that city, but after 
coming to Portage seldom worked at his trade, 
but, in connection with his farming, kept a 
store and was for a number of years postmas- 
ter of Brimfield. In politics he was a whig, 
and in religion an Episcopalian. Moses Par- 
sons, father of Edward, could trace his ances- 
try back to Cornet Joseph Parsons, who came 
over from England in 1635 and settled in Mas- 
sachusetts, in which state he passed his en- 
tire life. 

Timothy G. Parsons, until eighteen years 
of age, passed his time on the home farm and 
in his father's store, and received his educa- 
tion in the common schools with the exception 
of one term in the academy in Franklin Mills 
and one term in Bissell's academy at Twins- 
burg, and then engaged as a clerk in a store in 
Akron. At the age of twenty years he went 
to California via New York and the isthmus of 
Panama, and for about seven years was en- 
gaged in mining most of the time, and the re- 
mainder of the time in agriculture, and then 
returned, via the isthmus and New Orleans, 
to Brimfield, Ohio, purchased a farm, and for 
about a year employed himself in its tillage. 

In September, i86r, Mr. Parsons enlisted 
in company A, Forty-second Ohio volunteer 
infantry, for three years, took part in the 
campaign under Garfield up the Big Sandy in 
eastern Kentucky; afterward under Gen. 
George W. Morgan in the Cumberland Gap 
campaign; afterward, in the Thirteenth army 
corps, took part in the battles of Chickasaw 
Bayou, Arkansas Post, Champion Hills, Black 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



425 



River Bridge, and siege of Vicksburg. In No- 
vember, 1863, he was honorably discharged at 
Vicksburg on account of disabihty caused by 
sickness. As soon as he had recuperated, 
however, he re-entered the service as clerk in 
the quartermaster's department and served 
until July, 1865. Returning home, he thence 
made a trip to Kansas with a view to locating, 
but, dissatisfied with the country, returned to 
Ohio and engaged, in partnership with his 
brother, Edward A., in the lumber business at 
Kent, in September, 1865; a little more than 
four years later, in January, 1870, he pur- 
chased his brother's interest, and since that 
date has been doing a most prosperous trade 
on his own sole account. 

The marriage of Mr. Parsons took place 
December 12, 1866, to Miss Eleanor M. Saw- 
yer, daughter of Henry and Susan (Hall) 
Sawyer, of Brimfield, and to this union have 
been born five children, of whom one died in 
infancy, and one, Susie O., died at the age of 
seven years. The surviving three are named 
Edward S., John T. and Dwight L. The 
family worship at the Congregational church, 
have a tine home, and their domestic relations 
are very pleasant. In politics Mr. Parsons 
affiliates with the republican party, and has 
held several offices, but has never aspired to 
political honors. Fraternally he is a Free- 
mason, and is a member of A. H. Day post, 
G. A. R. He is public spirited and liberal as 
a citizen, and ever ready to lend his aid, finan- 
cially and otherwise, to the promotion of the 
interests of Kent, and as a business man he 
bears a pure and untarnished name. 



HLBERT E. PECKHAM, superintend- 
ent of the Ravenna Shoe Manufact- 
uring company, is a native of Peter- 
sham, Mass., was born December 4, 
i860, and is a son of Benjamin and Sarah 



(Sprague) Peckham, the former of whom was 
born in Phillipston, Mass., and the latter in 
Petersham. 

Benjamin Peckham, a stonemason and 
contractor, died in March, 1881; his widow 
now resides with her son, the subject, in Ra- 
venna. Mr. and Mrs. Peckham had a family 
of ten children, of whom four only are now 
living, viz: Louis, Edwin, Albert E. and 
Ella, the last named being the wife of Arthur 
King, of Cleveland, Ohio. Some of the best 
stone work in Massachusetts stands to-day as 
an evidence of the skill and integrity of Ben- 
jamin Peckham, especially the bridge work 
between Athol and Springfield, on the Boston 
& Albany railroad, all of which he constructed 
and finished. 

Albert E. Peckham, after quitting school, 
was employed for si.x years by the New Home 
Sewing Machine company, at Orange, Mass., 
which position he resigned, at the urgent re- 
quest of a brother, in order to learn black- 
smithing under the latter, with whom he re- 
mained four years when he sustained a spinal 
injury by the kick of a vicious horse, and this 
injury kept him idle for nearly two years. He 
then entered the employ of the W. H. Burt 
Shoe company, at Brookfield, Mass., and, at 
the close of a year, had become master of the 
trade. He was then offered and accepted a 
situation, at an advanced salary, with the E. 
M. Dickinson Shoe company in Fitchburg, 
Mass., where he remained live years, when, 
hearing that a shoe factory had been started in 
Ravenna, Ohio, and being desirous of seeing 
the west, he wrote to the new firm, known as 
the Jordan & Goodrich Shoe company, which 
company, finding by correspondence that Mr. 
Peckham was an expert, appointed him its 
foreman. The new company, however, re- 
mained in business one year only, when it dis- 
posed of its building and machinery to Merts 
& Rumbaugh, who at once founded the Ra- 



426 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



venna Shoe company, of which Mr. Peckham 
was made superintendent in 1892. Since his 
appointment to this responsible position, Mr. 
Peckham, through his energy and ability, has 
been largely instrumental in placing the fac- 
tory on a substantial basis. During the recent 
stagnation in business it was not closed a 
single day, and it now gives employment to 
ninety-three hands, turns out 500 pairs of 
shoes per day, and for the past fifteen months 
has been in operation day and night. Seven 
traveling salesmen are kept busy, and their 
sales are made chiefly in the western states. 

In October, 1886, Mr. Peckham was united 
in marriage with Miss Emma L. Snow in 
Athol, Mass. Her parents are Daniel and 
Madora Snow, both natives of the Bay state, 
where they still reside, and in Grafton, in the 
same state, Mrs. Peckham was born in No- 
vember, 1868. The union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Peckham has been blessed with two children — 
Ralph Edgar, born June 15, 1888, and Ruth 
Gladys, born November 23, 1896. Mr. Peck- 
ham is a member of the Senior Order of Uni- 
ted American Mechanics, and also of the An- 
cient Order of Foresters, of Ravenna, and in 
politics is a stanch republican. Socially he 
has attained a very high position and enjoys 
the respect of a wide circle of personal friends 
as well as the esteem of the general public. 



at 



'ALTER W. PATTON, a prominent 
citizen of Kent, Portage county, 
and eminent as an educator, was 
born in Trumbull county, Ohio, 
November 10, 1834, a son of John and Mary 
M. (McKain) Patton, natives, respectively, of 
Pennsylvania and of the Buckeye state — the 
paternal great-great-grandfather of subject hav- 
ing come to America from Scotland. 

John Patton, father of subject, passed his 
early life in the Keystone state, was there mar- 



ried, and had born to him one daughter, and 
there his wife died. He then came to Ohio 
and located in Trumbull county, where he mar- 
ried Miss McKain, the result of this union be- 
ing five children, of whom Walter W. is the 
eldest. Some time after his second marriage 
Mr. Patton removed to Mahoning county, then 
newly erected (1846) from Trumbull and Co- 
lumbiana counties, where he passed the re- 
mainder of his days, having been an honest and 
industrious farmer all his life. 

Walter W. Patton was reared on his fa- 
ther's farm until sixteen years of age, when, 
in 1850, he entered what is now Hiram col- 
lege, studied assiduously, and at the age of 
seventeen taught his first school — in Millin 
township, Mahoning county. For several 
years he attended school in the fall, taught 
school in the winter, and in the summer 
worked at anything he could find to do — chiefly 
farm work, at $i4per month — his clothing be- 
ing all homespun in those early days. But he 
possessed an indomitable determination to be- 
come an educator or to enter one of the learned 
professions as his life work, and completed his 
studies at Mount Union college, having earned 
with his own hands the means of defraying 
his expenses. After graduating he resumed 
his vocation and taught district schools in Ma- 
honing, Trumbull and Ashland counties, and 
in 1859 came to Portage county, was placed 
in charge of the graded school of Rootstown, 
and taught with most flattering success four 
terms — this being a select school part of the 
year. In 1 86 1 , he went to Ravenna and taught 
one year, at the same time read law in the 
office of Hart & Reed, and was admitted to 
the bar the same year. He then came to Kent 
and had charge of the schools one year, but 
declining health compelled him to relinquish 
the confinement of the school-room, and he 
engaged in mercantile trade for a short period. 
He then again assumed charge of the schools 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



427 



of Kent and continued in charge seven years, 
or until 1878. He then engaged in the prac- 
tice of law for some time, when he embarked 
in fruit growing, although he yet keeps up a 
desultory practice of the legal profession. 

Since 1861 Mr. Patton has been an ardent 
republican in politics and an eloquent advo- 
cate of the principles of that party, having 
"stumped" through several campaigns in its 
behalf and having been a delegate to county, 
district and state conventions of the party. 
He has served as a member of the county 
board of elections; has been a member of the 
school board for six years and has served as 
cemetery trustee and was postmaster of Kent 
during Harrison's administration. 

Mr. Patton was united in marriage, in 
1863, with Mrs. Harriet Daly, nee Beech, 
whose two children by her former husband 
have assumed the name of Patton, in honor of 
their step-father. These children are named 
Emma B., who is a music teacher, and John 
B. , who for twelve years has been a commer- 
cial traveler for the firm of Mills & Gibbs, of 
New York city. In his societary relations, 
Mr. Patton is a knight templar Mason, and is 
also past worshipful master of Rockton lodge. 
No. 316. 

Mr. Patton is a gentleman who has known 
how to make his way through the world, and 
having been born with innately strong sense, 
has not permitted his opportunities to idly slip 
by. He has hosts of friends who admire him 
for his true integrity and manly worth, and his 
prosperity through life has been of his own 
making. 



*» ^ S. PELL, superintendent of the Ster- 

|f\ ling company's boiler works at Bar- 

M . * berton, Summit county, Ohio, is a 

native of Pennsylvania and was born 

in Lykens, Dauphin county, July 23, 1846, 



and is a son of William M. and Ambia (Shouff) 
Pell. The grandfather of subject, James Pell, 
was born in Wilmington, Del., was a hero of 
the Revolutionary war, and served in the 
United States army ten years. He was a 
millwright by trade, married a Miss Hatch, 
and died in Delaware county. Pa., where he 
had resided a number of years, an honored 
and highly respected citizen. 

William M. Pell, father of subject, was 
born in Harrisburg, Pa., was a civil engineer 
by profession, and for many years was em- 
ployed as such by various coal mining com- 
panies, but later became a mining contractor 
and handled and delivered immense quantities 
of coal, accumulating a handsome competence. 

H. S. Pell, at the early age of ten years, 
began to work for his living, and from sixteen 
to twenty years served an apprenticeship at 
the machinist's trade. Between the ages of 
twenty and twenty-six years he was employed 
in superintending and erecting rolling-mills and 
blast-furnaces, and erected and put in opera- 
tion at LaGrange, Tenn. , the first mill con- 
structed after the close of the Civil war, and 
also a mill at Waynesboro, Tenn. ; he also 
erected a mill at Carondelet, Mo., from which 
was turned out the first T rail west of the Mis- 
sissippi river. From twenty-six to thirty-three 
years of age he was foreman of the Totten 
company machine shops, a large plant at Saint 
Louis, and from thirty-three to thirty-five had 
charge of the Carondelet plant alluded to 
above. The next three years were passed by 
Mr. Pell in Minnesota, where he employed his 
time in hunting, fishing and other out-door e.\- 
ercises and amusements for the recuperation 
of his health, and then, from thirty-eight to 
forty-three years of age, was superintendent of 
the Witherow works at New Castle, Pa,, 
which works have built eighty-three per cent 
of the modern blast-furnaces and steel plants 
in the United States. Since 1891 Mr. Pell 



428 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



has held his present position as superintendent 
of the SterHng works at Barberton. which em- 
ploy 1 1 5 men at the plant and keep eighteen 
men on the road, constantly erecting boilers 
all over the country. The output of the con- 
cern likewise reaches Africa and all the South 
American republics, and, indeed, nearly all 
parts of the world, and Mr. Pell is entitled to 
much credit for the excellence of the product. 
Mr. Pell was united in marriage December 
24, 1872, with Miss Sarah M. Wallaker, a na- 
tive of Pittsburg, Pa., born June 23, 1854. 
To this union have been born four children, 
viz: Daniel W. , who is an assistant to his 
father as a mechanical engineer; James B., a 
student in the Michigan universit}- at Ann Ar- 
bor; Irene M. and Harry S., attending a pri- 
vate school. In religion the family affiliate 
with the Methodist Episcopal church. In pol- 
itics Mr. Pell is a republican, but the engross- 
ing cares of his responsible position precludes 
his taking any particularly active part in local 
politics. 



aOL. SIMON PERKINS (deceased) 
was born in Warren, Ohio, February 
6. 1805, a son of Gen. Simon and 
Nancy (Bishop) Perkins, who were 
natives of Norwich, Conn., of Puritan descent, 
and who settled in Warren, Ohio, in 1803. 
Gen. Simon Perkins, during the war of 1812, 
was in command of the troops of northern 
Ohio, and at Warren was the agent of the 
Connecticut Western Reserve Land company. 
He was himself a very extensive landowner. 
and, as will be readily inferred, a personage of 
much prominence and influence. 

Col. Simon Perkins was reared in Warren, 
was educated in its public schools, and began 
his business life as clerk for his father, with 
whom he later became associated in real estate 
transactions. In 1835 he came to Akron, 



! 

' where his business relationship with the gen- 
eral still continued, and, being himself also 
the owner of large tracts of land, was greatly 
interested in everything that pertained to the 
growth and development of Akron and the sur- 
rounding country. He was also extensively 
engaged in farming and live stock breeding, 
and in the latter capacity was instrumental in 
introducing some of the best breeds in the 

I country and in creating a commendable com- 
petition in this line of industry. In 1839-40 
Col. Perkins was a member of the state sen- 
ate, and it was largely through his influence 
that the new county of Summit was erected in 
1840. In 1841-42 he was representative from 
Summit count}', during which term he secured 
the passage of the bill which submitted to the 
popular vote the question of locating the county 
seat. For ten years, between 1839 and 1877, 
he was a trustee of Portage township. He 
was a charter member of the Akron Rural 
Cemetery association and one of its most 
active promoters from 1839 until his voluntary 
resignation in April, 1880, a period of forty- 
one years. 

Col. Perkins was also one of the pioneer 
railroad promoters of Summit county, and 
was president of the Cleveland, Zanesville & 
Cincinnati (now the Cleveland, Akron & Co- 
lumbus) company from March 11, 1851, to 
November 3, 1864, and then general superin- 
tendent until November 4, 1869, and sacrificed 
nearly all of his private fortune in upholding 
the credit and advancing the interests of the 
road; he was likewise a liberal contributor of 
land and money for parks and other public 
grounds, as well as to all the industrial, educa- 
tional and benevolent enterprises, and most of 
these contributions were made voluntarily. 

The marriage of Col. Perkins took place in 
September, 1832, to Miss Grace I. Tod, 
daughter of Judge George and Sally (Ingersoll) 
Tod and sister of the late governor of Ohio, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



429 



David Tod. This marriage was blessed with 
eleven children, ten of whom reached the years 
of maturity, viz: Anna, George I., Simon, 
Alfred, Henry, Maria A. (Mrs. Charles Raw- 
son), Grace T. (Mrs. Albert Lohmann), 
Thomas, Charles and David T. Of these 
children seven still survive. 

The lamented death of this philanthropist 
and patriot occurred July 21, 18S7, at the age 
of eighty-two years, five months and fifteen 
days, while that of his wife took place April 
6, 1867, when fifty-six years and six da3's old. 
July 4, 1895, the city of Akron, in grateful re- 
membrance of the deceased, erected a granite 
monument in Grace park, Akron, not as en- 
during, however, as the cherished names of 
Simon Perkins and Grace I. Tod, his wife. 



>Y* W. PERRY, a well-known citizen of 
■ Barberton, Summit county, Ohio, was 
A 1 born in Scioto county, February 14, 
1843, but passed away June 2, 1897. 
He bore a name made glorious in American 
histor\- by his grandfather's uncle. Com. Oliver 
Hazard Perry, who won the signal naval vic- 
tory over the British, near Sandusky, on lake 
Erie, September 13, 181 3, in what is known 
as the second war for American independence. 
Samuel Perry, grandfather of subject, was 
a farmer of Scioto county, and there was born 
his son. Nelson Perry, the father of subject, 
who received a good academic education, and 
for the major portion of his life was foreman 
of what was familiarly known as the Scioto 
iron furnace, and was also a contractor and 
shipper of pig iron. 

After receiving a good common-school edu- 
cation J. W. Perry enlisted, July 16, 1861, in 
company A, Thirty-ninth Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, and fought in the western army through 
Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, 



Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Caro- 
lina and North Carolina, chief among his 
battles being those of Corinth, Miss., and 
Park Cross Roads, and all those included in 
the Atlanta campaign. He was also with 
Sherman on his march to the sea, and at 
Sharon, N. C. , twice sustained gun-shot 
wounds while attempting to cross the river at 
that point, and thus manfully maintained the 
reputation of his family for warlike deeds until 
honorabh' disharged July 26, 1865, shortly 
after the close of the war. 

August 30, 1865, Mr. Perry was united in 
wedlock with Miss Mahalia Dunlop, daughter 
of David and Sophia (Graves) Dunlop, and 
this happy union was blessed with the follow- 
ing children: Lorin, Congress, James E., 
Irene, Charles and Alhlining. For twenty- 
five years after his marriage Mr. Perry was 
engaged in canal-boat life, and in the fall of 
18-91 settled in Barberton, whither his good 
name and the fame of his brave deeds had 
preceded him, and where, as a republican, he 
was soon appointed deputy town marshal, and 
later night watchman of the Diamond Match 
factory, in which his sons are still employed 
in various capacities. Mr. Perry was a mem- 
ber of Lincoln commandery, U. V. U., and 
of the G. A. R. , and although his family are 
comparatively but recent additions to the social 
circles of Barberton, they stand very high in 
the esteem of its members. 




HOMAS G. PHILLIPS, general state 
agent for the Equitable Life Assur- 
ance society of the United States at 
Ravenna, Ohio, was born September 
3, 1822, in Plaseyrhendy, Pembrokeshire, 
^^'ales, a son of Caleb and Sarah (Evans) 
Phillips, who were the parents of five sons and 
four daughters, of which family four are still 



430 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



living, viz: Thomas C, William, Evan and 
Mary, the wife of Evan Jenkins. Of the de- 
ceased, John was a soldier in the Civil war. 

Caleb Phillips, who was a farmer by voca- 
tion, brought his family to America in 1837, 
and first located in Milton, Trumbull county, 
Ohio, where he lived until about 1857, when 
they removed to Paris township. Portage 
county, where the father died March 23, 1869, 
at the age of seventy-seven years, having lost 
his wife January 7, 1866, at the age of seven- 
ty, members of the Congregational church, 
although the father had formerly been a 
deacon in the Baptist church. 

Thomas G. Phillips was fourteen years of 
age when his father located in Trumbull 
county and was sixteen years old when he be- 
gan learning the cabinetmaker's trade in Ra- 
venna. His marriage took place in Freedom, 
Ohio, May i, 1844, to Miss Delia Marion Hill, 
daughter of Rev. John and Laura (Bushnell) 
Hill, which union has been blessed with five 
children, of whom George M. is cashier of 
the First National bank of Northfield, Minn., 
which position he has held for twenty-five 
years; Morton H. married for his first wife 
Bertha Bethel, to which union was born one 
child, Clara Mabel, the mother dying when the 
child was still an infant; the second marriage 
of Morton H. was with Victoria Burleigh, who 
died December 30, 1896. To this union were 
born two daughters — Laura and Alice — now 
attending school at St. Catherine's, Canada, 
and the father is now a resident of Philadel- 
phia; Laura M. is the wife of D. B. Beers, 
cashier of the First National bank of Bowling 
Green, Ohio, and is the mother of two chil- 
dren — Morris and Ella May; Lucy is the 
widow of Watson Smith, and has one son — 
Arthur Bushnell; Lizzie, the youngest child of 
Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, died in infancy. Mr. 
and Mrs. T. G. Phillips are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and politically he 



is a republican. He has been a successful 
business man, and carried on the furniture 
trade from 1846 to 1872, with the exception 
of three years — 1859 to 1862 — and has also 
dealt extensively in real estate, purchasing 
lots, improving them and then selling. In 
1872 he was appointed agent for the Equita- 
ble Life Assurance society of the United 
States for Portage and Trumbull counties, and 
July I, 1874, was appointed general agent for 
the state of Ohio. In speaking of his work 
Mr. Phillips remarks: "In 1872, at the age 
of fifty years, I entered the service of the 
Equitable Life Assurance society as a local 
agent in Ravenna, Ohio, and now, in 1897, 
report that during that time I have written 
2,500 policies, of which I have settled 380 — 
fifty-two being death claims, the others being 
matured tontines, and settled with the per- 
sons assured." That equity has been the 
leading purpose of its managers from its in- 
ception, thirty-seven years ago, to its colossal 
proportions at the psesent time, is evidenced 
by its history being without a parallel in the 
history of the world; and, being conducted on 
principles indicated by its name, the Equita- 
ble is destined to bless the world for ages to 
come. 

Mr. Phillips has been strictly honorable in 
all his dealings, and bears a reputation that is 
a credit to himself and family, as well as to 
the company he so ably represents. 



^"V'COTT PIERCE, district agent for the 
•^^^kT New England Life Insurance com- 

hs,^^y pany, of Boston, with headquarters 
at rooms Nos. 18 and 19 Doyle block, 
Akron, Ohio, has been located in this city 
since April, 1894. He was born in Sharps- 
ville, Mercer county. Pa., January 18, 1866, 
a son of James J. and Kate (Pritzel) Pierce, 
of English and German descent, respectively. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



431 



Scott Pierce is of the eighth generation of 
his family in America, and descends directly 
from Thomas Pierce, who founded the family 
in New Hampshire prior to the Revolutionary 
war. Most of the family have been engaged 
in the development of iron industries, from 
mining to manufacture. James J. Pierce, fa- 
ther of subject, is a manufacturer in the iron 
trade, and has a family of five children, born 
in the following order: Scott, the subject; 
James A. , an attorney of Pittsburg, Pa. ; Chloe 
H., wife of Dr. H. A. Zimmerman, of Youngs- 
town, Ohio; Jonas J., Jr., a chemist, and 
Frederick P., still at home with his parents. 
Scott Pierce was educated in the public schools 
of Sharpsville, Pa., and also passed through 
two terms — freshman and sophomore — in 
Buchtel college, Akron, Ohio. On leaving 
college he passed five years in traveling for the 
Pig Iron Manufacturing company of Sharps- 
ville, Pa. , of which his father was and still is 
the senior member, and which stands at the 
head of this industry in the Keystone state, 
under the firm name of Dougla Furnace com- 
pany; he next acted in the same capacity for 
Forsythe, Hyde & Co., of Chicago, 111., and 
a year later, at the date already specified, as- 
sumed the duties pertaining to the very re- 
sponsible position he now holds, and has suc- 
ceeded in setting the New England Life Insur- 
ance company on a solid basis within his 
prescribed district. He is a member of the 
Akron club, an ardent republican, and a mem- 
ber of the board of education. 

Mr. Pierce was most happily united in 
marriage, in Harrison, Ohio, in November, 
1 89 1, with Mabel Marvin, the union being 
blessed with two children — Marvin and Char- 
lotte. The parents are members of the Uni- 
versalist church, but Mr. Pierce is retained as 
first tenor in the choir of the Episcopal church. 
The pleasant residence of Mr. Pierce is at No. 
208 South Forge street. 



* ■ ^ ENRY PLUM, one of the venerable 

1^^^ and highly respected citizens of Cuy- 

M. . r ahoga Falls, and for a half a century 

a merchant of this town, was born in 

Middletown, Conn., November 13, 1813, andis 

a son of Benoni and Deborah (Tryon) Plum. 

The family name has been variously called 
Plumb, Plume, Plummer, Plumm and Plum, 
can be traced in Normandy to the year 11 88, 
and in England to 1272, and was endowed 
with a coat of arms. The founder of the fam- 
ily in America, John Plum, came from Eng- 
land in 1635, probably landed at Boston, and 
settled at Watertown, Mass. He was a Puri- 
tan, and left Watertown with his minister and 
a congregation, who were the first settlers of 
Weathersfield, Conn. The party consisted of 
from thirty to forty men, most of them prob- 
ably having their families with them. 

John Plum was a man of importance and 
a. member of the general court from February 
9, 1637, until 1642. While a member of this 
court, on March 8, 1637, Mr. Plum was ap- 
pointed at Hartford, for Weathersfield, to buy 
corn of the Indians, as the inhabitants were in 
a starving condition, agreeing to pay from four 
to six shillings per bushel. He served in vari- 
ous offices, such as marking the boundaries of 
towns, laying out roads, etc. He was one of 
the men in Capt. Mason's little army during 
the Pequot war in 1637 and received a grant 
of land for his services. In the spring of 1644 
he was appointed to attend to the clearance 
of vessels at Weathersfield and the same fall 
he sold all his land and houses in Weathers- 
field and removed to Branford. He died in 
July, 1648, aged about fifty-five years. His 
children were named John, Samuel, Robert, 
Dorcas and Timothy. 

The paternal grandfather of our subject 
was born in April, 1746, and married June 1 1, 
1767, Mary Doud. He was a farmer and 
lived in Middletown, Conn., where he was 



432 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



born. He and wife were the parents of Archi- 
bald, Benoni, Seth, Lucy, Rebecca, Esther 
and David. He was the son of Benoni, Jr., 
and Rebecca (Alkins) Plum. Benoni was 
born at Middletown, Conn., and died there 
November 27, 1747, aged about twenty-seven 
years. His children were Daniel and Benoni. 
He was the son of Benoni first, who was the 
first Plum on the records of the town of Mid- 
dletown, Conn., and was allotted property 
from vacant lands of the town. It is not 
known where he was born or who his 
father was, but that he was a man of means 
is certain, from the fact that his name 
is found first on the records. He mar- 
ried, the first time, Dorothy Call; the second 
time, Abigail Guilbert, and his children were 
Samuel, Daniel, Daniel second, and Benoni. 
Benoni Plum first, died at Middletown, Conn., 
October 6, 1754. 

Benoni Plum, father of subject, was born 
at Middletown, Conn., July i, 1782. He was 
a shoe merchant and married, September 24, 
1808, Deborah Tryon, and their children are 
Mary A. , Henry, Lucy and Elizabeth. Mr. 
Plum came to Ohio in 1837, settled at Monroe 
Falls and engaged in the shoe business; after 
retiring he came to Cuyahoga Falls, where he 
passed the last fourteen years of his life with 
our subject, after the death of his wife, and 
here he died November i, 1871. Politically, 
he was first a whig and later a republican. 

Henry Plum, the subject, received a com- 
mon-school education and learned, when 
young, the shoe business. He married, Oc- 
tober II, 1835, at Middletown, Conn., Nancy 
North, who was born in 1814, a daughter of 
Selah and .^nna (Newell) North. The North 
family were of Sterling English Puritan stock, 
John North, founder of the family in America, 
coming from England, at the age of twenty 
years, in 1635. In 1656 he settled in Farm- 
ington, Conn., purchased a farm and died in 



leaving nine children 



John, Samuel, 
Sarah, Nathaniel, 



1690, 

Mary, James, Thomas 

Lydia and Joseph. 

Thomas North, son of above, was born in 
1649, and died in 17 12. He settled in the 
town of Avon. Conn., was a soldier in the In- 
dian wars and received a grant of land for his 
services. He was the father of ten children, 
viz: John, Thomas, Hannah, Nathaniel, 
Mary, Joseph, Rebecca, L3'dia, Ebenezer, and 
one whose name is lost. His son Thomas 
was a citizen of Kensington, Conn. , where he 
was one of the founders of the church — a 
man of wealth and influence. He had eight 
children named Martha, Isaac, Thomas, Jane, 
Sarah, Samuel, Joseph and Hannah. His 
son Isaac was born in 1703, died in 1788, was 
a deacon of a church in Kensington, and was 
the father of eight children: Isaac, Mary, 
Jedediah, Lydia, Samuel, Seth, Ruth and 
Lethe. 

Jedediah North, his son, was born in 1734, 
and died in 18 16. He lived in Northington, 
near Berlin, Conn., married Sarah Wilcox, 
and became the father of eleven children: 
Asa, Levi, David, Simeon, Stephen, Sarah, 
Olive, Patient, Noah, Lydia and Hannah. 
His son Simeon was the maternal grandfather 
of our subject, called by courtesy Col. North, 
was born July 13, 1765, and died August 25, 
1852. He lived first in Berlin and afterwards 
in Middletown, Conn., and was a manufacturer 
of arms for the United States government. 
He first married Lydia Lucy Savage, who 
was born in 1786 and died in 181 1. He 
next married Lydia Huntington. His first 
wife bore nine children, viz: Reuben, James, 
Alvin, Selah, Elizabeth, Lucetta, Simeon, 
Nancy, and Lydia. Several of the sons were 
graduated from Yale college. 

Col. North made 20,000 pistols for the 
United States government during the war of 
18 1 2 He was the first to make pistols with 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



433 



interchangeable parts, and this was considered 
to be a very valuable invention. In the Navy 
department at Washington, D. C. , can be 
seen a pair of revolvers made by him at his 
factory, Middletown, Conn. These revolvers 
are gold mounted and he received $i,ooo for 
for them. 

Selah North, father of Mrs. Plum, was 
born at Berlin in 1791, and was killed by 
lightning in his own house at Stowe, Ohio. 
He was the father of thirteen children: Nancy, 
Egbert, Julius, George, John, Philip, Charles, 
Sarah, Newell, Charlotte, Betsey, Ellen and 
Selah. Mr. North was a gunsmith in Con- 
necticut and came to Ohio in 1835 '^"d settled 
in Stowe township, Summit county, on land 
mostly in the woods, which he cleared up and 
converted into a good farm. He was a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church, a democrat in 
politics, and a captain in the old militia. The 
Norths, as well as the Plums, were soldiers in 
the Revolutionary war, and it is said that forty 
of the latter family were Revolutionary 
soldiers. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Henry Plum 
settled in Monroe Falls, where he engaged in 
the shoe business and resided seven years. 
He then, in 1847, moved to Cuyahoga Falls 
and engaged in the shoe business. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Plum were born Mary E., Henry 
W. , Charles M. (who died aged six months), 
Lucy A., William R., Julia A., Sarah E. , 
Ella L. , Rose N. and Carrie A. Both Mr. 
and Mrs. Plum are life-long members of the 
Methodist church, in which he has held all the 
lay offices, and was class leader, steward and 
treasurer twenty-one years; he has been very 
active and prominent in his church, and has 
assisted to build churches and support them 
liberally. In politics he was a whig, and 
later became a republican, and voted for A. 
Lincoln for his first term. Fraternally, he is 
a member of Starr lodge, F. & A. M. , and is 



now a non-affiliating Odd Fellow. Of his 
children, two sons served in the great Civil 
war — William R. and Henry W. — in the tele- 
graph department. William R., after the 
war, graduated from Yale law school with high 
honors. In 1882 he published the Military 
Telegraph in the Civil War, in two volumes, 
at Chicago. He has been a prominent lawyer 
in Chicago for years. The entire family is one 
of the most respected in Summit county, and 
Mr. Plum, throughout his long life, has always 
been noted for his industry and high integrity 
of character. 



'^-t'AMES L. porter, a prominent citi- 
M zen, ex-justice of the peace, and ex- 
/• 1 soldier, of Coventry township, Summit 
county, Ohio, was born in Mahoning 
county, October 3, 1843, and is a son of Aaron 
and Rachel (DeLong) Porter. 

Shorts Porter, paternal great-grandfather 
of subject, and his son David, both natives of 
the north of Ireland, came to America while 
the latter was still a young man and settled in 
Butler county. Pa., where David, grandfather 
of subject, married Sarah Hughes, the union 
resulting in the birth of Aaron, Robert, Sarah 
and William. The grandparents, soon after 
marriage, removed to Venango county. Pa., 
where David Porter realized considerable 
wealth as a lumberman and through his in- 
terest in the iron furnaces of that region. He 
served in the war of 1812 and endured great 
hardships in the m.emorable march to lake 
Erie, but survived the contest, and died in 
peace at his home, a substantial and respected 
citizen. 

Aaron Porter, father of James L., was 
born in Butler county, Pa., March 25, 1801, 
and passed his earlier years in lumbering and 
in working in the iron furnaces. He first mar- 
ried Mary Jacobs, a daughter of Jacob Jacobs, 



434 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



who bore two children — George and Mary — 
the latter the wife of Levi Gibbons. From 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Porter came to Ohio and 
located in what is now Mahoning countj', where, 
having lost his first wife, he married Rachel 
DeLong, a native of the county, and to this 
marriage were born the following children: 
Snowden, Jesse, Hannah (Mrs Henry Hughes), 
Sarah, and James L. (subject). Of these, 
Jesse died March 8, 1844, at the age of eight 
years, by falling on a butcher-knife, and Sarah 
died at the age of thirteen years. The mother 
of this family died September 9, 1845, aged 
thirty-two years, five months and eleven daj's, 
and a devout member of the Disciples' church. 
In 1847 Mr. Porter moved from Mahoning 
county to Summit county. He married for 
his third wife, Catherine Porter, daughter of 
Samuel and Rachel (Creze) Porter, and this 
union was favored with six children, viz: 
Clarinda (deceased), John S., Elias, Margaret 
(deceased), Susan A. and Jason. The father 
passed away in 1877, a member of the Re- 
formed church, and a highly respected and 
influential citizen. 

James L. Porter, the subject, was but four 
years of age when the family came to Summit 
county, and here received his education. At 
the age of eighteen years he went to Venango 
county. Pa., and soon afterward, September 
13, 1862, enlisted in company E, Sixteenth 
Pennsylvania cavalry, and was assigned to the 
army of the Potomac. He took part in the 
battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, as or- 
derly under Gen. W. S. Hancock and other 
generals. Rejoining his regiment, he was en- 
gaged in many raids and skirmishes, fighting 
every day until he lost a leg at Deep Bottom, 
August 16, 1864. He was then sent to hos- 
pital in Philadelphia, and while under treat- 
ment improved his time by attending school, 
and finally received an honorable discharge, 



April 23, 1865. He then taught school for a 
time in Venango county, working in the oil 
fields a while, and then went to Buffalo, N. Y. , 
where he was employed in the patent-medicine 
business for ten and a half years by D. Ran- 
som, Son & Co. In 1879 he returned to 
Summit county, Ohio, which has since been 
his home. 

Mr. Porter is a stanch democrat, and has 
been honored by his party by election to many 
positions of trust. In 1880 he was elected 
justice of the peace and continuously held the 
office, by re-election, until April, 1886. 

The first marriage of Mr. Porter took place 
October 19, 1870, to Amelia Ream, who died 
in December, 1893, a devout member of the 
Reformed church and the mother of the fol- 
lowing children: Grace, wife of William E. 
Heimbaugh; Arthur C. , James ^^^, Herbert 
S., Winfield S., Olive B., Raymond E. and 
Martin L. The second marriage of Mr. Por- 
ter was solemnized Januarj' 15, 1894, with 
Miss Eva Spencer, a daughter of Nathaniel 
and Mary J. Spencer, and this union has been 
blessed with one child — Edith. Mr. Porter 
was a brave soldier, and has been an active 
and public-spirited citizen, constantly alive to 
to the interests of his township and county, 
and well deserves the high esteem in which he 
is universally held. 



m 



ILLIAM PRESSLER, a native-born 
farmer and a most respected citizen 
of Springfield township. Summit 
county, Ohio, was born July 4, 
1844, in the house in which he still lives, a 
son of William and Barbara (Swinehart) Press- 
ler, natives of Snyder county. Pa., born in 
1800 and October 11, 1805, respectively. 

William Pressler, the elder, was both a 
stonemason and cooper, and on coming to 
Ohio bought the farm on which his son. Will- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



435 



iam, now lives. To his marriage with Miss 
Barbara Swinehart, daughter of George and 
Barbara (Alspauch) Swinehart, were born 
seven children, of whom five are still living, 
viz: John, in Indiana ; Elizabeth, wife of 
Henry Heckman; Catherine, married to Elias 
Funk; William, our subject; Levi, now living 
with William; the deceased were Benjamin, 
who died an infant, and Daniel, who died in 
November, 1871, at the age of forty-three 
years. The father died July 3, 1857, at fifty- 
seven years of age, a member of the Reformed 
church, and the mother December 16, 1869, 
aged sixty-three, a member of the Lutheran 
church. 

William Pressler, the subject, was edu- 
cated in the district school of Springfield town- 
ship, and was but thirteen years of age when 
he lost his father; he then worked for his 
mother until he was twenty-two years old, 
after which he cultivated the farm for three 
years on shares, and about this time his mother 
passed away. May 16, 1869, he had married 
Miss Lucinda Garl, daughter of Samuel and 
Catherine (Weyrick) Garl, and to this union 
were born five children, viz: Benjamin A., 
who is married to Clara Smith, daughter of 
William and Mary (Shollenberg) Smith; 
Minerva Alice, wife of McClelland Kreigh- 
baum; Harvey C. , married to Sarah Phillips, 
daughter of Franklin and Christine Phillips: 
Robert Henry and Titus Franklin. 

Samuel Garl, father of Mrs. Pressler, was 
born in Springfield township. Summit county, 
Ohio, July 22, 1818, and his wife, a daughter 
of David and Elizabeth (Walters) Weyrick, 
was born in Pennsylvania, August 27, 1817. 
To their marriage were born the extraordinary 
number of fifteen children, of whom nine are 
still living, viz: Sarah, wife of Isaac Shick; 
Emeline, wife of Levi Myers; Daniel, married 
to Lydia Spade; Levi is the husband of Mar- 
garet Behmer; Joseph is married; Lucinda is 



the wife of Mr. Pressler; Henry is married to 
Rebecca Fritch; Mary is married to Newton 
Cook, and Martha is the wife of William 
Christleib. Of the deceased six, one died in 
infancy, unnamed; Caroline died January 6, 
1864, at the age of ten years; Amanda E., 
born September 26, i860, died January 10, 
1864; Leah, born May 15, 1842, died Decem- 
ber 12, 1 87 1, and had been married to John 
Kepler and Andrew Bickel, both deceased; 
George, born October 7, 1852, died in July, 
1875, and John, born May 23, 1839, died May 
27, 1886. The father of this family died 
March 31, 1872, aged fifty-five years, and the 
mother July 6, 1887, at the age of sixty-eight 
years, both inthefaithof the Reformed church. 

Reuben Garl, grandfather of Mrs. Pressler, 
was a native of Pennsylvania, and early settled 
in Ohio, purchasing a farm in the south part 
of Springfield township, Summit county. He 
was twice married, and there were born to his 
first union seven children, all now deceased; 
they were named Jacob, Benjamin, Catherine 
(Mrs. Benjamin Swinehart), Mary (wife of 
Joseph Mishler), Samuel, Mrs. Pontius and 
Mrs. Brumbaugh. To his second marriage, 
with Mrs. Shick, was born one son, who is 
also deceased, as are the parents, who died in 
the faith of the Methodist church. 

The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Pressler 
was also a native of Pennsylvania, as was his 
wife, Elizabeth Walters. He early settled in 
Springfield township, was a farmer all his life, 
and was the father of eleven children, viz: 
Elizabeth, widow of John Rowe; Mary, widow 
of Benjamin Weaver; Rebecca, wife of Peter 
Holm; Sarah, widow of Samuel Swinehart; 
Susan, wife of John Thornton; Caroline, wife 
of Jacob Myers; George, who was married five 
times; Leah, deceased, wife of Daniel Press- 
ler, and again of Elias Paulus; Amelia, wife 
of George Heimbaugh; Catherine, deceased; 
and John, who died July 4, 1891. The par- 



436 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ents both died in the faith of the Reformed 
church. 

WiUiam Pressler, our subject, has his farm 
in an excellent state of cultivation, and is rec- 
ognized as one of the first agriculturists of the 
township. He and wife are greatly respected 
for their upright and charitable instincts, and 
have for years been prominent members of the 
Reformed church at Millheim. Mr. Pressler 
has always been useful as a citizen, and has 
served his fellow-townsmen as supervisor and 
school director for many years, and for seven- 
teen years has been a deacon in his church, 
has also been trustee, treasurer and elder, and 
is now superintendent of the Sunday-school. 

Mr. and Mrs. Pressler have 135 acres of 
fine land lying within seven miles of the city 
of Akron, Ohio, and the improvements are first 
class. Their comfortable home is always open 
to their friends, among whom may be num- 
bered every resident of the township. 



EUBERT R. LOW, an enterprising 
young merchant of Copley Center, 
Summit county, Ohio, is a native of 
the Buckeye state and was born in 
Granger, Medina county, January 3, 1874, a 
son of Marion Clayton and Phebe (Parker) Low, 
also natives of Ohio. 

Isaac R. Low, father of Marion C. Low, 
was born in New York state January 8, 1808, 
was brought to Ohio when ten years of age, or 
in 181 8, and was reared on a farm in Medina 
county. He later bought and cleared up a 
tract of 140 acres, but lost his title to this 
property through the chicanery of a so-called 
land company. Mr. Low, nevertheless, was 
not discouraged, but went manfully to work 
and earned the money with which to pay for 
his farm over again, and to thoroughly im- 
prove it. February 4, 1830, he married Mary 
Fuller, who was born in Massachusetts No- 



vember 27, 1814, and to this union were born 
the following children: Louise L,, January 
29, 1834 — died in infancy; Isaac M., July 11, 
1836 — died in 1884; Almeda T. , March 29, 
1838 — died in 1842; Marshall H., February 17, 
1843 — died January 9, 1849: Marion Clayton, 
father of subject, born February 16, 1845, and 
died September 18, 1893. 

M. Clayton Low was born and reared on 
the Low farm, and September 25, 1866, mar- 
ried Miss Parker, who was born October 15, 
1848, a daughter of Richard E. and Martha 
N. (Woodard) Parker. Richard E. was the 
first white child born in Northampton town- 
ship, Summit county, and was a son of David 
Parker, who came from New Hartford, Conn., 
to Ohio in 1809, and settled in Old Portage, 
where Richard E. was born in 181 1. His wife 
was born in New Hampshire July 20, 1815, 
and was a daughter of L. Richardson, who was 
one of the pioneers of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. 
Richard E. and Martha Parker were married 
in Bath, Ohio, April 18, 1833, where they re- 
sided thirty-eight years. They reared a fam- 
ily of nine children and lived to celebrate the 
golden anniversary of their wedding. To the 
marriage of Marion C. and Phebe Low were 
born two children — Hart M., July 12, 1867, 
who now occupies the old homestead in Me- 
dina county, and Hubert R., the subject of 
this memoir. Mr. Low was a man of excel- 
lent education and of sterling qualities. In 
politics he was a strong republican, and, with 
his wife, was a member of the Church of 
Christ. He passed all his life on his birth- 
place and died at the date already mentioned, 
an honored man and estimable citizen. 

Hubert R. Low, whose name opens this 
biography, aided his father on the home farm 
until eighteen years of age, but in the mean- 
time acquired a good education, having at- 
tended the district schools until seventeen, 
when he entered the normal school at Ada, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



439 



which he attended one year, and then passed 
a year at Baldwin university, from the com- 
mercial department of which he graduated at 
the age of nineteen years. He then entered a 
grocery at Copley Center for the purpose of 
learning the business, and in 1894 bought out 
the stock, and the following year purchased 
the lot and building, and has since been suc- 
cessfully engaged in conducting the business 
on his own account, having the best general 
store in Copley at the present hour. March 
2, 1897, Mr. Low married Miss Lizzie McFar- 
lin, who was born October 18, 1874, a daugh- 
ter of John A. and Marion (Black) McFarlin, 
residents of Medina county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Low are members of the Disciples' church 
and of the Copley grange, and Mr. Low be- 
longs to Copley tent, No. 204, K. O. T. M. In 
politics he is a stalwart republican, and is re- 
spected socially, wherever known, as an hon- 
orable, upright gentleman. 



>^ARED BARKER is a native of Bath 
m township, Summit county, Ohio, was 
A 1 born March 4, 1861, and is one of the 
most prosperous and best-known lum- 
ber manufacturers, farmers and stock-raisers 
in the county, having his post-office at Ghant. 
Lanson Barker, grandfather of subject, 
was born in Connecticut November 17, 1791, 
and was a son of Jared Barker, a native of 
England. Lanson Barker early removed to 
the state of New York, in which state he mar- 
ried, in 1809, in Pittsford, Monroe county. 
Miss Betsey Phelps, a native of Connecticut, 
born August 15, 1791. Some years after mar- 
riage he came to Ohio and purchased a tract 
of land in Holmes county, and the year fol- 
lowing moved to Massillon, where he remained 
a few weeks only, then removed to Granger 
township, Medina county, where he resided 
some years, and then purchased a place in Roy- 

15 



alton, Cuyahoga county, where his wife died 
in 1847, and he in 1855, parents of the follow- 
ing children: Roxie A., William, Jared, John, 
Lyman, Mary, Frances, and Nelson, who died 
in infancy. 

William Barker, father of Jared, the sub- 
ject, was born in New York state July 30, 
181 7, came to Ohio with his parents and re- 
mained with them until 1849, when he went 
to California, but soon returned on account of 
sickness and purchased the farm on which our 
subject now lives, in 1853 — then mostly in 
timber — cleared it up and erected the neces- 
sary buildings for a comfortable home. In 
1856 he married Miss Eliza Hutchison, who 
was born April 3, 1826, a daughter of Warren 
and Martha (McLaughen) Hutchison, and to 
this marriage were born four children, viz: 
Alonzo, who was born in 1857, now lives in 
Bath; Jared (the subject) and a twin brother, 
the. latter of whom died in infancy, and Bettie, 
who was born in 1867, and also died in in- 
fancy. The mother of these children was 
called from earth October 2, 1876, and the 
father February 10, 1896. The latter was a 
farmer and manufacturer all through life, was a 
strong republican, held many offices of trust, 
and was a gentleman of the highest standing 
among his fellow-citizens. 

Jared Barker, the subject of this memoir, 
has been a resident of Bath township all his 
life. His magnificent farm comprises 267 
acres of excellent land, located in the Yellow 
creek bottom, and in addition to farming and 
stock raising he is largely interested in the 
manufacture of lumber, owning a large saw- 
mill and a first-class planing-mill, while his 
premises are well improved with new build- 
ings, all of modern architecture. On the 13th 
day of September, 1883, he married Miss Al- 
mira Myers, of Rome City, Ind., where she 
was born February 24, 1862, a daughter of 
William and Sarah (Weikle) Myers, who re- 



440 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



hioved from Ohio to Indiana in 1856, where 
the father has ever since been engaged in 
farming and is now one of the most prominent 
agriculturists of the state. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Myers have been born four children, viz: 
Samuel, born March 27, 1857, and now resid- 
ing in Rome City, Ind. ; Ellen, born June 22, 
1858, and married to R. Shroyer, of Indiana; 
Almira, now Mrs. Barker, and Charles, born 
April 7, 1868, at home with his parents. Mr. 
and Mrs. Myers are consistent members of the 
German Lutheran church and are among the 
most respected residents of Noble county, 
Ind. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Barker 
has been blessed with four children, born in 
the following order: Pearl, January 7, 1886; 
Bessie, October 25, 1890; Mary, October 21, 
1892, and Sarah, August 31, 1896. Mr. and 
Mrs. Barker worship at the Disciples' church, 
of which she is a devout member. In politics 
Mr. Barker is a republican, and cast his first 
presidential vote for James G. Blaine, and has 
served as township trustee several terms. As 
a bnsiness man his name stands without a 
blemish; he is charitable and public spirited, 
and socially he and his wife are representatives 
of the best circles of Bath township. 



ORSON HARRY BUCK is a native of 
Summit county, Ohio, was born in 
Richfield township January 15, 1868, 
and is the fourth child of James E. and 
Josephine (Watkins) Buck, the former born in 
Richfield township in June 27, 1830, and the 
latter October 20, 1839, in the state of New 
York. 

Heman Buck, grandfather of subject, 
was born in Massachusetts December 16, 1792, 
and came to Ohio m 181 1, with his father, 
Denton, who settled in Richfield township. 
Summit county. Heman Buck married the 
widow Worden, whose maiden name was Polly 



Mace. She was born in Schoharie county, N. 
Y., April 14, 1795, and died in Richfield, 
Ohio, April 16, 1874, having lost her husband 
October 11, 1852. They reared the following 
children: Arvilla, Mary, Martha, Julia, James 
E. and Orson H. The last named was a 
member of the One Hundred and Seventy- 
seventh Ohio volunteer infantry and died, from 
illness contracted while in the service, at Golds- 
boro, N. C. , in 1865. 

James E. Buck, father of subject, has lived 
on the Richfield township farm since his birth, 
and has here followed the peaceful pursuit of 
farming from boyhood, now owing 160 acres 
of excellent arable land, improved with all 
modern appliances, and equally excellent build- 
ings. Mrs. Josephine Cynthia (Watkins) was 
the fourth daughter of a family of eight chil- 
dren by Lemon Watkins and Fanny A. (Kent) 
Watkins, viz: Sarah L. Becker, of Daytona, 
Fla. ; Mary A. Ashley, who died in Joliet, 111. ; 
Elvira F. Oviatt, of Lansing, Mich. ; Josephine 
C. Buck, of Richfield, Ohio; Lucy Brown, 
who died in Plainfield, 111. ; Cordelia D. Catch- 
pole and Charles Lemon Watkins, who both 
died in the same place, and Alice E. Jump, 
also of Plainfield, 111. To his marriage with 
Miss Josephine Watkins, which took place 
March 31, 1859, have been born five children, 
viz: Charles E., Martha G., Fanny Luella, 
Orson H. and Lois E. 

Orson Harry Buck, the subject proper of 
this memoir, passed through the common 
school of his district, and at the age of thirteen 
years entered the high school of Richfield 
Center, where he passed the better part of 
five years, passing his examination for a school- 
teacher in 1884, but, on account of his youth, 
was not granted a certificate until March, 1885, 
when he at once began the practice of the vo- 
cation at Osborn's Corners, and at the termi- 
nation of his second term re-entered the high 
school for the winter term ; the following fall and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



4^'^ 



winter he taught in Northampton, then took a 
course in the Normal university at Adaj aiid 
then taught in Springfield township during the 
winter terms of 1888 and 1890, but decHned 
further service in this capacity, and returned 
home. March 26, 1890, he married Miss Cora 
LaQuincy Randall, a former schoolmate of the 
high school in Richfield Center, born in Bath 
township February 21, 1868, and a daughter 
of Dr. Rufus and Eliza M. (Roberts, nee Hull) 
Randall. Dr. Randall, a very popular physi- 
cian of Bath township, was born in Medina 
county, Ohio, July 7, 1834, and was united in 
marriage with Mrs. Eliza Roberts in May, 
1863. Miss Hull was born in Copley town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, December 3, 1841, 
and now resides in Cleveland, the doctor hav- 
ing died February 18, 1895. Mr. and Mrs. 
Buck began housekeeping in Cleveland, he 
having entered the employ of the Brush Elec- 
tric company of that city, where he learned 
armature winding, and where he remained 
until the summer of 1891, when he returned, 
with his wife, to Bath township and taught 
school in the Bath Center district until 1892, 
when he entered Baldwin university, but, 
without remaining to graduate, he re-entered 
the employ of the Brush Electric company. 
His health giving way somewhat, he renewed 
his vocation of teacher and taught in Ghent in 
1894-95, and is now again teaching in the 
Bath Center school. While in Cleveland, Mr. 
and Mrs. Buck became members of the Ep- 
worth Memorial church, and Mr. Buck also 
joined Oak lodge, No. T-j , K. of P. They now 
affiliate with the Congregational church at 
Bath, and in politics Mr. Buck is a stanch re- 
publican. Their union has been blessed with 
two children, viz: Josephine Eliza, born August 
13, 1 89 1, and Randall Orson, February 24, 
1895, and they now reside on the old Randall 
homestead at Hammond's Corners, highly re- 
spected by all who know them. 



HDDISON L. BOUGHTON, a highly 
respected and retired farmer of Bath 
township, Summit county, Ohio, was 
born on the farm he still occupies 
September 3, 1836, a sonof Holley W. and El- 
mina (Miller) Boughton. 

H. W. Boughton was a native of Victor, 
Ontario county, N. Y., was born November 4, 
1806, arid married Miss Elmina Miller, No- 
vember 13, 1832. This lady was born in 
Massachusetts, March 17, i8n, and bore her 
husband two children — Romazo, November 
12, 1834, and Addison L., the subject — born 
in the state of Ohio, as the parents came 
to this state immediately after marriage, ar- 
riving in Bath, May 31, 1833. On arrival 
Mr. Boughton bought and settled on the farm 
in Bath township now owned by Addison L., 
part of which he cleared and improved with 
the necessary buildings, and, although he be- 
gan life a poor man, succeeded in realizing a 
competency, and died October 26, 1877, are- 
publican in politics; his widow survived until 
October 30, 1892, when she passed away in 
the faith of the Baptist church, of which so- 
ciety she was a member from her earliest 
girlhood days. 

Addison L. Boughton has never lived else- 
where than on the farm on which he was born 
and reared to manhood. December 22, i86i,he 
married Miss Melissa Thorp, who was born on 
January 5, 1840, a daughter of Manville B. and 
Fanny W. (Clark) Thorp, the former of whom 
was a native of the state of New York, was 
born February 7, 1808, and the latter, a native 
of Massachusetts, was born May 7, 181 1. Mr. 
and Mrs. Thorp were married in the state of 
New York, November i, 1832, and two years 
later came to Bath township, Summit county, 
Ohio. Both the Boughton and the Thorp 
families are of patriotic stock, the paternal 
grandfather of our subject, John Boughton, 
having served in the American army in the 



442 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



war of 1 812, and the paternal grandfather 
of Mrs. Boughton, Jeremiah Thorp, having 
served in the same war, and her great-grand- 
father, Nathan Thorp, in the war of the Revo- 
lution. Manville Thorp died March 9, 1891, 
and his wife on March 16, 1886, after having 
reared in respectability five children, viz: 
Junius M., born November 25, 1833; Lucien 
C, born August 6, 1835; Francis M., born 
January 2, 1837, and Oliver N. and Melissa 
L. (twins), born on January 5, 1840. The 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Addison L. Boughton 
has been blessed with 'one child, Arthur E., 
who was born August 29, 1877, and is now be- 
ing educated in the high school at Bath Center. 

In politics Mr. Boughton is a stanch re- 
publican and cast his first presidential vote 
for Lincoln; he and his wife are members of 
Osborn Corners grange. No. 1079, oi which 
they were among the first. Mr. Boughton 
has always been very industrious and attentive 
to his business, and in consequence has 
been very successful in all his undertakings. 
During his active days on the farm he made a 
specialty of sheep-raising and was always fond 
of a good horse. He has now retired from 
very active work and is living in quite enjoy- 
ment of the competency earned in the days of 
his activity, enjoying the unfeigned esteem of 
all his fellow-citizens, which esteem is equally 
shared by his wife and child. 

Officiall}-, he has never aspired to office, 
but has served as member of the school board 
for years. Mr. and Mrs. Boughton are de- 
vout members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of Mura's chapel, West Bath, in 
which he has occupied several offices and has 
been a class leader for years. Mr. and Mrs. 
Boughton reside on the old homestead one 
mile west of Hammond's Corners, five and 
one-half miles from the city of Akron. They 
are comfortably located amid friends and ex- 
pect to spend their remaining days in peace. 



•"^HAFER CARR, a well-known and 
•^^^* highly respected citizen of Bath town- 

^ J ship, Summit county, Ohio, is a na- 
tive of the Buckeye state, and was 
born in Lawrence township. Stark county, 
March 11, 181 7, a son of Samuel and Cath- 
erine (Shaferj Carr. Samuel Carr was thrice 
married, Catherine Shafer being his first wife, 
who bore him eight children — William, Philip, 
Maria, John. Joseph, Samuel, Shafer and 
Mary. By his second wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Betsey Brown, he became 
the father of three children — Catherine, Jacob 
and Lucinda. His third marriage was with 
Mrs. Catherine Waltenberger, who bore him 
two children — Benjamin and Abraham. 

Shafer Carr was but two years of age 
when his mother died, and he was thereafter 
taken care of by his grandmother Evans 
who was to him a true and kind second 
mother until her death. At the age of fifteen 
years, Shafer Carr began learning the cabinet- 
maker's trade under Thomas Cunningham, a 
contractor, served an apprenticeship of two 
years, and then learned carpentry under a 
brother, and alternated the winters and sum- 
mers in the two trades until his coming to 
Bath township. Summit county, in the last 
week of November, 1839. Here he married, 
February 27, 1840, Miss Electa King, who 
was born April 3, 18 16, in Chesterfield, Hamp- 
shire county, Mass., and is a daughter of 
Eleazer and Mercy (Kingsley) King, both na- 
tives of Massachusetts, born, respectively, 
February 2, 1776, and August 23, 1774, and 
settlers in Bath township. Summit county, 
Ohio, in 1833. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Carr has been blessed with three children, 
viz: Mercy, born December 2, 1841, and 
married to Samuel Tilton, a farmer of Lin- 
coln, Neb.; Lucy, born November 27, 1842, 
now the wife of James W. Ellsworth, a busi- 
ness man of Cleveland, Ohio, and Ozro B., 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



443 



born June i8, 1845, and now residing on the 
homestead with his parents. 

Just after marriage Mr. Carr bought thirty 
acres of wild land, hewed from it the logs 
with which he erected his cabin and other nec- 
essary buildings, but in 1854 sold the place 
and bought his present home. He has made 
all he possesses by his own hard labor, begin- 
ning carpentry work at fifty cents per day and 
walking from four to ten miles daily to and 
from his work; later he began contracting, 
and is now one of the wealthiest men in the 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Carr are Baptists in 
religion, and Mr. Carr in politics is strongly 
republican, and his first presidential vote was 
cast for "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." 

Ozro B. Carr, youngest child of Shafer and 
Electa Carr, was reared on the home farm, 
was educated in the district and high schools 
of Richfield and at Berea college, and later 
took a business course at Cleveland. He re- 
mained at home until 1863, when he enlisted 
in the "Pioneer" brigade, but at the end of 
five months was honorably discharged at Mur- 
freesboro, Tenn., on account of sickness. In 
May, 1864, he re-enlisted, was assigned to 
company A, One Hundred and Sixty-second 
Ohio volunteer infantry, was mustered in at 
Camp Chase, Ohio, and served until the close 
of the war. In 1865 he began learning the 
jeweler's trade at Massillon, Ohio, and then 
started in business in Richfield. October 17, 
1872, he married Miss Mary A. Viall, who 
was born July 20, 1849, a daughter of Burrill 
and Jane (^VVhite) Viall, the former of whom 
was born October 2, 1821, and died April 12, 
1895, and the latter born February 7, 1823, 
and died July 15, 1894 — the parents of seven 
children, viz: Sarah J., Mattie J., Mary A., 
Julia F., Lucy E., Kittie E. and Jennie M. 
The marriage of Ozro B. Carr has resulted in 
the birth of two children, viz: Burrill V., 
who was born November 3, 1873, and died 



October 8, 1881, and Lucy E. , born Novem- 
ber 10, 1879 — now at home and studying 
voice culture and being, indeed, already an 
accomplished vocalist. 

In 1877 Mr. Carr removed his stock from 
Richfield, where he had done business for six 
years, and opened a jewelry story in Cuyahoga 
Falls, where he did the leading business in his 
line for thirteen years, and in 1890 removed 
to Kokomo, Ind. , where he had the misfor- 
tune of losing his left eye by the breaking of 
the main spring of a motor he was handling. 
He then sold out his stock, in 1893, and re- 
turned to the homestead in Bath township, 
Summit county, Ohio, and this he has since 
made his home, being engaged in the roofing 
business. 

Mrs. Carr is a member of the Congrega- 
tional church of Cuyahoga Falls, and in poli- 
tics Mr. Carr takes an active part in support- 
ii^ the republican party, and cast his first 
presidential vote for Gen. Grant. Fraternally 
he is a member of Goldwood post, No. 104, 
G. A. R. , at Richfield, Ohio. The male mem- 
bers of the Carr family are noted for their 
magnificent physical proportions and for their 
longevity, and socially the entire family stand 
with the most select of the inhabitants of 
Bath township, being universally held in the 
highest esteem. 



QARK HEATH DAVIS, one of the 
most active and prominent business 
men of Kent, is a native of Portage 
county, Ohio, and was born in Free- 
dom township May 24, 1858, a son of Joseph 
C. and Augusta M. (Gray) Davis, natives, re- 
spectively, of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. 
The great-grandfather of subject was a 
gallant soldier in the war of the Revolution, 
and was captain of a company of patriots in 
the continental army who served throughout 



444 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



that victorious struggle for American inde- 
pendence. Isaac C. Davis, the grandfather of 
subject, married Marie Heath in New England, 
and in 1828 came to Ohio and settled in Free- 
dom township. Portage county, where he be- 
came the owner, in course of time, of 3,000 
acres of land. He was a mighty hunter and 
an expert rifle-shot, and in one winter killed 
thirty-seven deer, near his dooryard, so plen- 
tiful were the animals at that early day in 
Portage county. He was a democrat in poli- 
tics and a leader of the ranks of his party in 
Freedom township. 

Joseph C. Davis, father of subject, was 
reared a farmer, but in early manhood became 
a manufacturer and also a traveling salesman. 
He finally settled down to the noble calling to 
which he was reared, and is now a prosperous 
agriculturist of Hiram township, where he 
and wife are passing their declining years. 
Beside Mark Heath, the subject, they have 
two other children, viz: Addie, married to 
George Kent, of Freedom township, and 
Plymmon, agent for the Erie Railway com- 
pany. 

Mark Heath Davis was reared on the home 
farm until about thirteen years of age, when 
he started out in life on his own responsibility, 
and for ten years made a livelihood as sales- 
man. During this period he supplemented his 
common-school education by an attendance at 
Hiram college. In February, 1882, he came 
to Kent and purchased a small clothing store, 
and from this germ has grown his present co- 
lossal trade, on North Water street, where, 
about 1888, he permanently located. The 
spacious block in which his stores are located 
he bought some four years ago. This block 
is two stories high, and on the first floor there 
are two finely appointed storerooms, one oc- 
cupied by a stove firm and the other by him- 
self. The one he occupies is 1 16 feet long 
and twenty-two wide; it is heavily stocked 



with a finer collection of men's garments and 
ladies' and gentlemen's leather footwear than 
is ordinarily found outside of the metropoli- 
tan emporiums. Only the finer makes of 
shoes, including Edwin C. Burt for ladies and 
Burt & Packard for men, are handled; and in 
the immense stock of clothing carried nothing 
shoddy is to be found, all the garments being 
of durable quality and stylish pattern; and 
there is not a mercantile mart of any kind in 
this section of greater magnitude or present- 
ing truer signs of a wide-awake and intelligent 
management. It is artistically finished in 
quartered oak, is finely lighted at night by 
electricity, and in the cold weather is heated 
throughout by steam. In fact, this was the 
first store in Portage county in which steam- 
heating apparatus was adopted. 

November 9, 1881, Mr. Davis was united 
in marriage with Miss Ella Tilden, a native of 
Hiram township and daughter of DeWitt 
Clinton and Catherine (Vrooman) Tilden, na- 
tives of Herkimer county, N. Y. The great- 
grandfather of this lady, when a member of 
the Massachusetts legislature, was the author 
of the free-school laws which now prevail over 
the United States. Her parents early came 
to Ohio and settled in Hiram township. Port- 
age county. He was a hotel-keeper and also 
a tanner, and in the latter pursuit realized a 
fortune, and retired, in 1885, to his extensive 
farm, on which he died in 1895. He was 
prominent as a democrat; and in 1876 was 
elected a presidential elector. Naturally, he 
cast his ballot in the college for his kinsman, 
Samuel J. Tilden. His widow now lives in 
Troy township, Geauga county, Ohio. To 
the marriage of Mark H. Davis and wife have 
been born two children — Jessie and Grover. 

Fraternally, Mr. Davis is a member of the 
I. O. O. F. , holding a degree in the encamp- 
ment and the patriarchs militant, and also is 
a member of lodge No. 18, Benevolent & Pro- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



445 



tective Order of Elks. Politically he is a na- 
tural-born democrat, but has never sought 
office for the glory of the thing, yet has served 
as a member of the board of improvements. 
As a business man he has been one of the most 
energetic and successful in Kent. He is a 
director in the City bank, was one of the orig- 
inators of and is a fourth owner of the Kent 
opera house, which was built in 1889 at a cost 
of $23,000, and has a seating capacity of 
1,000, of which he is also manager. The Odd 
Fellow lodge and Cycle club rooms are also in 
this building. He is vice-president of the 
Shattuck Chair company, a stockholder in the 
Miller Keyless Lock company, secretary of the 
Odd Fellows' Building association, a member 
of the local board of health, a director of the 
Portage county Agricultural association, and 
has always been a leader in public improve- 
ments and a thorough representative of our 
later civilization, and enjoys the respect and 
good will of the entire community, and be- 
cause of his genial nature wins hosts of friends 
and patrons. 

DeWitt Clinton Tilden, the father of Mrs. 
Davis, came to Ohio in 1853, and purchased 
property in Geauga county, once owned by his 
grandfather. Col. Daniel Tilden, who was a 
renowned leader in the Revolutionary war, 
and who also surveyed the western reserve of 
northeast Ohio for the Connecticut Land com- 
pany, and was likewise the member of the 
Massachusetts legislature who introduced the 
free-school bill alluded to in a preceding para- 
graph. In 1865 DeWitt C. Tilden retired to 
Troy, Geauga county, and still later came to 
Portage county, and here his earthly career 
came to a close December 31, 1894. He was 
a man of sound judgment, business tact, in- 
dustry and integrity, and void of all hypocrisy. 
In politics he was a democrat and stood firm 
on all subjects that came within the range of 
his reasoning faculties. He discarded all 



church creeds, choosing rather to find salva- 
tion through good deeds and a well-spent life, 
than through pinning his faith to church 
dogmas. He was prompt to commend the 
right and to censure the wrong; was a reliable 
friend, a loving husband and kind father, and 
reared his four children to correct habits and 
in respectability. These all reached maturity 
and three still survive, viz: Rose, wife of 
Prof. W. P. Cope, of Hamilton, Ohio; Ella, 
wife of Mark H. Davis, and George, a resident 
of Hiram, Ohio. 



^^^-^ILLIAM DAVIS, the well-known 
mm I justice of the peace of Bath town- 
\\il ship, is a native of England, a Lin- 
colnshire man, born October 27, 
1839, son of William and Ann (Sewell) Davis, 
information concerning whom is contained in 
the biographical sketch of George S. Davis. 
There are few better known or more person- 
ally popular men in the county than "Squire"' 
Davis, and his life has contained some very 
interesting incidents. He came to this coun- 
try with his parents, about 1844 or '45, when 
he was but five years of age, and remained 
with them until he was of age. In 1861 Will- 
iam Davis began to learn the carpenter's trade, 
but was almost immediately diverted from this 
intention by the call of his adopted country, 
and he enlisted, on October 3, 1861, at Akron, 
Ohio, in company H, Twenty-ninth Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry. This regiment went into 
camp at Giddings, Ashtabula county, Ohio, 
and first saw the actual conflict of war.at Win- 
chester, Va. Its next engagement was at Fort 
Republic, Tenn. While on guard duty over 
the railroad at Lavergne.Tenn., Mr. Davis was 
captured by the rebels and taken to Meridian, 
Miss., being transferred thence to Cahaba, 
Ala., where he was compelled to remain until 
April, 1865, at which time he was paroled and 



446 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



taken to Vicksburg. Being taken on board 
the side-wheel steamer, "Sultana," Mr. Davis 
made his escape from the crowded boat at the 
time its boilers exploded by leaping from the 
top of the wheel-house into the river below. 
Being a tireless swimmer and a person of great 
physical endurance, the daring man eluded de- 
tection by remaining in the water a remarkable 
length of time, quietly floating down stream. 
He finally landed safe and free from detection 
at Memphis, having floated down the stream 
nine miles. Mr. Davis' soldier's record was 
almost four years' actual service, during which 
time he spent about four months in the rebel 
prison pens. He received his honorable dis- 
charge May 23, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio. 
After his army experience Mr. Davis returned 
home and resumed his work at the carpenter's 
bench, taking up the trade with his old com- 
rade. Perry Alexander. 

On Christmas day, 1866. Mr. Davis was 
united in marriage to Miss Mildred L. Martin, 
who was born in Bath township, March 2, 
1847, the daughter of Alexander and Sarah 
(Neely) Martin, the former of whom was a 
carpenter and who was born in \\ashington 
county. Pa., in 1801, the son of Robert Mar- 
tin, who came from Ireland when a lad of 
fifteen and settled in Pennsylvania; the latter 
was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1808, 
and they were married in Pennsylvania in 
1834. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are the parents of 
the following children: Ruby S., born August 
29, 1 87 1, wife of Wilbur Burgan, and resides 
at Ghent; Carl L. , born February 20, 1874; 
Neale M., born May i6, 1881, died November 
II, 1882; Walter Ray, born April 25, 1884, 
and one child who died in infancy. Both are 
active members of the Discipks' church at 
East Granger and charter members of Bath 
grange, lodge No. 1331. Mr. Davis is a mem- 
ber of Buckley post. No. 12, G. A. R., of Akron, 
Ohio. He is a strong republican, and cast his 



first presidential vote for Lincoln. Beside his 
present office of justice of the peace he served 
as township treasurer for nine 3'ears and has 
been a member of the school board for about 
eighteen j-ears. His fine farm of sixtj- acres 
is a model one, and with its recent improve- 
; ments in the way of new buildings and modern 
appliances affords him and his excellent family 
an admirable and very pleasant home, ten 
miles from the city of Akron. 

Mrs. Davis received her education in the 
common schools. There were only two 
daughters in her father's family: Belinda 
was the wife of Henry Duryee, wedded in 
Bath. She died in 1857, leaving one daugh- 
ter, Nettie, wife of G. B. Shaw. They are 
residents of Bath township. Alex. Martin, her 
father, was a native of Washington county, 
Pa., born September 12, 1801, and died July 
5, 1855. He was educated in the common 
schools, and was a self-made man. He was a 
carpenter by trade and a farmer by occupa- 
tion. He came to Ohio May 12, 1839, and 
located in Bath township. Politically he was 
a whig. He was, as well as his wife, a char- 
ter member of the Disciples' church of East 
Granger. 



^^^ EORGE S. DAVIS, the largest farmer 
■ ^\ and stock dealer in Bath township, 
^^^W and one of the most influential and 
widely respected citizens of Summit 
county, was born in New York state, Novem- 
ber 21, 1845. His father, William Davis, was 
born in Burns, Lincolnshire, England, April 
14, 1809, and on May 16, 1833, married Ann 
Sewell, who was born at the same place about 
1 8 14. They came to this country in July, 
1845, locating in New York state. The fol- 
lowing children were born to them in England: 
Jane. April 10, 1843, wife of I. S. King; Mary, 
February 16, 1836. wife of S. E. Taylor; John. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



447 



January 21, 1838; William, October 27, 1839; 
Thomas, December 2, 1841; Ann, November 
15, 1843, widow of I. H. Miller, and now 
widow of L. V. Wyckoff. Following are the 
American-born children: George S., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Sarah D., December 13, 
1847, wife of George Bisbee; Elizabeth, De- 
cember 25, 1849, wife of Abraham Spencer; 
Emma E., September 6, 1852, wife of Syl- 
vester Vallen; Alpha, December 3, 1854, wife 
of Frank Pierson; Clara B., January 6, 1857, 
wife of Charles Deitz. This large family of 
children are all living except Thomas, who 
was killed in the service of his country at the 
battle of Pine Knob, Ga., June 15, 1864, after 
having done valuable service with Sherman in 
all his battles from beginning to end. A year 
after their arrival in this country the family 
came to Summit county and purchased a farm 
in Bath township, which was partly cleared. 
On this Mr. Davis erected a new house and 
barn and made a very pleasant, comfortable 
home for his family. He was a strong repub- 
lican, and a member of the Odd Fellows 
both in England and America, and they were 
both earnest members of the Disciples' church. 
They were excellent people, active in advanc- 
ing the social and moral welfare of the com- 
munity, and their memories will live long after 
them. He died August 14, 1888, his wife 
having preceded him to the grave nearly 
twenty years, dying March 12, 1867. 

George S. Davis was reared on the farm 
and received a good common-school educa- 
tion. As a young man he worked at the car- 
penter's trade, continuing in that occupation 
for six years. On February 12, 1873, he mar- 
ried Miss Mary Barker, who was born Sep- 
tember 10, 1848, daughter of Jared and Elea- 
nor (Munson) Barker. Facts relating to the 
genealogy of Mrs. Davis are contained in the 
biographical sketch of Jared Barker. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Davis have been born the following 



children: Eleanor Belle, born January 30, 
1874, died October 30, 1883; Jay, December 
31, 1879; Jeddie, April 21, 1882; Mary, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1884; George, September 15, 1885; 
Anna, August 10, 1887; Paul, May 2, 1889. 
Upon his marriage Mr. Davis abandoned the 
carpenter's trade and began farming. He now 
owns one of the very best farms in the county, 
comprising 300 acres, improved in a strictly 
up-to-date manner. He gives a large degree 
of attention to the breeding of fine cattle, the 
excellence of his sheep and cattle strains be- 
ing widely recognized. To facilitate this im- 
portant industry he has on his farm five large 
barns, arranged with every convenience for 
the care and proper raising of stock. He has 
lately turned his attention to raising fine horses, 
and now has some very fine Morgan and En- 
glish coach horses. He probably owns more 
fine stock than any man in Bath township. 
His farm buildings are models of their charac- 
ter, and his home is not only delightfully sit- 
uated, but is extremely pleasant, and is much 
sought in the community. Mr. Davis is a 
strong republican, and cast his first presi- 
dential vote for Gen. Grant, but is of a retiring 
disposition and mingles little in politics. He 
and wife are both members of the Congrega- 
tional church at Bath, and he is a member of 
the board of education. 



81 



ALTER J. DICKINSON, a retired 
merchant and a prominent citizen of 
Rootstown, was born in Randolph, 
Portage county, Ohio, January 27, 
1832, and was educated in the common schools. 
His parents were Alpheus and Mary (Johnson) 
Dickinson, the former of whom was born in 
East Granville, Mass., in 1794, and was 
brought by his parents to Randolph township, 
Portage county, Ohio, July 17, 1805, where 
his father, Oliver Dickinson, bought 600 acres 



448 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



of wild land. This land Oliver farmed, in 
conjunction with his three brothers, until his 
death. May 12, 1S87, when the property de- 
scended to his four sons and three daughters, 
and representatives of the family still occupy 
the original homestead. 

Walter J. Dickinson was reared in the 
family of an uncle, who was a merchant, and 
grew to manhood in an atmosphere of trade, 
alternately attending school and acting as 
clerk. At the age of twenty-one years he 
engaged in merchandizing on his own account 
in his native town, and there continued until 
his retirement in 1888, having, however, re- 
moved to Rootstown in the fall of 1887, and 
here since occupied his present commodious 
home. Mr. Dickinson first married, January 
28, 1853, Miss Almina H. Chatfield, who was 
born in Killingworth, Conn., May 11, 1834, a 
daughter of Lewis and Rachael Chatfield. 
Mrs. Dickinson died July 17, 1882, the mother 
of six children, two of whom died in infancy. 
The eldest of those living is Mary Elmina, 
who was born July i, 1856, and was married 
in October, 1892, to James H. Chatfield, a 
real estate agent, police justice and notary 
public, of Littleton, Colo. ; Alpheus Lyman 
was born -November 17, 1859, married Ida 
Cavender December i, 1880, and is book- 
keeper in the Seiberling Empire works, at 
Akron, Ohio; Selden Curtis was born June 5, 
1864, was educated in Oberlin college, taking a 
thorough philosophical and theological course, 
was ordained minister of the Congregational 
church and was stationed at Rico, Colo., in 
1890-92; in the fall of the latter year he re- 
turned to Ohio, and since May, 1893, has been 
preaching for the Presbyterian church in 
Willoughby; he married, in October, 1892, 
Miss Kittie Sharp, of Montrose, Colo. Maria 
Rachel, the youngest of the family, was born 
August 20, 1869, and is still at home with her 
father. The second marriage of Walter J. 



Dickinson took place August 31, 1887, to Miss 
Dotha C. Seymour, a native of Rootstown, 
Ohio, and a daughter of James W. and Char- 
lotte N. Seymour. 

Mr. Dickinson has always taken an active 
interest in the affairs of Portage county, and 
to him is largely due the excellent article on 
Randolph township, published in the history 
of the county in 1885, which he is now pre- 
paring for re-publication. He has been an 
ardent republican and has labored hard for re- 
publican success. He served about twenty- 
five years as township trustee of Randolph 
township; he also served as justice of the 
peace in that township and is now serving in 
same, office in Rootstown township, and was 
also postmaster of Randolph eight years under 
Lincoln. Mr. Dickinson and his famil}- are 
members of the Congregational church, of 
which he became a communicant in Randolph 
in 1852, and he and wife are now united with 
the congregation of that denomination in 
Rootstown, Mr. Dickinson being a trustee and 
also clerk of the same, and treasurer of the 
society. He was formerly a member of the 
know-nothing society, the Temple of Honor 
and the Sons of Temperance. He has been 
an active worker in the temperance cause, and 
is a gentleman of the strictest integrity and 
uprightness of character, and no man in Por- 
tage county bears a better reputation than he, 
and no one betterments it. It may be added, 
to the credit of subject, that his ancestry is 
traceable to England, and that the first Amer- 
ican, by adoption, landed in Massachusetts 
about 1632, and bore the name of Nathaniel 
Dickinson. The great-grandfather of subject, 
Richard Dickinson, was a direct descendant of 
Nathaniel, and died in East Granville, Mass., 
in 1 81 5, at the age of eighty years. The fam- 
ily has been characterized, physically, of 
medium height and of fair complexion, and 
mentally with that peculiar fixedness of pur- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



449 



pose which, although not combined with ob- 
stinacy, is determined, and never wavers in 
either politics or religion. 



^"V* H. GRAHAM, M. D., of West 
•^^^kT Richfield, Summit county, Ohio, is a 

K^ J native of Iowa, was born December 
7, i860, and is of English descent. 
The family were Quakers, or members of the 
Society of Friends, and their genealogy is 
traced in England back to 1694, the record 
being as follows: Robert Graham, born first 
month, twenty-fifth day, 1694; married 1728; 
date of death unknown. John Graham, son 
of above, born 1735; married to a Miss Hodg- 
son, and lived in Highburn Thwaite, parish 
St. Cuthbert, near Carlisle, Cumberland 
county, died at an unknown date, leaving ten 
children. Thomas Graham, son of the above 
John, was born eleventh month, si.xteenth 
day, 1788, came to Halifax, N. S., in 1816, 
moved to Welland county, Ont. , in 1817; 
married Hannah, daughter of Jesse and Anna 
Willson, twelfth month, eighth day, 18 19, 
lived in the town of Thorold, in the same 
county, until 1838, when he moved to the 
township of Boyham, now in the county of 
Elgin, Ont., whence he moved to Yarmouth, 
Elgin, in March, 1847, lived near the city of 
St. Thomas on the farm now owned by 
Robert Graham, where he died March 16, 
1873, leaving a family of five sons and two 
daughters. Jesse Graham, son of Thomas, 
was born in the town of Thorold, Welland 
county, Ont., April 13, 1829, was married, in 
1850, to Eleanor, daughter of Samuel and 
Martha Hathaway, and about 1855 came to 
the United States and settled in Dyersville, 
Dubuque county, Iowa, where he died April 
20, 1864, leaving five sons, viz: Eugene, 
born August 18,1851 ; Alfred W., March 14, 



1855; Edward B., March 4, 1857; Dr. 
Samuel H., subject, and Jesse, born Novem- 
ber 21, 1862. 

Dr. S. H. Graham was primarily educated 
in the district schools of Dubuque county, 
Iowa, and at Coe college at Cedar Rapids, 
entered the university of Michigan at Ann 
Arbor in 1887, and graduated from the medi- 
cal department in 1890. He immediately be- 
gan practice in West Richfield, Summit 
county, Ohio, where he has won a host of 
friends and is recognized as one of the ablest 
physicians and surgeons of the county. He 
married Miss Emma E. Palmer, daughter of 
Frederick and Mary (Harris) Palmer. This 
lady was born in Richfield, August 3, 1867, 
was educated in the district school and at 
Baldwin university, of which she is a gradu- 
ate, and is now the happy mother of one 
bright little daughter — Mary Ellen, born 
September 22, 1892. 



*» ^ I RAM HART, a prosperous farmer of 
I'^^V Richfield township, Summit county, 
^L.r Ohio, is a native of Windham county, 
Vt., and was born November 4, 1833, 
a son of Hiram and Mary (Hyde) Hart, both 
natives of Vermont and the parents of five 
children, viz: Hubbard L. ; Jennette L. , who 
was first married to James Murphy, and next 
to Frank Adams, a fruit grower of Florida; 
Mary L. , wife of Charles Crosby, of Boston, 
Mass., an attorney at law, now deceased; 
Hiram, the subject of this notice, and Amos, 
employed in the patent office at Washington, 
D. C. 

Hiram Hart, father of subject, was born in 
1803, and was a son of Amos Hart, a native 
of England and a blacksmith by trade. Hiram 
Hart was a well-educated gentleman, was a 
strong republican, and was sheriff of Windham 



450 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



county, Vt., at the time when the last culprit 
in the county was executed before the law 
abolishing capital punishment in the state went 
into effect. He died in 1865, in the faith of 
the Episcopalian church, and the death of his 
widow took place in ^^■ashington, D. C. , in 
1878. 

Hiram Hart, the subject, was employed in 
farming in his native state until nineteen years 
old, and then worked in a store for a year. 
In 1852 he went south, and for a year drove 
stage between Savannah and Darien, Ga. , a 
distance of sixty-two miles. On his return 
home, he first married, November 7, 1854, 
Miss Jeannette Stearns, a daughter of Isaiah 
and Jemima (Hines) Stearns, natives of the 
Green Mountain state. In the spring of 1855, 
Mr. Hart came to Ohio and purchased the 
farm of 127 acres in Richfield township on 
which he still resides, and the most of which 
he has cleared up and improved with modern 
buildings. To his marriage with Miss Stearns 
were born two children, viz: Emma E., July 
20, 1864, now the wife of Henry Gargett, a 
farmer of Richfield township, and Elmer S., 
January 8, 1866, now residing in Spokane 
Falls, Wash. In July, 1866, Mrs. Jeannette 
Hart was called from earth, and for his second 
life companion Mr. Hart chose Miss Arlette 
A. Clark, whom he married January 8, 1867. 
This lady was born August 12, 1839, in Twins- 
burg, Summit county, a daughter of Park B. 
and Nancy (Peck) Clark, and granddaughter 
of Leverett and Amy (Warner) Clark, who 
came from Connecticut in 1823 and settled in 
Twinsburg township, Summit county, Ohio, 
bringing their nine children — Ann, John, Will- 
iam, Burke, Phila, Park B., Mabel, Elmore 
W. and Leverett. To the second marriage 
of Mr. Hart have been born six children, viz: 
Arthur C, February 3, 1869, a veterinary 
surgeon of Richfield; Dana H., December 17, 
1870; Kenneth Roy, February 24, 1873 — died 



February 18, 1888; Carroll P., September 15, 
1874; Gratia C, February 3, 1876, and Mary, 
February 28, 1882. 

In politics Mr. Hart is a very popular re- 
publican, and has held several offices of honor 
and trust, among which is that of county com- 
missioner, to which he was elected in the fall 
of 1879 and re-elected in 1882, serving six 
consecutive years, and proving to be one of 
the best officials Summit county ever had. 
The family are all well educated and Mr. and 
Mrs. Hart mingle with the best circles of 
Richfield township, among whom they have 
many warm friends. 



,>^ OSWELL HOPKINS, one of the 

I ^^ largest land owners and most suc- 
JL^P cessful citizens of Bath township, was 
born on the farm which he now owns, 
December 18, 1872. He is a descendant of 
an early pioneer famil}' and is as honorable a 
representative of his day and generation as 
were his ancestors of theirs, and is rightly en- 
titled to consideration as one of the best young 
citizens of the township. His grandfather, 
Isaac Hopkins, was a New Yorker by birth 
and lived in that state until he was of age, 
when he went to Pennsylvania, where he met 
and married Susan Harrison. On the lOth of 
October 181 3 — that memorable day which 
witnessed Perry's notable victory on lake 
Erie — Isaac and his bride took up their jour- 
ney westward, bound for a location in Bath 
township. Traveling in those days was not 
done by palace car, and it took them six weeks 
to reach their destination with their slow-plod- 
ding oxen. They located in the southwestern 
portion of the township, where they purchased 
quite a tract of land, and then began the 
struggle with primeval conditions, rendered 
all the more severe by the period of financial 
depression which marked that time. By the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



451 



greatest care and strictest economy, however, 
he was able to maintain his property and a 
large measure of success finally attended his 
efforts. This worthy pioneer died in 1852, 
full of honor and respected throughout the 
whole region. His wife followed him to the 
grave ten years later. They had reared a 
family of eight children. Roswell, the father 
of our subject, was born April 3, 1825, and 
the struggles and environments of his youth 
precluded any other than a limited education, 
of which, however, he made the most. On 
October 8, 1846, he was married to Miss Eliz- 
abeth Lee, a native of New York state, born 
December 18, 1828. His wedding suit was of 
homespun, and the other conditions surround- 
ing his early married life were in keeping. He 
kept to the farm until 1870, when he engaged 
in the lumber business, at which he was quite 
successful. To this union were born ten chil- 
dren, viz: George, Wait, Ira, Burt, Ami, 
Cecil, Edna, Irene, Grant, Emma. Of these 
Ami is the sole survivor. His wife having 
died, he married. May i, 1870, Emily (Briggs) 
Case, widow of George Case. Mrs. Hopkins 
was born in New York state May 6, 1833. 
She was the daughter of Truman and Abigail 
(French) Briggs, both natives of Taunton, 
Mass., the former born November 8, 1792, and 
the latter July 11, 1792. They were married 
at Taunton in 1820, and died, the former at 
Sharon, Medina county, Ohio, June 13, 1874, 
and the latter January 7, 1871. They had the 
following children: Henry, born May 9, 
1 82 1, now residing in Illinois; Sophia, born 
March 3, 1823, wife of L. Chatfield, now liv- 
ing in Kansas; Abigail, born July 15, 1824 — 
died in Michigan August i, 1866; Otis, born 
in 1827, now residing in Iowa; Samuel E., 
born March 30, 1830, now a resident of Iowa; 
Emily A. (our subject's mother), born May 6, 
1833; Melissa A., born May 14, 1839, died 
February i, 1895. The Briggses settled at 



Wadsworth, Ohio, in 1835 and in 1851 moved 
to Sharon township. Our subject's parents 
were both members of the Disciples' church. 
Mr. Hopkins was a strong republican until a 
few years before his death, when he changed 
his views in favor of the prohibition party. 
He died November 25, 1894 and his wife Janu- 
ary 7, 1886. 

Roswell, our subject, has all his life lived 
on the home farm, which is now his. His dis- 
trict-school education was supplemented by a 
course in the high school at Richfield, and he 
keeps thoroughly informed and abreast of the 
times. His farm comprises 256 acres of ex- 
cellent land, which he has taken pride in 
improving highly. In addition to his farming 
interests he owns a well-equipped saw-mill, 
which forms an important industry in that 
community. His home is pleasantly situated 
one mile west of Ghent, where he is sur- 
rounded by latter day comforts to his taste. 
On June 6, 1894, Mr. Hopkins was united in 
marriage to Miss Ossie Pierson, who was born 
August 31, 1875, the daughter of Frank and 
Alfa (Davis) Pierson. To this union have 
been born Cecil, March 5, 1895, and Ruth, 
April I2, 1896. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins 
are members of the Disciples' church, and are 
active in all the works of that organization. 
They are a greatly admired young couple and 
stand very high in the esteem of the commu- 
nity in which they dwell. 



HLPHONSO HART HALLOCK, chief 
bridge builder and contractor on the 
Cleveland & Pittsburg branch of the 
Pennsylvania railroad, which position 
he has held since 1884, was born in Roots- 
town, Portage county, Ohio, his present place 
of residence, February 15, 1857, a son of 
Gibbs and Mary Meliss (McKelvey) Hallock. 
Gibbs Hallock was a native of Palmyra 



452 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



township, Portage county, and was born in 
1824. He was educated in the district schools 
of Palmyra, was a contractor and bridge 
builder, and did a great deal of bridge work 
for the counties of Portage and Summit, being 
an expert in his profession. July 13, 1849, he 
married Miss Mary M. McKelvey, the union 
resulting in the birth of ten children, viz: 
Alphonso, William Hiram and Blanche, all of 
Rootstown; Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Hardin and 
Mrs. Bow, of Ravenna; Mrs. Cope, Nelson 
and Lawrence G., of Wheeling, W. Va. , and 
Edith Irene, who died in infancy. The father 
of these children was called from earth in 
1873, and was, at the time of his death, one 
of the oldest members of the Odd Fellows' 
lodge at Ravenna, and one of the most 
respected citizens of his township. His widow, 
who was born in Palmyra, Portage county, 
January 6. 1830, survived until December 29, 
1896, when she expired in the faith of the 
Methodist church. 

Alphonso Hart Hallock attended the dis- 
trict schools of Rootstown until thirteen years 
of age, when he began learning the trade of 
stonecutting under his father, acquired a 
thorough knowledge of the art, and for many 
years was an assistant of his father in carry- 
ing on his heavy contracts in Portage and 
Summit counties. Since beginning business 
on his own account, Mr. Hallock has built a 
number of bridges for the Connotton Valley 
railroad, now known as the Cleveland, Canton 
& Southern railway; the masonry work on the 
Ohio River road from Parkersburg to Wheel- 
ing, W. Va. ; also for the Pittsburg & Harris- 
burg railroad. The latter was abandoned 
nine months after commencing it, but not 
until Mr. Hallock had fulfilled his contract 
with the company. In conjunction with his 
brother, L. G. Hallock, of Wheeling, W. Va., 
under the firm name of Hallock Bros., subject 
built the large cantilever bridge of the Central 



Bridge company across the Ohio river at Cin- 
cinnati, connecting that city with Newport, 
Ky., which bridge is considered to be one of 
one of the best in the country; he also built 
the stone arch bridge at Main and Sixteenth 
streets. Wheeling, W. Va., over the Wheeling 
creek. This is the third largest stone arch 
bridge in the world — its total length being 313 
feet, and length of arch 159 feet; width, forty- 
eight feet, cost, $129,000. These constitute 
but a small fraction of the contracts filled by 
Mr. Hallock, and are mentioned merely to 
show what class of work he and his brother 
are capable of executing. 

The marriage of A. H. Hallock took place 
at Ravenna December 3, 1879, to Miss Rose 
Palm, who was born in Rootstown December 
13' 1859, a daughter of Adam and Eve (Bouch) 
Palm, the former of whom is deceased. To 
this union four children have been born, viz: 
Dwight Raymond, October i, 1882; Mary 
Lewis, April 8, 1886; Grover Cleveland, March 
4, 1889 — died December 26, 1896, from in- 
juries incurred from a fall from a wagon; 
Gibbs Palm, born November 23, 1893. Mr. 
Hallock is a member of the Royal Arcanum, 
Ravenna council. No. 396. In politics he is 
a democrat, but has never aspired to public 
office; and while he is not united in member- 
bership with any religious body, he leads an 
upright life and is honored by all who know 
him for his strict integrity. 



EENRY P. KLINE, a prominent and 
prosperous young agriculturist of 
Randolph township. Portage county, 
Ohio, of which he is a native, was 
born June 22, 1868, a son of George A. and 
Mary (Rettig) Kline, whose biographical record 
will be made in paragraphs yet to follow. 

Henry P. Kline, whose name opens this 
memoir, received an excellent education in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



453 



the di'strict and high schocSls of Randolph, and 
was reared to manhood on his father's farm. 
At the age of twenty-two years he went to 
Canton, Ohio, and served an apprenticeship 
of five years at iron and steel roofing, which 
he still follows, to some extent, in addition lo 
his farming operations. October 20, 1891, 
he married Miss Clara Straub, a daughter of 
Alois and Elizabeth (Eisenhauer) Straub, the 
result of the union being the birth of Louretta 
M., October 30, 1S92, Alvin A., December 15, 
1894, and Emma L., June 3, 1897. For 
three years after marriage Mr. Kline continued 
exclusively to follow the roofing business and 
then settled on his present farm, which he 
had purchased in 1893, and now has one of 
the best cultivated places of its dimensions in 
Randolph township. 

George A. Kline, father of Henry P., was 
born in Suffield, Portage county, Ohio, Octo- 
ber 10, 1840, a son of George Kline, who was 
born in Germany. George A. passed his early 
days, after a due course of education in the 
district school, in coal mining, but later be- 
came a farmer. September 17, 1867, his first 
marriage took place in Randolph to Miss Mary 
Rettig, daughter of Andrew and Theressa 
Rettig, and to this marriage were born four 
children, viz: Henry P., the subject of this 
sketch; Edward G., born January 18, 1870; 
Lewis A., born December 20, 1872, and John 
D., born December 24, 1873. The mother of 
these children was called from earth, in the 
faith of the Catholic church, June 6, 1877, at 
the early age of twenty-seven years, deeply 
mourned by her bereaved husband and or- 
phaned children, all then in tender years. To 
guard over these and to assist in rearing them 
properly, the father selected for his second 
bride Miss Mary Horning, a daughter of An- 
drew and Mary (Rothermelj Horning, to whom 
he was united in matrimony October 30, 1877, 
and this union has resulted in the birth, also, 



of four children, viz: Leo, born April 16, 
1879; Clara, August 3, 1880; Frona, June 24, 
1882, and Lizzie L., October 23, 1884. In 
connection with farming, George A. Kline has 
for the past five years been employed by the 
Peerless Reaper company, of Canton, and is 
as good a business man as he is a farmer. In 
politics he is a democrat and has served as 
township supervisor, and for the past twenty 
years has beed a member of the board of 
school directors; he has also been a member 
of the board of councilmen, and is in every 
way a good and useful citizen. In religion he 
is a true and sincere Catholic. 

George Kline, paternal grandfather of 
Henry P., was born June 6, 18 11, and came 
to the United States a single man. He set- 
tled in Suf^eld township. Portage county, and 
walked with his intended bride twenty miles, 
in order to have the ceremony performed at 
Canton. To his marriage were born five chil- 
dren — John, Peter, Barbara (Mrs. Adam Roth- 
ermel), George A. and Betsey — the last named 
dying October 31, 1894, the wife of George 
Ley, who is also deceased. Grandfather Khne 
died August 23, 1870, at the age of fifty-nine 
years, and his widow March 26, 1886, aged 
seventy-six years, both in the faith of the 
Catholic church. 

Peter Kline, great-grandfather of subject, 
was born September 8, 1804, and his wife 
March i, 1806, came from Germany to Amer- 
ica, and were among the early settlers of Ran- 
dolph township, Portage county, Ohio, and 
here died October 6, 1885, and June 20, 1890, 
aged, respectively, eighty-one and eighty-four 
years. 

Andrew Rettig, maternal grandfather of 
Henry P. Kline, was born in Baden, Germany, 
July 12, 1821, and his wife June 7, 1828. He 
married Theressa Rothermel June 9, 1846, 
who bore him two children, both now de- 
ceased. Andrew Rettig died February 23, 



454 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



1893, aged seventy-one years, but his widow 
is still living in Randolph at the age of seventy. 

Mrs. Clara (Straub) Kline, wife of Henry 
P., our subject, was born in Akron, Ohio, 
November 7, 1871. Her father was a native 
of Baden, Germany, was born September 11, 
1826, and at the age of sixteen years began 
work as a manufacturer of musical instru- 
ments, continuing at this business four years. 
He also learned cabinetmaking, and after 
serving a while in the army came to America 
in 1845, and to Akron, Ohio, in 1851, where 
he worked for a short time as a cabinetmaker, 
and then for five years was employed by Hor- 
ton & Rose in the manufacture of musical in- 
struments, but his health failing him in the 
spring of 1857, he was employed by the same 
firm as a traveling salesman. Later, he opened 
the first store in Akron for retailing musical 
instruments, and in 1870 and 1871 commenced 
the manufacture of instruments, which he con- 
tinued until the date of his death. His mar- 
riage to Miss Elizabeth Eisenhauer took place 
January 5, 1857, and resulted in the birth of 
five children, of whom only one survives — 
Mrs. Kline. The deceased four were Charles 
\V., born August 29, 1858, died September 23, 
1859; Lewis J., born February 22, 1865, died 
August 25, 1867; Albert, born April 28, 1867, 
died December 7, 1867; and Mary M., born 
December 23, 1869, died August i, 1870. 
The mother of this family died January 18, 
1876, aged thirty-eight years, and the father 
January 4, 1883, at the age of fifty-six years, 
both being devout Catholics. 

Henry P. Kline, the subject of this me- 
moir, although still a young man, has been 
very successful as a farmer, has always been 
temperate and industrious, and through his 
genial disposition and kindly nature has made 
many warm friends, who highly esteem him 
for his personal merits and excellent traits of 
character. He and family belong to St. Jos- 



eph's Catholic congregation of Randolph, and 
are ever ready to respond when called upon to 
aid the church or to assist a neighbor. 



V|— rf ON. FRANCIS MYERS, representa- 
1^*^^ tive to the state legislature from Sum- 
l , P mit county, and an active business 
man of Mogadore, Springfield town- 
ship, and senior member of the well-known 
pottery firm of Myers & Hall, is a descendant 
of a worthy German family, which dates its 
transplanting in this country a century and a 
half ago. His father, Joseph Myers, was a 
native of West Earl township, Lancaster 
county, Pa., and a son of Christian and 
Magdalene (Hoover) Myers, representative 
agriculturist, of the "old Keystone state." He 
grew up a farmer lad, and, although his scho- 
lastic training was necessarily limited to the 
opportunities of the time, acquired a common- 
school education of more than average breadth. 
Tiring of farm life he learned the tailor's trade, 
which he followed for some years, and after- 
ward engaged in mercantile business for him- 
self, opening a country store in which he carried 
a general line of merchandise. He continued 
this business for ten years with considerable 
success. In 1838 he emigrated to Wayne 
county, Ohio, thence to Springfield township, 
in Summit county, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his days. During his business 
career he amassed a comfortable fortune and 
was one of the highly respected citizens of his 
county. He took an active interest in local 
affairs and was an earnest political worker, 
although he never aspired to holding any 
office. He was an intense abolitionist and an 
ardent temperance man, and in those exciting 
days, when the agitation of the slavery ques- 
tion was uppermost in the public mind, his 
home was one of the most important in a long 
chain of "Underground railroad stations." 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



In 1825, in Lancaster county, Pa.,' he 
married Miss Susan Winger, daughter of Jo- 
seph \\'inger, a worth)' neighbor and large 
farmer, whose right to his acres extended 
back to the year 1741, seven generations of 
Wingers having been reared on the homestead. 
The founder of the Winger family was Chris- 
tian Winger, who came from Switzerland to 
America in 1727. There were born to Joseph 
and Susan Myers the following children: 
Louisa, wife of Jacob Mishler; Maria, wife of 
Samuel Shoemaker — Mrs. Shoemaker is now 
deceased; Francis W. , the subject of this 
biography; Amos; John; William; Joseph and 
Meno, who is the wife of John Longnecker. 
There were also born two sons, Isaac and 
Michael, who died in infancy. 

Hon. Francis Myers also claims Pennsyl- 
vania as his birth state, having been born in 
Earl township, Lancaster county, December 
4, 1830. His boyhood days were spent upon 
his father's estate, and during his early life, 
whilst there, at intervals received the rudi- 
mental education common with many of the 
farmers' lads of those days. His education 
being very limited as to courses of training 
under tutors, he can be freely classed as a self- 
educated man. At the age of eighteen he 
entered as an apprentice to learn the trade of 
a potter in a factory in Springfield township, 
Summit county, and his business life has been 
spent in that particular calling. 

Mr. Myers celebrated his marriage with 
Miss Lydia M. Mishler, a native of Springfield 
township, Summit county, a daughter of Jo- 
seph and Mary (Palmer) Mishler. They were 
married in September, 1852, and to this union 
has been born live children — three died in in- 
fancy; the eldest living is Maria Louise, wife 
of Dr. W. C. Steele, residents of Berlin. 
Stark county, Ohio. She was educated in the 
common schools, also was a student at the 
academy at Smithville, Ohio, and also Akron 

16 



Buchtel college. She received a training in 
instrumental music and was one of Summit 
county's honored teachers. Grace Eugenie 
resides at home. She is a graduate of the 
Mogadore high school and graduated at Find- 
lay college in music, at Findlay, Ohio. She 
has been a successful teacher in instrumental 
music also. 

Hon. Francis Myers has been all his life a 
devotee to his belief in political liberty. He 
cast his first presidential vote for Gen Win- 
field Scott in support of the old-line whig 
party, and at the birth of the republican party, 
when Gen. John C. Fremont was the champion 
of that political faith, he espoused those ster- 
ling principles of republicanism. 

Officially, Mr. Myers has served for almost 
five years in the responsible capacity of chair- 
man of the county election board, resigning 
this office in 1895, when he was called to 
represent his county in the state legislature. 
There were seven candidates in the field for 
this office before the county nominating con- 
vention that year, but Mr. Myers received on 
the first ballot a large majority of the votes of 
the delegates, a gratifying mark of the honor 
in which he is held throughout the county. 
His record as a legislator has but further ex- 
emplified his fine personal and executive qual- 
ities, and his service in this capacity has given 
the utmost satisfaction to his constituency. 
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Mishler, the parents of 
Mrs. Myers, were people of sterling integrity 
and worth, were early and respected pioneers 
of Stark county, were prosperously engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, and noted for their zeal- 
ous work in the church. Socially, the subject 
of our sketch is a member of the K. of P. 
lodge, Mogadore, No. 482. He and wife are 
ardent supporters of the Disciples' church at 
Mogadore, and have always been prominent in 
the upbuilding of this particular society as 
well as the Sunday-school. 



458 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Officially in the church Mr. Myers has been 
both an elder and deacon. Mr. and Mrs. 
Myers have been honored residents of Moga- 
dore for almost one-half a century, and their 
sterling lives have been as monuments to 
their general worth as citizens. 



*-j-» LOYD HINMAN, a retired farmer of 
I r Rootstovvn township, Portage county, 
I \ Ohio, was born in Hartford county, 
Conn., December 17, 1826, a son of 
Zerah and Miriam (Moses) Hinman, the former 
of whom was born in Hartford county. Conn., 
in 1800, and the latter in Litchfield county, 
same state, in 1797, their marriage taking 
place in Hartford county in 1822. The Hin- 
man family is traceable to England, the 
founder of the family in America, who had 
been a sergeant in the body-guard of Charles 
I, having settled in Saybrook, Conn. ; Martin 
Moses, maternal grandfather of subject, served 
all through the Revolutionary war, and the 
paternal grandfather was a teamster in the 
war of 1812, while his son, Luman, was an 
officer in the same struggle. 

Of the three sons born to Zerah and Miriam 
Hinman. Judge Julius S. Hinman, late of 
Cambridge, Henry county. 111., studied law 
with Gen. Beirce, later with Tilden & Ranney, 
and was admitted to the bar at Ravenna, 
Ohio; he served for twenty years as county 
judge of Henry county. 111., and died at Cam- 
bridge in 1883. Llod}' Hinman was the second 
in order of birth, and Rufus M., ten j-ears his 
junior, served three years in the Civil war, 
but has not been heard from since 1878. 

Lloyd Hinman, the subject, came with his 
parents to Rootstown township in 1835, and 
this has since been his home, with the excep- 
tion of four years spent in Hardin county, 
Ohio, and three years in the Union army. 
He received a good common-school education, 



and, his father being a blacksmith, he par- 
tially learned the trade, and also taught school 
two years in his early manhood, as well as 
vocal music, but his calling has chiefly been 
that of a farmer. He married, in Brimfield, 
Ohio, October i, 1S46, Miss Mary C. Lewis, 
a native of Connecticut, and a daughter of 
John G. Lewis, who located in Brimfield, 
Portage county, Ohio, in 1833. The union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Hinman was blessed with five 
children — William L., L. Ada, Althea, Louis 
and Jennie M. Of these, William L. resides 
in Tallmadge; L. Ada, now Mrs. William Mc- 
Kean, resdies in Lewistown, Pa. ; Althea, 
married to WiUis P. Fenn, lives in Tallmadge, 
Ohio; Louis is in San Francisco, Cal., and 
Jennie M. is the wife of Zerah Hinman, who 
occupies the farm once owned by the paternal 
grandfather of subject in Canton, Hartford 
county. Conn. Mrs. Mary C. Hinman was 
called from earth in February, 1872, and Mr. 
Hinman was next married, in March, 1873, to 
Miss Charlotte H. Camp, a native of Litch- 
field county, Conn. , and a daughter of Lacey 
Camp. To this uuion was born one child — 
Warren C, who now resides in Amite City, 
La., and is engaged in raising fruit for the New 
Orleans market. Mrs. Charlotte Hinman 
passed away October 10, 1892, and for his 
third helpmate Mr. Hinman married, Novem- 
ber 14, 1896, Mrs. Harriet Seymour, of Wind- 
ham, Portage county, Ohio, but a native of 
Jamestown, N. Y. , born October 7, 1S31. 

The enlistment of Lloyd Hinman took place 
August 12, 1862, in company I, One Hundred 
and Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served 
faithfully until mustered out, as sergeant, at 
Jonesboro, N. C. , June 19, 1865. He took 
part in all the marches and engagements in 
which his regiment, which was attached to the 
Twenty-third army corps, participated, and 
was never absent from his command one day 
during his three years' service. He neverthe- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



459 



less was stricken -with serious deafness while 
on duty and otherwise suffered from general 
debility, and for these serious disabilities has 
been awarded a pension. In politics Mr. Hin- 
man was formerly a republican, but now affil- 
iates with the prohibition party. He is a mem- 
ber of David Mcintosh post, G. A. R. , at Ra- 
venna, and he and wife are members of the 
Congregational church at Rootstown. The 
family enjoy the full esteem of the community, 
and Mr. Hinman is in all respects entitled to 
the high regard in which he is universally 
held. 



EENRY KILLEFER, of West Rich- 
field, Summit county, Ohio, one of 
the veteran soldiers of the Civil war 
and a respected citizen, was born 
May 1 6, 1838, in Richfield, a son of Henry 
and Jane (Curtis) Killefer. Henry Killefer, 
(father of subject) was born in Pennsylvania a 
son of Christopher Killefer, or, as he spelled 
the name, Killhefer, a native of Germany. 
The Curtis family was of old colonial Con- 
necticut stock. 

Henry Killefer received a common-school 
education and learned the blacksmith's trade 
at Richfield, where he enlisted August 13, 
1 86 1, in company A, First Ohio light artillery, 
to serve three years or during the war, and 
served until he re-enlisted as a veteran in same 
organization, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1864, 
again for three years, or during the war, and 
served until honorably discharged July 31, 
1865, his service lasting four years, lacking 
thirteen days. He was in the battles of Pitts- 
burgh Landing, Corinth, Perryville, Stone 
River (and many minor battles and skirmishes), 
Chickamaugua, Dalton, Dallas, Resaca, Peach 
Tree Creek, Buzzard's Roost, Pumpkinvine 
Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, and the battles 
in front of Atlanta and Jonesboro, after which 



his battery followed Gen. Hood, and took 
part in the second battle of Franklin, which 
was one of the hardest-fought of the war, and 
later was at Nashville. He was taken prisoner 
at the battle of Stone River and held twenty- 
eight days in Libby prison. He was paroled 
at Annapolis, Md., not being obliged to do 
military duty for United States government 
until exchanged; so he and Andrew Finch of 
Medina county, Henry Barr of Cuyahoga 
county, comrades of the same batter)', took 
French furlough and walked from Annapolis, 
Md., to Richfield township, Summit county, 
Ohio, a distance of 400 miles, without money 
except $1, which a comrade gave Mr. Kill- 
efer. The people on the road entertained 
them and they had no trouble. Mr. Killefer 
then went to Columbus on a pass from Gov. 
Tod, and served in camp two days. After an 
absence of six weeks, he returned to his regi- 
ment at Murfreesboro, Tenn. Mr. Killefer 
was not wounded but narrowlj' escaped, his 
blouse being cut by bullets several times. He 
was always an active soldier and prompt and 
cheerful in the discharge of his duty, and was 
not sick in hospital, but suffered from sciatic 
rheumatism contracted in the service in 1864, 
when he marched with his battery from Straw- 
berry Plains, Tenn., to Nicholasville, Ky. , a 
distance of about 300 miles in cold, wet 
weather. 

After the war Mr. Killefer returned to 
Richfield, where he has followed blacksmith- 
ing since 1858, except while a soldier. He 
married, October 17, 1867, at Richfield, Ohio, 
Aurelia Spafford, born January 27, 1842, a 
daughter of Martin and Mary (Brown) Spaf- 
ford, and to Mr. and Mrs. Killefer were born 
two children — Mary E. and Henry B. Mrs. 
Killefer died October 4, 1894, a woman of 
many virtues. Mr. Killefer is a member of A. 
N. Goldwood post, G. A. R., and is a non- 
affiliating Mason of Richfield Meridian Sun 



460 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



lodge. In politics he is a republican and is a 
respected citizen, owning a pleasant home. 

Christopher Killefer, grandfather of Henry, 
came from Germany and settled at Millers- 
burg, Pa., where he followed farming until 
his death. He had a family of fourteen chil- 
dren and was a highly respected citizen. 
Henry Killefer, father of subject, was born in 
1800 in Pennsylvania at Millersburg, was a 
cooper by trade, and came when young to 
Richfield township, Summit county, Ohio, and 
married Jame Curtis, daughter of Solomon 
Curtis. Solomon Curtis came from Connecti- 
cut in early pioneer days and was a shoe- 
maker by trade, lived in Richfield many years 
and died a respected citizen, having attained 
the great age of ninety-two years. Henry 
Killefer was the father of John, Henry and 
Elizabeth by his first wife, who died, and he 
next married Abigail Foot, a widow, nee Cole- 
man, and the children born to this union are 
William and Mary. 



>^EREMIAH KREIDER, one of the 
■ most prosperous middle-aged farmers 
/I 1 of Suffield township. Portage county, 
Ohio, is a native of the Buckeye state, 
and was born December 24, 1857, i"^ Pike 
township. Stark county, a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Shengle) Kreider, both also natives 
of Stark county. 

David Kreider, paternal grandfather of 
Jeremiah, was a native of Pennsylvania, of 
German descent, came to Ohio when a young 
man, settled in Stark county, and for the 
greater part of his life was a day laborer. By 
his marriage with Miss Catherine dinger he 
had born to him a large family. John Shengle, 
the maternal grandfather of Jeremiah Kreider, 
was also a native of the Keystone state, was a 
fanner by vocation, and was married in Lan- 
caster county, Pa., to Miss Mary Bucher, who 



bore him eight children, five of whom are still 
living, viz: Susan, widow of Jacob Clapper; 
Jacob, Poll}', Sally and John; the deceased 
were named Nancy, Benjamin and Elizabeth 
(Mrs. John Kreiderj Mr. and Mrs. Shengle 
were devoted members of the German Baptist 
church, in which Mr. Shengle served as dea- 
con for several years in Stark county, where 
he died at the age of seventy-four years, and 
his wife at the age of ninety-four. 

John Kreider, father of Jeremiah, was a 
farmer all through life, and to his marriage 
with Miss Elizabeth Shengle, daughter of John 
and Mary (Bucher) Shengle, were born four 
children, all of whom reached the years of ma- 
turity, viz: David, Henry, Jeremiah and 
Nancy — the latter the wife of Frederick Big- 
ler. The father died when thirty years old, 
and the mother at the age of sixty-one, both 
in the faith of the German Baptist church. 

Jeremiah Kreider, the subject of this 
memoir, at the age of two years, had the mis- 
fortune to lose his father. He nevertheless had 
the oppurtunity of attending the district school 
in his native township until seventeen years of 
age. In the meantime he assisted his mother 
on the home farm, and when his brothers, 
who were his elders, left the place to assume 
the responsibilities of life on their own account, 
he was placed in full charge and worked the farm 
for his mother until he reached his twenty- 
second year, when he engaged in farming for 
himself in his native county of Stark. De- 
cember 18, 1880, Mr. Kreider married, in Pike 
township, Stark county, Miss Catherine Royer, 
daughter of Samuel and Lydia (Kurtz) Royer, 
natives of Pennsylvania, but early settlers of 
Stark county, Ohio, where they still reside, 
and where the father is still engaged in farm- 
ing. Mr. and Mrs. Royer have had born to 
them six children, of whom four are still living, 
viz: Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Light; Will- 
iam, Moses and Henry; the deceased were 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



461 



Mary and Catherine. The parents are mem- 
bers of the German Baptist church, and are 
greatly respected in the community in which 
they Hve. To the marriage of Jeremiah and 
Catherine (Royer) Kreider were born two 
children, of whom but one survives — Lydia 
Estella; Raymond died in February, 1889. 
Mr. Kreider, however, met with a greater mis- 
fortune the same year when he was bereaved 
of his wife, January 20, at the early age of 
twenty-nine years, a faithful member of the 
German Baptist church. Mr. Kreider has 
since remained a widower, and, with his only 
child, boards with a family in his own house, 
by special arrangement. Mr. Kreider has been 
principally engaged, since he came to Portage 
county, in farming, threshing and sowing, and 
owns a handsome property. He is an active 
member of the German Baptist church, and 
maintains a high place in the esteem'of the resi- 
dents of Suffield township. 



ai 



TLLIAM HENRY KIMBALL, post- 
master at New Milford, Portage 
county, Ohio, and station agent at 
Rootstown station for the Cleveland 
& Pittsburg Railroad company, is a native of 
Hamlin, Monroe county, N. Y., was born No- 
vember 28, 1858, and is a son of William 
Henry and Sarah (Burch) Kimball, both na- 
tives of the Empire state. 

The Kimball family was founded in Amer- 
ica by six brothers who name from Scotland 
just prior to the Revolutionary war, and were 
all soldiers in the glorious struggle for Ameri- 
can independence, but whose actual fate was 
never known; while that of one of their de- 
scendants, a brother of subject's father, and 
named Horace Kimball, was equally shrouded 
in mystery, inasmuch as he started for Cali- 
fornia, via the plains, and was never heard of 



afterward. The subject is of the fifth genera- 
tion of the Kimballs to bear the Christian 
name of William Henry, and his son is of the 
seventh. Of the family born to his parents 
there were two sons and four daughters, of 
whom Ira T. , the eldest, is now on the old 
homestead in Hamlin, N. Y. ; Sarah L. is mar- 
ried to Charles B. Kocher, of Brockport; Hen- 
rietta L. is the widow of H. F. Austin and re- 
sides in New York city, and the subject is the 
youngest; of the two deceased daughters, one 
died in infancy, and one — Helen — died at the 
age of fourteen years. 

William H. Kimball, the subject, received 
a good common-school education in his native 
county and graduated from the state normal 
school at Brockport in 1879. He then studied 
law two years in Brockport, but failing health 
precluded his entering upon active practice, 
and for some months, in 1882, he traveled the 
"long eastern" routa for the Hiram Sibley 
company, of Rochester, visiting many points 
of interest in the United States, and now looks 
back with satisfaction in this experience as fa- 
miliarizing him with the manners and customs 
of the people over a wide extent of territory. 
He then engaged in farming for several years, 
and in 1889 came to Ohio, and for a short 
time was employed in an installment house in 
Cleveland. He next entered the employ of 
the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railway company 
in a subordinate capacity — that of clerk in the 
"car service" department, which he held until 
April I, 1896, when he was placed in charge 
of the Rootstown station, and on July 15, fol- 
lowing, was appointed postmaster of New Mil- 
ford, the post-ofifice being in the station. 

Mr. Kimball was united in marriage, in 
New York state, July to, 1881, with Miss 
Mary E. Miller, a native of Cooperstown, 
N. Y. Mr. Kimball formed the acquaintance 
of this lady while in the normal school, and 
for two years prior to her marriage she was 



462 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



engaged in school-teaching. This union has 
been blessed with two sons and three daugh- 
ters, viz: William Henry, Jr., Mary Eliza- 
beth, Arthur Leroy, Marie Isabel and Edna — 
all still living beneath the parental roof. Mr. 
Kimball, wife and elder son are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church; the parents 
are also connected with the various social or- 
ders within the pale of this church, and both 
are active workers in the Sunday-school, of 
which Mr. Kimball is the present superintend- 
ent — having previously had five years' experi- 
ence in similar work while in Cleveland, 
where he served as secretary and treasurer of 
his Sunday-school. Mr. and Mrs. Kimball 
are also members of the Protective Home cir- 
cle, and Mr. Kimball is a member of the 
Junior Order of American Mechanics. In his 
political sentiments, Mr. Kimball is strongly 
republican. The family stand very high so- 
cially, and Mr. Kimball is greatly respected 
for his urbanity, gentlemanly deportment and 
unflinching integrity. 



aLEMEN N. JAGGER, a native of 
Bath township. Summit county, Ohio, 
was born June 3, 1827, the eldest in 
a family of four children — one son 
and three daughters — born unto Elmus and 
Hannah M. (Noah) Jagger, of whom there are 
three living, viz: Clemen N., Lucy Ann, wife 
of S. H. Webster, a commercial traveler of 
Shelbyville, 111., and Mary, wife of H. L. 
Martin, editor of the Shelbyville (111.) Union, 
a republican organ, and Rebecca, deceased. 

Elmus Jagger, the father Clemen N., was 
a native of Massachusetts, was reared to farm- 
ing and was educated in the common schools, 
and for a time was a school-teacher. He came 
at an early date, and located in Richfield town- 
ship. Summit county, where his father at one 



time owned about 500 acres of land. Po- 
litically he was a whig, and he and wife were 
Methodists. Mr. Jagger's mother was a native 
of Ohio and her parents had to work for seven 
years to pay for their passage from Germany 
to America. Her father was a merchant tailor 
by trade. 

Clemen N. Jagger's education was obtained 
in the pioneer school-house, and is quite lim- 
ited. He early learned the wagonmaker's 
trade in Boston township, and about 1852 he 
came to Hammond's Corners, and here he has 
resided as an honest and upright citizen and 
mechanic since. He married Miss Jane Perry, 
a native of Ohio, who was born February 8, 
1836. To this union there were born the fol- 
lowing children: Elmus H., September 13, 
1858, now a resident of Greensburg; Ella, 
April 29, 1866, and wife of Frank Turner, of 
Akron; Charles Elmer, January 29, 1873, with 
his father. 

Mr. Jagger was called on to mourn the 
death of his companion in life March 4, 1895. 
For almost thirty-five years had they lived to- 
gether sharing the sorrows and joys of life. 
She had been a loving mother and wife, was a 
lady who had led a life of usefulness, and was 
dearly beloved by all who knew her. 

In politics Mr. Jagger has always been a 
republican, and has held several offices of trust, 
such as school director, etc., and probably ini- 
bided much of his political proclivities from 
the late Gen. James A. Garfield, of whom he 
recalls many pleasing and interesting incidents 
that occurred when they were playmates to- 
gether. Although the early education of Mr. 
Jagger was not very comprehensive, and this 
is proven by the fact that he has been, in all 
respects, the maker of his unaided way in the 
world and secured for himself a fortune. He 
has won the respect of his neighbors, who 
fully recognize his many good qualities, and 
cheerfully accord to him the esteem in which, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



463 



as one of the oldest residents of Bath town- 
ship, and as one of its most substantial citizens, 
he so justly deserves. 



St 



'ILLIAM E. HURD, state food in- 
spector, residing in Ravenna, Por- 
tage county, Ohio, was born in 
Jefferson county, N. Y., August 20, 
1852, and is a son of Joseph and Arminda 
(Pool) Hard, natives of the same county and 
state, and the parents of four children, viz: 
William E., the subject of this memoir; J. D. ; 
Esther A., wife of Charles Benton, of Oswego 
county, N. Y. , and Anson P., of Adams, 
Jefferson county, N. Y. 

Jarvis Hurd, paternal grandfather of sub- 
ject, was born in Connecticut, of Welsh de- 
scent. He was an extensive farmer and 
served in the war of 1812, and at his death 
was about seventy-two years old, his widow 
living to be eighty-one. David Pool, the ma- 
ternal grandfather of subject, was a native of 
Jefferson county, N. Y., was also a farmer, 
was likewise a soldier in the war of 1812, and 
died in his native county at the age of seventy- 
five years; his widow survived until seventy- 
seven years old, and the family born to this 
couple was quite large. 

Joseph Hurd, father of William E., was a 
farmer in early life, but for many years has 
worked at masonry for the Rome, Watertown 
& Ogdensburg Railroad company. He lost 
his wife in 1868, when she was but thirty- 
seven years of age. She was a very amiable 
lady and a devout member of the Baptist 
•hurch, and dearly beloved by her husband 
and children. Mr. Hurd now lives in Pulaski, 
Oswego county, N. Y., and is an industrious, 
hard-working man, although beyond the reach 
of want, and is highly respected by all who 
know him. 

William E. Hurd, the subject of this 
memoir, was reared a farmer and was edu- 



cated primarily in the district schools of his 
native county, which he attended until fifteen 
years of age; he then attended Union acad- 
emy until he was prepared for teaching, and 
this vocation he followed during the winter 
seasons, employing his time, during the sum- 
mer, in the making of cheese, until 1876. 

In April, 1876, Mr. Hurd was united in 
marriage with Miss Imogene S. Tousley, a 
daughter of Hiram and Catherine (Graves) 
Tousley. In 1879 Mr. Hurd and his wife 
came to Ohio and for one year lived in 
Geauga county, then came to Aurora, Portage 
county, where Mr. Hurd taught school two 
terms, and then for ten years was superintend- 
ent of the cheese factories operated by Frank 
Hurd, of the same place. In May, 1893, Mr. 
Hurd was appointed, by the state food com- 
missioner. Dr. F. B. McNeal, food inspector 
for the state of Ohio, a position he still most 
eff-ectually fills. 

Politically, Mr. Hurd has always been a 
republican, and while in Aurora served as 
township clerk for one year, and has been 
township committeeman ever since coming to 
Portage county. He has been a resident of 
Ravenna for the past three years, and here 
has made hosts of friends; but here, also, he 
had the great misfortune of losing his wife in 
August, 1895 — a loss he has never ceased to 
deplore. In March, 1897, he was married to 
Miss Georgia A. Towne, of Orange, Cuyohoga 
county, Ohio, daughter of Sylvanus and Le- 
nora Towne. Mr. Hurd has no children. His 
residence is at No. 319 Elm street, and his 
official headquarters are also at Ravenna. 



VINCENT G. HARRIS was born in 
Wayne county, Ohio, February 7, 
1826, the fourth in a family of ten 
children, four sons and si.\ daughters, 
born to Aaron and Eleanor (White) Harris. 
There are only three of the ten living: Eliza- 



464 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



beth, wife of Nicholas H. Long, of Wadsworth, 
Ohio, and an agriculturist; Vincent G., our 
subject, and Eleanor, wife of Joseph Shoe- 
maker, a farmer in Bath township. 

Mr. Harris, the father, was born either in 
Virginia or Maryland, was reared to the life of 
a farmer and educated in the common schools, 
and he and wife were members of the old- 
school Presbyterian church. The mother was 
a native of Ohio and her parents were born in 
Ireland. Mr. Harris received a rudimentary 
training in the pioneer log-cabin school-house, 
and when he commenced life the battle was 
fought empty handed as regards financial sup- 
port, but, with the aid of his estimable wife, 
he has accumulated a competency which places 
them both in such circumstances that their re- 
maining days may be happily spent in ease 
and comfort. 

Mr. Harris chose for his companion in life 
Miss Magdelana Long, a daughter of Jacob 
and Elizabeth (Creese) Long. She was born 
March i, 1829, in Medina county, Ohio, and 
received her education in the common schools. 
They were married September 13, 1849, and 
by this union have been born nine children, 
viz: Rebecca Belle, wife of Moses Huger, of 
Midland county, Mich. , a farmer with five chil- 
dren; Mary, wife of John M. Hoertz, of Loyal 
Oak, Summit county, a farmer with two chil- 
dren; Joseph, a minister in the church of 
Christ, who has been a worker in the vine- 
yards of the Lord in Illinois and Ohio, and is 
at present in Michigan; he married Miss Au- 
gusta Van Vorhis, a native of Ohio, is a stu- 
dent of Bethany college, in Virginia, and has 
one child living; John died in infancy; Eliza- 
beth, wife of Jacob Shook, a stonemason by 
trade, resides in Akron, Ohio, and is the 
mother of five children; Eliza J., who resides 
with her parents at Copley Center, was edu- 
cated in the Copley high school and was a 
successful teacher in Summit county; Charles 



F. , of Loyal Oak, married Miss Rosa Wert- 
man, a native of Ohio, and has one child; 
Alice S. is the wife of Alvin Freid, a mechanic 
in Blake, Medina county, Ohio; and Andrew 
J., the youngest, is a farmer in Copley town- 
ship, and is married to Metta Robinson, a 
native of Ohio. 

Mrs. Vincent Harris' parents were natives 
of the Keystone state, and died in Wadsworth, 
Ohio. Father Long was a miller by trade, 
but devoted much of his later life to farming. 
He and his wife were members of the Presby- 
terian society. Their family comprised four- 
teen children, seven sons and seven daughters, 
only four of whom are living — two in Nebraska 
and two in Ohio. The first presidential vote 
our subject cast was for Gen. Winfield Scott, 
but since the organization of the republican 
party has advocated its principles. He served 
many years as school director, and was town- 
ship trustee for sixteen to eighteen years. He 
is a true respector of all religious teachings, 
and his wife is a member of the Reformed 
church. Mr. and Mrs. Harris have a beauti- 
ful estate of 146 acres within one mile of Cop- 
ley and a comfortable home in the village, 
where they are surrounded by many friends, 
who esteem them highly for their sterling 
integrity. 



,>^^ ENNIS MONEGAN, an exceedingly 
I I well-to-do farmer of Richfield town- 
/^^,_^ ship, Summit county, Ohio, is a 
native of county Wexford, Ireland, 
and was born December 25, 18 19, a son of John 
and Mary (Rhine) Monegan, who were the 
parents of four children — Dennis, Lawrence, 
Mary and Catherine. 

At the age of seven years Dennis Monegan 
lost his father and was sent to England to 
learn the tanner's trade under his uncle Will- 
iam, whom he served six years for his board. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



465 



While serving his apprenticeship he united 
with a club, which, when he had learned his 
trade, furnished him with means for making a 
trip through England and France. He then 
worked at his trade for a year in Manchester, 
then came to the United States, worked a few 
months in New York city, and then made a 
general tour, working at Newburgh, N. Y. , 
New York city, Philadelphia, Pa., Boston, 
Mass., again in New York city, Albany, N. Y., 
where he lived six months, and then came to 
Cleveland, Ohio, at a time when the site of 
the present union railroad depot was a mere 
barnyard; there he was taken sick and went 
to Chicago, 111., but the cholera becoming 
epidemic at that point, he returned to Cleve- 
land, whence, shortly afterward, he came to 
Summit county, and at Hudson laid the foun- 
dation of his present fortune, although he had 
but ten cents on his arrival. For eight con- 
tinuous years he worked in Hudson at his 
trade, and then for a short time in Akron for 
James Christy, but returned to Hudson, and 
was united in marriage, November 25, 1851, 
with Miss Lavinia Hill, who was born in John- 
stown, Pa., in 1830. The father of this lady 
was William Hill, a very pious and highly ed- 
ucated gentleman and a school-teacher. The 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Monegan has been 
blessed with eight children, born in the follow- 
ing order: Lawrence, September 29, 1852, and 
James, March 20, 1856, both of Richfield 
township; George, September 18, 1857, aprom- 
inent physician of St. Louis, Mo- ; Morris, 
December 9, 1 860, in the drug business, in 
New York state; Ella, January 6, 1863, wife 
of Edward Murton, of Richfield, Ohio; Charles, 
of Bath, Ohio; Lillian, January 26, 1869, at- 
tending college at Oberlin, Ohio; Edgar, as- 
sisting on the home farm. Mr. Monegan has 
provided his children with collegiate educa- 
tions, although his own early opportunities in 
this respect were not over abundant, yet he is 



a diligent student, and has been since reaching 
his majority, is fully impressed with the im- 
portance of a sound scholastic training, and 
has seen to it that his children have been well 
grounded in knowledge. 

In 1857, Mr. Monegan came from Hudson 
to Richfield and bought a farm, on which he 
erected all the buildings, and later purchased 
his present home place, on which he has over 
three miles of tiling. His acres number 336, 
and he is to-day one of the most successful 
farmers of Richland township. His buildings 
are all new and of modern construction, and 
his live stock is of the choicest grades. He is 
greatly respected in his township and county, 
and very popular with the republican party, 
of which he is a stanch supporter and by which 
he has frequently been honored by offers of 
nomination for offices of honor and trust, but 
these offers he has invariably declined to ac- 
cept, preferring to follow the more congenial 
pursuit of husbandry. 



eKING NASH, M. D., one of the old- 
est and most highly esteemed mem- 
bers of the medical profession in 
Summit county, is a resident of 
Montrose, Bath township, and no history of 
this region would be complete without men- 
tion of this venerable physician. His father, 
Hophni Nash, one of the pioneers of this sec- 
tion of the state, was born at Williamsburg, 
Mass., January 10, 1797, and came to Bath in 
1817. His life was devoted to farming and in 
pursuit of that occupation it was well spent. 
He cleared his farm in Bath township, lot No. 
45, then moved to Richfield, where our sub- 
ject was born, but after a sometime residence 
there returned to Bath. In 1825 he married 
Miss Lovisa King, daughter of Eleazar and 
Mercy (Kingsley) King, who was born Decem- 
ber 30, 1 801. To them were born five chil- 



466 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



dren: Harriet, April 4, 1826; E. King, our 
subject, April 20, 1828; Ellen, October 20, 
1830; Thomas, December 7, 1832; Sumner. 
May 10, 1836. Mr. Nash died at the home of 
his son, Sumner, at Akron, in 1882, and his 
widow survived him until January 6, 1891, 
when she passed away at the home of our 
subject in Bath. 

E. King Nash passed the early years of his 
life on the farm with his parents, with whom 
he remained for thirty jears. He was edu- 
cated in the schools at Richfield and Granger. 
Turning his attention to the study of medicine 
he took a course in the medical department of 
the Western Reserve school, graduating there- 
from in 1 86 1. He began the practice of his 
chosen profession in the spring of 1863, and 
almost immediately afterward was appointed 
by Gov. Tod to the position of assistant sur- 
geon in the Fourteenth regiment, Ohio volun- 
teer infantry. This appointment was dated 
April 10, 1863, and in November, 1864. he 
was promoted to the rank of surgeon, remain- 
ing with this regiment in that capacity until 
the close of the war. 

On December 12, 1861, he was married to 
Mary A. Sloan, daughter of Robert and Sarah 
(Fuller) Sloan. Mr. Sloan was born in Scot- 
land December 26, 1808, and came to this 
country when he was a lad and learned the 
trade of blacksmith in New York. His wife 
was a native of the Empire state and was born 
September 22, 1814. They had the follow- 
ing children: Emily, born .\pril 26, 1833, 
wife of N. Hanson, of Copely; Mary A., born 
May 3, 1839; Alice, August 25, 1841, wife of 
M. Hulbert, of Bath. To Mr. and Mrs. Nash 
have been born two children: Nellie Maud, 
born October 12, 1562, who married Frank 
Smalley, a government employee, and resid- 
ing in Chicago; and Claude Bernard, born 
April 27, 1870, now a resident of Cleveland. 

Both Dr. Nash and his wife are active 



members of the Disciples' church, and the 
doctor is a teacher in the Sunday-school and a 
leader in all good works. He is a member of 
Buckley post. No. 12, G. A. R. The vener- 
able doctor has a good and lucrative practice, 
and is a power for good in the community, 
his youthful devotion to his honorable profes- 
sion being lessened not a whit by reasen of the 
lightly borne weight of his three-score years 
and ten. The doctor was in early years a 
whig, but at the birth of the republican party 
cast his vote for John C. Fremont, who 
championed the new cause, and has always 
ardently supported its principles ever since. 



(D 



ARTIX MILLER, one of the most 
e.\perienced and prosperous farmers 
of Rootstown township. Portage 
county, Ohio, was born in Hessen, 
Germany, November 13, 1822, a son of John 
and Gertrude (Bassel) Miller, who came to 
America in 1848, and settled in Rootstown. 
The father, who was a weaver by trade, fol- 
lowed this calling for a short time after com- 
ing here, and then purchased the farm on 
which Martin Miller now resides, which he 
cleared up from the wilderness and cultivated 
until his death, which occurred in 1870, at 
the age of seventy-five years, his widow fol- 
lowing him to the grave in 1871, at the age 
of seventy-three — both being sincere Catholics. 
To their marriage were born three children, 
viz: Martin, the subject of this notice; Cath- 
erine, who is the wife of X'alentine Reis, of 
Rootstown, and Frances, who died at the age 
of two years. 

Martin Miller received a limited education 
in Germany, and on coming to this country 
with his parents assisted his father in clearing 
up his farm from the woods and in cultivating 
it — being now the owner of the place. He 
has been twice married — first, to Miss Eva 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



467 



Reis, daughter of Valentine and Eva (Derr) 
Reis, of Rootstown, and to this union one 
child — Katherine — was born. Mrs. Miller 
was called away in 1853, at the age of thirty- 
five years, and Mr. Miller was ne.xt married, in 
1854, to Miss Barbara Andes, daughter of 
Nicholas and Katherine (May) Andes, and this 
union has been blessed with nine children, of 
whom eight are still living, viz: Andrew, 
Elizabeth (wife of Henry Bauer), Valentine, 
Martin, Joseph, John, Mary and Barbara; the 
deceased child, Anna Mary, was taken away 
at two years of age. Mrs. Barbara Miller was 
born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, April 16, 
1 836, and came with her parents to the United 
States in 1850. The family settled in Roots- 
town, where the father, who was a weaver by 
trade, for a short time followed his calling, 
and then bought a farm, which he cultivated 
several years and then returned to Germany 
and lived there until his death, which occurred 
in 1873, at the age of seventy-three years; his 
wife had died at the age of forty-nine years, 
and both were devout members of the Cath- 
olic church. Of their nine children but one 
survives — Mrs. Miller. The deceased were 
Adam, Katherine, Nicholas, John and Philip, 
and three that died unnamed. 

Mr. and Mrs. Miller are consistent Cath- 
olics and contribute freely to the support of 
the church, and are among the most highly 
respected residents of Rootstown township. 



*w ^ ENRY L. NAPP, an e.x-soldier of 
l'^^ the Civil war, and a highly respect- 
M . r ed farmer and small-fruit grower of 
Richfield township. Summit county, 
Ohio, was born in Franklin county, Pa., Jan- 
uary 19, 1837, a son of Casper and Catherine 
(Miller~)Neeb — which was the original German 
spelling of the name, the parents being of 
German extraction — but in America the name 



is variously spelled, as, for instance, Neeb, 
Napp and Knapp. 

Casper Neeb was born in Hesse-Darmstad, 
Germany. July 7, 1800, was the son of a 
hotel-keeper, and was married in his native 
province, the result of the union being three 
children — J. N., Catherine and Elizabeth. In 
1833 Casper, the father of these children, 
sailed from Hamburg for America with his 
wife and German-born children, and landed 
in Baltimore, Md. His first wife having died, 
probably in Baltimore, he married, for his 
second wife, Elizabeth Baker, who also bore 
him three children — Elizabeth, Charles and 
Susan — and likewise died in Baltimore. Mr. 
Neeb then settled in Mount Hope, Pa., where 
he worked as a cooper and where his third 
marriage took place to Miss Catherine Miller, 
who was born in Germany and who was nine- 
teen years old when she came to America in 
company with her parents, John and Adelia 
Miller. To this third marriage of Mr. Neeb 
were born eight children, viz: Henry L. , Will- 
iam, John, Augustus, Adelia, Mary, Daniel and 
Julius. John Miller, father of Mrs. Catherine 
Neeb and her brother, Conrad, was killed 
while working on a railroad at Shippensburg, 
Pa., an embankment caving in and falling 
upon him. 

Casper Neeb came to Ohio in 1842, lived 
in Akron until 1843, and then settled in Rich- 
field township, Summit county, where he 
passed the remainder of his days, dying De- 
cember 2, 1 88 1, at the age of eighty-one 
years, a member of the Lutheran church, 
although his wife was a Presbyterian. In pol- 
itics he was a democrat, but a strong Union 
man, and had four sons in the Civil war, he 
having himself been a soldier in the German 
army. These four sons were Charles, Henry 
L. , Augustus and John. The militar}' record 
of Henry will be given in full further on; of 
the others it may be briefly stated that Charles 



468 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifteenth 
Ohio infantry for three years, took part in 
many battles and was a prisoner in Cahaba, 
Ala., for six months; after his release from 
his rebel prison, and while on his way home, 
he was blown overboard by the explosion of 
the boilers of the steamer Sultana and floated 
down the Mississippi river, on a cabin door, 
nine hours before being rescued ; Augustus was 
in the One Hundred and Seventh Ohio infan- 
try, fought many battles, including Fort Fish- 
er, and died a natural death at a New York 
hospital, his remains being interred in the sol- 
diers' cemetery at Cypress Hill; John was a 
member of company I, One Hundred and 
Twenty-eighth infantry and served chiefly as 
a guard on Johnson's island. 

Henry L. Napp was nearly seven years of 
age when his parents settled in Richfied town- 
ship, and here he was reared to farming and 
also learned the cooper's trade. October i8, 
1 86 1, he enlisted at Richfield Center, in com- 
pany G, Sixty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
for three years, fought at Shiloh. but shortly 
afterward was attacked with chronic diarrhea, 
and was confined to hospital at Tuscumbia and 
Huntsville, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn., al- 
together about three months, and was so ema- 
ciated and exhausted, that he was honorably 
discharged for disability, at Nashville, Tenn., 
October 30, 1862 — his weight having been re- 
duced from 172 pounds, at the time of his en- 
listment, to ninety-one pounds at his discharge. 
After partial recovery Mr. Napp re-enlisted at 
Cleveland, Ohio. December 10, 1863 — this 
time in company I, Capt. Austin McDowell, 
One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio infan- 
try, for three years or less, if the war should 
be ended, and served until honorably dis- 
charged at Columbus, Ohio, July 13, 1865, 
the war having been brought to an end in 
April. During his last term of service, Mr. 
Napp acted as guard on Johnson's island, lake 



Erie, at the barracks erected for the detention 
of rebel officers captured in battle. Of these, 
there were 2,762 then within the stockade, in 
rank ranging from major-generals to second 
lieutenants. Their rations were better than 
those of the guards, as they had good bread 
and beef, served out in liberal measure three 
times per day; vegetables in abundance; coffee, 
rice, sugar, molasses, clothing, blankets, 
shoes, straw beds, with white ticks,, wood for 
heating and cooking purposes, and weather- 
tight sleeping apartments. There were some, 
of course, who died from sickness incurred be- 
fore capture, but their funeral services were 
performed by their own chaplains and inter- 
ment made by their own comrades. Many of 
the rebels were possessed of valuables when 
imprisoned, but these were carefully inven- 
toried and deposited with the United States 
Express company at Sandusky and returned to 
their owners at their release. The captives 
were also permitted to purchase extras from 
the sutler at the stockade, or to send to San- 
dusky for what trifles they desired. Of course 
they did their own laundry work and cooking, 
but they were liberally supplied with soap and 
all necessary appliances. So generously were 
they supplied with food, they were able to play 
ball within the inclosure of fifteen acres, using 
stale loaves of bread and wilted cabbage-heads 
for balls. In the summer evenings they would 
dance to the music of the band which played 
ever}' night at dress parade, and when dis- 
charged all were fat and hearty, well clothed, 
and in strong contrast with the eniaciated 
Union skeletons who had been confined in 
Libby, Andersonville and other southern 
prison holes. "Thrice armed is he whose 
cause is just," and the north had justice on its 
side, and always was blessed with plenty, 
while the south, fighting for an unholy cause, 
could hardly feed its own soldiers, let alone its 
prisoners of war. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



469 



Mr. Napp, while on Johnson's island, had 
charge of i lo prisoners, and, ranking as cor- 
poral, called the roll every morning, received 
the requests of the captives for any extras they 
needed, made a record of any complaints they 
had to make, and reported in full to his 
colonel in command. John Davis, a rebel 
conspirator, who made an endeavor to release 
the prisoners, was for a time one of his charge, 
but, as it was Mr. Napp's duty to post the 
sentinels, he frustrated the scheme of that 
contumacious rebel. 

The marriage of Mr. Napp took place in 
Peninsula, Ohio, December 15, 1863, to Miss 
Anna N. Hardesty, who was born in Stark 
county March 11, 1842, a daughter of James 
and Sarah (Black) Hardesty. James Hardesty 
was born in Pennsylvania, was a worker in 
iron, and was so emplojed for several years in 
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He was three times 
married, his first wife bearing him seven chil- 
dren, viz: Elizabeth, Susan, Thomas, Matilda, 
Martha, Alexander and Phebe. His second 
marriage was to Mrs. Sarah Black, whose 
maiden name was Brant, and who, by her 
first husband, was the mother of James, Jere 
and Martin Black. Mrs. Sarah Hardesty died 
in Stark county, Ohio, and Mr. Hardesty next 
married Catherine Ackinson, of Stark county, 
and to this union two children were born — 
Frank L. and Ann Eliza. Mr. Hardesty was 
a soldier in the war of 181 2, and had one son, 
Thomas, in the Civil war. Hr. Hardesty died 
in Copley township. Summit county, at the 
age of sixty-four years, a member of the Meth- 
odist church and a highly respected citizen. 
Mrs. Anna N. Napp was reared from the 
age of two years until eighteen by Mrs. Abigail 
Lockwood, of Akron. After her marriage to 
Mr. Napp she accompanied her husband to 
Johnson's Island, and can vouch for the good 
treatment of rebel prisoners, as has been pre- 
viously mentioned. Since the war Mr. and 



Mrs. Napp have lived in Richfield, where for 
years Mr. Napp followed his trade of cooper, 
but has now a fine tract of forty-seven acres, 
on which he raises small fruit and esculent 
vegetables. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Napp have been born two children — Austin 
and Kittie. Of these, Austin is a graduate of 
the high school at East Richfield, and is a 
member of the Christian Endeavor; Kittie is 
married to Frank E. Force, a jeweler of 
Cleveland, and has one child. 

In politics Mr. Napp is a republican, and 
is an ex-member of A. N. Goldwood post. No. 
104, Grand Army of the Republic, at West 
Richfield, in which he served as junior vice- 
commander and quartermaster. He is a moral, 
industrious and useful citizen, and he and his 
family stand deservedly high in the esteem of 
the entire community in which they live. 



^y^^ R. A. M. POWERS, one of the oldest 
I I and most experienced physicians 
/^,__^ and surgeons of Rootstown, Portage 
county, was born in Milton township, 
Mahoning county, Ohio, January 28, 1837, a 
son of James and Rebecca (Windle) Powers, 
also natives of the Buckeye state, whose 
genealog}' will be narrated in the following 
paragraph. 

Abraham Powers, grandfather of the doc- 
tor, was a native of New Jersey and came to 
Ohio in 1800. He settled at Briar Hill, in 
what is now Mahoning county, but then a part 
of Trumbull county, where he bought a farm, 
his brothers, Isaac, Jacob and John, coming 
with him to this state, and all marrying and 
settling in Trumbull county. Abraham was a 
carpenter by trade, which he followed prin- 
cipally on coming to Ohio, but passed his later 
days on his farm. He married Elizabeth 
Woodruff, to which union were born Isaac, 
who lived and died in Mahoning county; 



470 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



James, the father of Dr. A. M., the subject of 
this biography; Milton, who died in Mahoning 
county; Madison, who lives in Trumbull coun- 
ty; Washington, whose death took place also 
in Mahoning county, as did that of his brother, 
Abraham; Phebe A. , was married to A. McCoy, 
and both are now deceased; Nancy resides in 
Youngstown, Ohio; Mary and Eliza are also 
dead. Abraham, the father of these children, 
was quite prominent in public affairs, was 
deeply interested in the welfare of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, of which he was a 
life-long member, and died in that faith in 
1852; his widow survived him many years, and 
was called away at the age of eighty-six. 

James Powers, the father of the doctor, 
and the second son of Abraham and Elizabeth 
Powers, was born in Youngstown, Ohio, Sep- 
tember II, 1819. As he was the eldest mem- 
ber of the family at the death of his father, 
the care of the homestead devolved upon him, 
and, in consequence, his early education was 
limited, as far as schools were concerned; but 
he was studious in his habits, became well 
informed through self-education, and, after he 
had reached his majority, clerked in a store at 
Vienna, Ohio, and later embarked in mer- 
chandizing on his own account at Milton. In 
the meantime, in 1832, he had commenced 
the study of medicine with Dr. T. Bronson, 
of Newton, and later practiced the profession 
several years. He was prominent as a demo- 
crat in his county and enjoyed an extended 
popularity, and in 1846 was elected sheriff of 
Mahoning county, filled the office two terms, 
and in 1855 was elected justice of the peace; 
he also held a commission as colonel of the 
state militia, served as brigade quartermaster, 
brigade aide-de-camp, and brigade inspector. 
While serving as justice of the peace he re- 
sided on the old homestead until i860, when 
he purchased a farm near Lordstown, Trum- 
bull county, to which he removed, and in 1861 



enlisted in company H, Twentieth regiment, 
Ohio volunteer infantry, was elected, on or- 
ganization, captain of his company, and served 
one year, when he was honorably discharged 
on account of disability. He then returned 
to his Trumbull county farm and followed 
agriculture until 1871, when he retired to 
Rootstown, where his son. Dr. A. M. Powers, 
was located. 

The marriage of Col. James Powers took 
place December 16, 1834, to Miss Rebecca 
Windle, daughter of Francis and Eleanor Win- 
die, of Milton township, Mahoning county, the 
union resulting in the birth of the following 
children: One who died in infancy; Dr. A. 
M., the subject; Mary E., who died in 1864, 
and Libbie J., wiie of B. Chapman, of Ra- 
venna. Ohio. Col. Powers was prominent as 
an Odd Fellow, and was also a member of the 
Grand Army of the Republic post at Ravenna; 
he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church for nearly half a century, was a trustee 
and steward of his congregation, and died in 
that faith February 3, 1890; his wife died Au- 
gust 21, 1882, and no more worthy couple ever 
graced the county of Portage. 

Dr. A. M. Powers received his elementary 
education in the district schools, which he at- 
tended until seventeen years of age; he then 
entered the Poland academy, and also took a 
course at a commercial college in Cleveland, 
but remained on the home farm until i860, in 
the meantime reading medicine with Drs. Will- 
iam H. and Charles Brown, of Lordstown; in 
in 1 860 he entered the Western Reserve Med- 
ical college, remained one term, then practiced 
his profession in Lordstown until November, 
1869, when he removed to Rootstown; in 
1869, also, he graduated from the Eclectic 
Medical institute of Cincinnati. Dr. Powers 
has been very successful in his practice at 
Rootstown, where his abilities are well recog- 
nized and his skill fully appreciated, and he 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



471 



stands in the front rank of his brother-profes- 
sionals of Portage county. 

The first marriage of Dr. Powers occurred 
in October, 1858, with Miss Cynthia, daughter 
of William and Polly Sherwin. of Trumbull 
county. This lady was born in 1839, and died 
in Rootstown September 11, 1874, the mother 
of the following children: Frank R., of Ra- 
venna, born in 1859; Dr. W. H., a resident of 
Amherst, Ohio, born in 1863; Jessie A., born 
in November, 1869; John E. , born Septem- 
ber 10, 1874, died June 25, 1875. Dr. Pow- 
ers chose for his second helpmate Mrs. Sarah 
L. Barlow, whom he married May 10, 1875. 
This lady was born March 3, 1838, and is a 
daughter of Nathan L. and Eliza (McCann) 
Bingham, of Ellsworth, Mahoning county, 
Ohio. 

In politics Dr. Powers is a democrat and 
has served as township trustee; he has been a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church 
since 1855, and for years has been a steward 
and trustee. For ten years he has been a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, and is also a member of the Royal Ar- 
canum. The doctor's social association is 
with the best people of the township and 
county, and he and wife enjoy the esteem of 
all who know them, while his children have 
attained positions in life that may well be con- 
sidered matters of complacency, if not pride, 
to any parent. 



m. 



*ILLIAM REDDING, architect and 
supervising builder, No. 248 South 
Howard street, Akron, Ohio, is a 
native of the Buckeye state and was 
born near Mansfield, Richland county, May 6, 
1858. His parents, Philip H. and Elizabeth 
(Dinges) Redding, were both born in Gren- 
stadt, Germany, came to America when 
young, were married in Ohio, and both are 



still living at the respective ages of eighty-five 
and eighty-three years. The father, during the 
years of his business activity, was a contractor 
and carpenter in Ashland and Richland coun- 
ties, and to him and wife were born eleven 
children, viz: Katy, wife of Joseph Martien. 
of Mansfield; Peter, proprietor of a planing- 
mill and factory, and also a contractor, of 
Ashland; Mary, deceased wife of John Moore; 
Frank, who was a conductor on the Erie rail- 
road and was killed in an accident in 1884; 
Lena, widow of Philip Hauseman, of Pavonia; 
Philip, a carpenter of Ashland; George, in the 
same business at the same place; William, the 
subject of this sketch, and three others, that 
died in infancy. 

William Redding, the subject, early learned 
the trade of carpenter under his father — a 
trade that seems to have been the peculiar 
mechanical feature of the male members of the 
family, as the great-grandfather, grandfather, 
father, subject and all his brothers learned 
and worked at this industry. He was well 
educated in the public schools and at the age 
of nineteen years started to work on his own 
aocount; two years later he began contracting, 
and in this capacity passed two and a half years 
in Ashland; he then entered the employ of 
Shearer & Kagey, planing-mill proprietors and 
contractors, for whom he did all the drafting and 
construction superintending for four and one- 
half years, and then came to Ashland in 1886, 
and for six and a half years was employed by 
Weary & Krasmer as draftsman; in the spring 
of 1893 he again opened business on his own 
account, and of the many structures he has 
superintended may be mentioned the Wilcox, 
the Kempel, the Kubler & Beck, the Clerkin 
and the Christie blocks, the white wire works, 
several of the rubber works buildings, and 
many others too numerous to mention in de- 
tail. He also made the drawings for the Ak- 
ron gas plant, and has been an acknowledged 



472 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



leader in this line since he has been in bnsi- 
ness in Akron. 

Mr. Redding is a member of McPherson 
lodge, No. 63, K. of P., and of uniform rank, 
K. of P., No. 21, of which he is commissary 
sergeant, second battalion, of the second regi- 
ment, also a member of Ben Hur lodge. No. 
1 1, in which he holds the office of chief. 

Mr. Redding was married, January 14, 
1 88 1, to Miss Emily M. Parks, daughter of 
Edwin Parks, of Mansfield, and this union has 
been blessed with one child — Edwin Floyd. 
Mr. Redding makes his happy home at No. 
303 West Center street, where he and his 
wife enjoy the esteem of many warm friends 
and social acquaintances. 



"^T^AMES NESBIT, county commissioner 
m of Summit county, Ohio, and a promi- 
/t 1 nent farmer of Northfield township, 
was born in the Ligonier valley, West- 
moreland county, Pa., December 5, 1828, the 
son of John and Ann (Matthews) Nesbit, both 
natives of the Keystone state. His paternal 
grandfather, William Nesbit, was a native of 
Scotland, and was one of the pioneer farmers 
of Westmoreland county, Pa. About the year 
1834 he moved to Northfield, Ohio, and died 
there. The maternal grandfather of our sub- 
ject, William Matthews, was a native of Ire- 
land, and was also a pioneer resident of West- 
moreland county, where he died. Our subject's 
father settled in Northfield, in what was then 
Portage county, Ohio, in the early 'thirties, and 
cleared and improved a farm of 160 acres 
upon which he lived and died and which is 
now occupied by his son John. He was a 
man of much influence in his community; was 
justice of the peace several terms and was also 
an elder and a prominent member of the 
United Presbyterian church. His death oc- 
curred in 1 86 1. He was the father of nine 



children, viz: Martha (Mrs. H. Alexander), 
Esther (Mrs. A. A. Rinear), William, Archi- 
bald, James, John, Mary J. (Mrs. Alexander 
McConnell), David, and Margaret A. (Mrs. 
Horace Palmer). 

James Nesbit was reared as a farmer on 
the parental homestead and enjo3'ed all of the 
advantages of the common schools of that 
period. He responded to his country's call to 
arms in the dark days of the nation's peril, 
enlisting August 4, 1862, as a corporal in com- 
pany G, One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio 
volunteer infantry. At the battle of Nashville, 
while guarding a bridge, he was captured and 
taken to Meridian, Miss., ten days later being 
transferred to that awful prison at Anderson- 
ville, where for five months and twelve days 
he suffered all the historic terror of that loath- 
some pen. Without shelter, without even a 
blanket, and with but little clothing, he suffered 
all but death, during that miserable period of 
cruel confinement. The fearful sufferings of 
the Andersonville prisoners are now historically 
familiar to all, and Mr. Nesbit's experience 
need not be enlarged on in this connection. 
Upon the declaration of peace he was honor- 
ably discharged by special order, June 21, 
1865, at Columbus, Ohio, 

Mr. Nesbit's has been a busy and a useful 
life. He is largely interested in all the good 
works of his own community and of the county 
at large. For eleven years he served as trus- 
tee of Northfield township, and was elected to 
the office of justice of the peace, but refused 
to qualify for this position. He is a stanch 
republican and his political work and counsels 
are of much value to his party in Summit 
county. His capabilities as a man of affairs 
and his excellent executive qualities have been 
recognized by the people of the county^ and 
he is now serving his second term as county 
commissioner, and is discharging the duties of 
that responsible position faithfully and well. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



475 



He is an honored and active member of the 
local post, G. A. R. 

Mr. Nesbit has been twice married. His 
first wife, Margaret R. , daughter of Henry 
Deisman, of Northfield township, bore him 
two children — Henry M. and Margaret R. His 
second union was with Mrs. Rebecca (Patter- 
son) Drennen, of Buena Vista, Pa., who has 
also borne him two children, daughters — Ellen 
H. (Mrs. Isaac McConnell), and Myrtle M. 

Mr. Nesbit, upon the expiration of his 
term of office in September, 1899, will have 
served the people of Summit county, faithfully 
and well, a little over seven years — one year 
by appointment and six years by election — and 
to-day stands as one of its most popular men. 



>>j'OHN B. PALMER, farmer and live- 
m stock dealer of Rootstown township, 
A 1 Portage county, Ohio, was born in Eng- 
land, June 23, 1847, but has been a 
resident of Ohio since infancy. 

William and Sophia (Brock) Palmer, par- 
ents of subject, came from England to the 
United States in 1848, and located in Tall- 
madge township. Summit county, Ohio. The 
father, who was a live-stock dealer and farm- 
er, at once declared his intention to become a 
United States citizen, and became naturalized 
as soon as the laws on this subject permitted, 
and was ever afterward a true American, a 
a stanch republican in olitics, and a devoted 
friend of the soldiers at the front during the 
Civil war, as he well might be, as two of his 
sons, at least, served in the Union army. He 
died on his farm in 1884, at the age of seven- 
ty-eight years; his widow died in March, 1897, 
at Monroe Falls, Summit county, in her eighty- 
fifth year. Ten children were born to William 
Palmer and wife, all of whom are still living, 
viz: William, in retirement at Cuyahoga Falls; 
Ellen, wife of Samuel Damp, of Olmstead 

17 ' 



Falls; Clara, wife of F. P. Caley, of Stowe 
township. Summit county; Fannie, wife of 
John Damp, of Elizabethton, Tenn. ; Alford, 
who served nearly four years during the Civil 
war, and now resides in Shelby county, Ohio; 
Annie, now Mrs. Hill, of Stowe township. 
Summit county; John B., subject; Harry A., 
general manager of the Electric Manufacturing 
company at Akron; Sadie J., wife of F. Jewell, 
of Stowe township. Summit county; and 
Charles, a resident of Uhrichsville, Ohio. 

John B. Palmer has passed all of his life in 
farming and stock-raising, of which three years 
were in Tennessee and the remainder on his 
present farm. In 1864 he enlisted in com- 
pany D, One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio 
volunteer infantry. He served four months, 
and was then honorably discharged, by reason 
of the expiration of his term of enlistment. 
While in the army he purchased some milk, 
so called, from a secession woman, but the 
liquid was a composition of chalk and water, 
with a liberal component of poison. Two 
members of the company died from imbibing 
this deadly beverage, several were injured for 
life from its effects, and this was the case of 
Mr. Palmer, who now receives a pension for 
the disability thus incurred. 

December i, 1869, Mr. Palmer was united 
in marriage, in Sumner county, Tenn., with 
Miss Mary E. Bailey, a native of Stowe town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, and a daughter 
of J. C. and Mary (Grosvenor) Bailey, an old- 
established family of that county. This mar- 
riage has been crowned with five children, viz: 
Lillian, now the wife of C. M. Bow, crockerj-, 
china and glassware dealer of Cleveland, but 
formerly conductor of a general store in 
Rootstown; Blanche, teacher in the public 
schools of Rootstown township; John, six- 
teen years of age, is an assistant to his 
father and also attends school — having al- 
ready graduated from the village high school; 



^76 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Minnie and Winnie are twins, aged twelve 
years. The family are connected with the 
Congregational church at Rootstown, and in 
politics Mr. Palmer is an active and influen- 
tial republican. He has served as township 
trustee, assessor and constable; was president 
of the McKinley club and also township com- 
mitteeman during the McKinley-Bryan cam- 
paign, and is regarded by his neighbors as a 
good and useful citizen. 



>^ UDGE CORNELIUS A. REED, presi- 
M dent of the Second National bank of 
A 1 Ravenna, was born in Rootstown, Port- 
age county, Ohio, July 3. 1838, a son 
of Horace and Lois E. (Baldwin) Reed, who 
were the parents of four sons and three daugh- 
ters, viz: Melissa, wife of E. E. Chapman; 
Ann Janette, married to Alfred Baldwin; John 
H., Edward A., Cornelius A., Horace L. and 
Julia A., wife of H. O. Reed. 

Abram Reed, the paternal grandfather of 
subject, was a native of Connecticut, of Scotch 
parentage, came to Portage county, Ohio, in 
1804, and kept a tavern in Rootstown until 
his death at an advanced age. He was also a 
farmer, was classed among the hardy pioneers, 
and was widely and favorably known through- 
out the county; his children were seven in 
number and were all reared in respectability 
and usefulness. John I^aldwin, the maternal 
grandfather of subject, was a native of Massa- 
chusetts of English descent, was a farmer by 
calling, came to Portage county, Ohio, in 181 1, 
and located in Charlestown, where he fol- 
lowed his vocation until his death, also at a 
very advanced age; his children were four in 
number — three sons and one daughter — and 
were likewise among the most respected resi- 
dents of their township — the daughter, Lois 
E. , having been a teacher of many years' ex- 
perience. 



Horace Reed was born in Rootstown in 
1805, and was the first white male native of 
the township. He was reared a farmer, and 
actively engaged in large business enterprises 
all his life, and died where he was born at the 
age of eighty years; his widow, who was a na- 
tive of Massachusetts, survived him some few 
years, and died at the extreme age of eighty- 
nine years, in the faith of the Congregational 
church, and was, like her husband, honored 
and esteemed by all who knew her. 

Judge C. A. Reed was reared on his fa- 
ther's farm and received his preliminary edu- 
cation in the district school, which was supple- 
mented by an attendance at an academy in 
Lebanon, and subsequently at that of Hiram. 
In early life he met with a severe accident, 
which so crippled him that he could not con- 
tinue the work of a farmer; neither could he 
enlist in the military service of his country. 
At the age of twenty years he left the home 
farm and engaged in teaching school, first in 
Warren and then in Portage county. He be- 
gan studying law in the spring of 1861, at 
Mansfield, Ohio, in the office of Burns & 
Dickey, was admitted to the bar in the sum- 
mer of 1863, and at once entered upon the 
practice of his chosen profession in Ravenna. 
In September, 1863, he formed a partnership 
with ex-Gov. Hart, which remained undis- 
solved for twelve years, during which time he 
constantly advanced both in reputation and in 
accumulation of this world's goods. For some 
time Mr. Reed practiced on his sole account, 
and having early adopted the principles of the 
republican party as his measure in politics, he 
was elected, in 1870, prosecuting attorney, a 
position he filled, with unsurpassed ability, for 
four years; he then adhered to his private and 
lucrative practice until 1883, when his party 
again called him into the public service by 
electing him probate judge, the functions of 
which office he filled with honor and credit to 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



477. 



himself for six years. In the minor offices he 
served as a justice of the peace and also as a 
member of the county school board of exam- 
iners for a number of years, but on withdraw- 
ing from the bench eschewed politics and also 
relinquished his law practice as speedily as cir- 
cumstances would warrant, and turned his at- 
tention solely to his business and farming in- 
terests and to the affairs of the Second 
National bank, of which he has been the presi- 
dent for the past three years. 

Judge Reed was united in matrimony, Feb- 
ruary I, 1865, with Miss Phebe F. Ray, 
daughter of Capt. Albert and Mary (Folger) 
Ray. the result of the marriage being two 
daughters — Lorena B. and Julia Mae — both 
at home. Capt. Albert Ray, father of Mrs. 
Reed, came from the island of Nantucket, 
Mass. , and settled in Portage county, Ohio, 
in 1850, his daughter (Mrs. Reed) being then 
seven years of age. He had been an old sea 
captain, and with him came quite a number of 
sea-faring people, with their families, who all 
settled in the same neighborhood in which the 
captain made his home. He proved to be a 
useful and influential citizen, and here followed 
agricultural pursuits until his death, which 
occurred about the year 1888. 

Judge Reed, his wife and daughters are 
members of the Congregational church, of 
which the judge is a deacon and also superin- 
tendent of the Sunday-school. Fraternally he 
is a member of the Akron commandery, F. & 
A. M. He has been a resident of Ravenna 
since September, 1863, and in 1876 erected 
his elegant residence at the corner of Meridian 
and Oak streets. He has been fully identified 
with the development of the city since his 
residence here, has aided liberally in all move- 
ments having that object for their aim, and is 
recognized emphatically as a leading citizen. 
The social standing of the judge and his family 
is as a matter of course with the best people 



in the city and county, and the public at 
large hold him in the highest esteem and place 
in him their implicit confidence. 



* w * EVI REED, who for twenty years was 
I r engaged in the livery business in Kent, 
I \ was born in Franklin township. Por- 
tage county, Ohio, September 8, 
1842, a son of James H. and Tersey (Scranton) 
Reed, natives, respectively, of Massachusetts 
and Pennsylvania. He was reared on his 
father's farm, and was educated in the com- 
mon schools, supplemented by an attendance 
for one term at Oberlin college. 

In February, 1865, Mr. Reed enlisted in 
company I, One Hundred and Eighty-eighth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, and served on gar- 
rison duty at Nashville and Murfreesboro, 
Tenn., until September, 1865, and on his 
return from the war married Miss Clara C. 
Stratton, a native of Franklin township and a 
daughter of Joseph B. and Ruth Stratton, who 
early came from Vermont with an ox-team and 
settled in Franklin township, where they 
passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. Reed, 
after his marriage, worked his father-in-law's 
farm for three or four years, and then came to 
Kent and for three years worked in the rail- 
road shops. He then, in partnership with a 
brother, engaged in the coal and feed trade, 
and also purchased the Earlville hack line and 
carried the mail between Kent and Earlville, 
adding, soon afterward, livery, andsubsequently 
groceries, to their business, under the firm 
name of Reed Brothers, this firm being com- 
posed of L. G., L. A. and Levi Reed. A few 
years later the firm dissolved, the subject 
retaining the livery department, and this he has 
successfully conducted from 1876. To the 
marriage of Levi Reed and wife have been born 
five children, viz: William W., a dentist of 
Kent; Leora, married to Harry L'Hommedieu, 



478 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



a resident of Akron; Leona, who is attending 
Buciitel college at Akron; Roy Ralph, at home, 
and Asa, who died in infancy. He owns 
valuable real estate in Kent, and has been 
very successful in managing business. He 
is straightforward and obliging, and con- 
sequently popular and prosperous. In politics 
he is a republican and fraternally is an Odd 
Fellow and a member of A. H. Day post, No. 
185, Grand Army of the Republic, at Kent. 
Mr. Reed retired from business in April, 1897. 



ISAAC N. REID, one of the old soldiers 
of the Civil war, and a respected citi- 
zen of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, was born 
at Addison, Addison county, Vt., Jan- 
uary 8, 1840, a son of Robert and Jane (Bas- 
ken) Raid. He received the usual common- 
school education and came with his father and 
mother to Cuyahoga Falls in June, 1852, and 
here learned the trade of a butcher. He en- 
listed at Cleveland, Ohio, in June, 1862, was 
appointed to the quartertnaster's department 
for a year, but remained about two years, 
under Lieut. Irvin and Capt. Smith at Nash- 
ville, Murfreesboro and Tullahoma, Tenn. In 
February, 1864, he re-enlisted at Cleveland, 
Ohio, in company B, Capt. John McGrath, 
One Hundred and Eighty-eigthth regiment 
Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve one year, or 
during the war, and served until September 
26, 1865, when he was honorably discharged 
at Nashville, Tenn. He participated in the 
second battle at Nashville. Mr. Reid was 
always an active soldier and was never sick, 
nor in hospital, nor wounded, nor a prisoner. 
After the war, Mr. Reid returned to Cuya- 
hoga Falls and married. May 4, 1869, Sarah 
Fillingham, who was born in England and 
came to America when a child. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Reid have been born Carrie, Arthur, 



Theodore and Grace. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Reid are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which he has been trustee and 
steward. He is a member of the G. A. R., 
Eadie post, and once held the office of post 
commander. He is also a member of the I. 
O. O. F., Howard lodge. No. 62, in which he 
has passed all the chairs, including the office 
of noble grand, and is now recording secretary; 
he is also a Mason, and has served as senior 
warden, senior deacon and secretary of Wash- 
ington chapter. No. 25, at Akron, Ohio. Po- 
litically, Mr. Reid is a republican and has held 
the office of township trustee for fourteen or 
fifteen years. He is a thrifty and substantial 
citizen and owns valuable real estate. He 
has learned the carriagemaking business since 
the war closed, and is now following that 
trade. His father, Robert Reid, came to Cuy- 
ahoga Falls in 1852, and his children were 
Isaac N., Ellen Lettie, John C, Richard, 
Charles and Eliza. Three of the sons were 
soldiers in the late Civil war, John, Isaac N. 
and Richard, and the family enjoy in a high 
degree the esteem of the citizens. 



>T^OHN C. REID, of Cuyahoga Falls, 
m Ohio, an ex-soldier of the Civil war, 
A 1 and an honored citizen, was born Au- 
gust 27, 1845, at Middlebury, Vt., and 
is a son of Robert and Jane Reid, mentioned 
in the sketch of Isaac N. Reid. He received 
a common-school education and was brought 
by his parents to Ohio, in 1849, and to Cuy- 
ahoga Falls when four years old. He learned 
telegraphy and the drug business before the 
war and enlisted, in September, 1861, at 
Akron, Ohio, in company G, Sixty-fourth reg- 
iment, Ohio volunteer infantry, to ser\e three 
years, and re-enlisted January i, 1864, at 
Strawberry Plains, Tenn. in the same organi- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



479 



zation, for three years or during the war, and 
was honorably discharged and mustered out 
at Cleveland, Ohio, in December, 1865, reach- 
ing home January 4, 1866. He fought at 
Green River, Ky., Chickamauga, Nashville, 
Franklin, with Sherman on the Atlanta cam- 
paign, at Dalton, Dallas, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Pumpkinvine Creek, Peach Tree Creek, Lost 
Mountain, Kenesaw mountain and in the bat- 
tle in front of Atlanta. He was then at Nash- 
ville and Franklin. He was slightly wounded 
at the battle of Missionary Ridge and was sick 
in hospital a short time at Camp Dennison, 
Ohio. He was detailed as scout under Gen. 
Thomas, and did a great deal of this danger- 
ous duty outside of the lines. He acted part 
of the time as postmaster, and was promoted 
for meritorious conduct to sergeant. He also 
served a while, in Texas, whence he was sent 
home. 

After the war he became a clerk in the 
drug store of F. S. Heath & Co., and also was 
operator for the Western Union Telegraph 
company for eighteen years, was post- 
master four years, and in 1895 engaged 
in the grocery business under the firm name 
of Hatfield & Reid. He is a member of 
the G. A. R. , Eadie post, and held the office 
of quartermaster. He is a Freemason and 
has held the office of master of Starr lodge; 
also a member of Washington chapter, and 
Akron commandery. He is a K. T. of Cleve- 
land, and a noble of the mystic shrine. In 
politics he is a republican, and is a member of 
the town council. 

Mr. Reid was married, in 1869, to Eunice 
A. Grim, and to them have been born Emma 
M. and Carl H. Mr. Reid descends from 
sterling Scotch-Irish ancestors who came to 
America in old colonial times. The family has 
always maintained a prominent position in 
whatever part of the country in which its 
members may have happened to reside, and 



the Cuyahoga Falls branch is by no means 
remiss in maintaining the good name of its 
ancestry. 



^2^— Y'ALENTINE REIS, a prosperous fami- 
ly / er of Randolph township. Portage 
^Y county, Ohio, is a native of Hesse- 
Darmstadt, GerinSny, and was born 
September 23, 1837, a son of Valentine and 
Eva (Derr) Reis, who were born in 1800 and 
1796, respectively, and came to Ohio in 1853, 
settling in Portage county on the farm on 
which Valentine, the son, now lives. They 
were the parents of five children, of whom 
Eva, wife of Martin Miller, died in 1858, at 
the age of thirty years; the survivors are 
Catherine, wife of Francis Bassel; Valentine, 
the subject of this notice; Margaret, married 
to Philip Heims, and Elizabeth, wife of Frank 
Shueman. The father of the family died in 
1872, at the age of seventy-two years; the 
mother is also deceased, and both were devout 
members of the Catholic church. 

Frank Reis, paternal grandfather of sub- 
ject, also reared a family of five children, of 
whom four came to America, viz: \'alentine, 
father of subject; Magdalena, who was mar- 
ried to Michael Kissel; Margaret, married to 
John Yaner, and Bardlea, all now deceased; 
Catherine, who was the wife of John Sharpe, 
passed away in the old country. 

Valentine Reis, the subject, came to Port- 
age county with his father, being then about 
sixteen years of age, and assisted in clearing 
up the farm his father had purchased, and 
worked in his father's interests until twenty- 
one years old, when he bought the homestead, 
the father retiring to private life. In August, 
1862, subject married Miss Catherine Miller, 
daughter of John and Gertrude (Bassel) Miller, 
and this union has been blessed with three 
children — Martin, Adam and Catherine — the 



480 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



last named being the wife of John Kline. The 
parents of Mrs. Reis were natives of Germany 
and came to the United States in 1850; the 
father was a weaver by trade, and followed 
this calling to some e.xtent after reaching 
America, but his chief occupation here was 
farming, having purchased a tract of land in 
Randolph township. His family comprised 
three children, two of whom were born here — 
Mrs. Reis and Martin. Both parents are now 
deceased. 

In politics Mr. Reis is a democrat, and has 
served as township supervisor and as school 
director for several years. He and family are 
conscientious members of the Catholic con- 
gregation at St. Joseph, in which Mr. Reis has 
held the office of councilman for five 3'ears or 
longer. Beside general farming, Mr. Reis has 
given considerable attention to live stock, and 
is regarded as one of the most intelligent and 
substantial husbandmen of the township. 



eETER J. RIEDINGER, a retired 
farmer and a highly respected citizen 
of Randolph township. Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, was born in Baden, Ger- 
many, March 19, 18 19, a son of George P. 
and Mary (Weigold) Riedinger, who were par- 
ents of four children, of whom two are still 
living — Eva, widow of Adam Wetzel, and 
Peter J. Of the deceased, Mary died in Ger- 
many; Jacob, who was born in 1812, was 
burned to death on lake Erie, in 1841, three 
other members of the Riedinger family losing 
their lives on the burning vessel, which was 
bound for Cleveland. George P. Riedinger, 
the father, died when over sixty 3'ears of age, 
and his widow in 1872, aged eighty-two years, 
both in the faith of the Reformed church. 

Peter J. Riedinger attended the common 
schools of Germany until fourteen years of 
age, learning, in the meantime, the trade of 



shoemaking, at which trade he worked in the 
old country until 1840, when he came alone 
to the United States, arriving in Cleveland, 
Ohio, without a cent or a friend. He suc- 
ceeded in securing board, however, at a hotel 
for a week, when he secured work at his trade, 
receiving as compensation fifty cents per day. 
He remained in Cleveland but a short time, 
and then came to Randolph township. Portage 
county, and for some time worked among the 
farmers, clearing up land, etc., finally accu- 
mulating sufficient means for the purchase of 
a small place for himself, which he also 
cleared up, and for several years cultivated 
his place with the aid of two oxen. His crops 
he hauled to Akron, a distance of sixteen 
miles, where he received fifty cents per bushel 
for wheat and ten cents per bushel for oats; 
his butter he carried on his shoulder to Ra- 
venna, a distance of ten miles, and there he 
disposed of it at five cents per pound, receiv- 
ing payment in trade, calico being valued at 
twenty-five cents per yard, and other articles 
at equally high rates. 

The marriage of Mr. Riedinger took place 
in Randolph, December 8, 1840, to Miss Mary 
Leitwein, daughter of Adam and Margaret 
(Fuhr) Leitwein, and to this marriage have 
been born seven children, of whom five are 
still living, viz: Rev. Philip J., born Novem- 
ber 24, 1844, and now minister of the Pres- 
byterian church at Richville, Ohio; Peter D., 
born April i, 1848, and a resident of Kent; 
Martin, born March 30, 1852, and still on the 
homestead in Randolph township; Mary, born 
June 26, 1856, is the wife of Virgil J. Crockett, 
and John, born May 12, 1861, resides in Kent; 
two others died in infancy. The parents of 
Mrs. Riedinger were also natives of Baden, 
and came to the United States in 1831; they 
resided in Pennsylvania until 1835, and then 
came to Randolph township. Portage county, 
Ohio, and here the father engaged in farming 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



481 



until his death, which occurred December 31, 
1859, at the age of seventy-four years, while 
his widow lived until June, 1869, when she 
was called away at the age of seventy-five — 
both members of the Reformed church. 

Mr. Riedinger came to Randolph a poor 
young man and has worked his way upward 
until he is now the owner of two excellent 
farms and is one of the most substantial citi- 
zens of Randolph township, living in retire- 
ment on the fruits of his early industry. In 
politics he is a democrat, and has served as 
supervisor and school director, and he and 
wife are members of the Reformed church, in 
which he has filled all the lay offices, and 
there is no one more honored than he is in 
Portage county. 



*-|-* EIDIGH H. RHODES, a well known 
I j and prosperous farmer of Franklin 
^^^^ township. Portage county, Ohio, was 
born in Medina county, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 12, 1843, a son of Frederick and Barbara 
(Hausley) Rhodes. 

George Rhodes, grandfather of Leidigh H., 
was born in Pennsylvania, was a farmer by oc- 
cupation, and was among the early setters of 
Stark county, Ohio. To his marriage with 
Miss Margaret Smith there were born seven 
children, of whom three are still living, viz: 
Frederick, Joseph and Polly — the last being 
the wife of Henry D. Daley. The deceased 
were named Sallie, Magdalen (Mrs. Henry 
Wenderhoof), Hannah and David. The father 
of this family died in February, 1843, when 
sixty years of age, but his widow survived 
until 1872, when she expired at the advanced 
age of eighty-five years — both in the faith of 
the Lutheran church, of which they had long 
been faithful members. The father of George, 
and the great-grandfather of Leidigh H., bore 
the name of Frederick, was a native of Ger- 



many, and came to America some time in the 
latter part of the eighteenth centurj-, had a 
family of six children, and eventually came to 
Ohio, where his death took place in 1S20, at 
a very advanced age. 

Frederick Rhodes, father of Leidigh H. 
Rhodes, was born in Stark county, Ohio, Jan- 
uary 13. 1816. He was educated in the sub- 
scription schools of his native county and has 
nearly all his life been engaged in farming, 
although for about twenty-two years he has 
operated a threshing machine. December 8, 
1842, he married Miss Barbara Hauslej', a 
daughter of Levi and Mar}' fLuman) Hausley, 
and to this union were born eight children, of 
whom the following five are still living: Leidigh 
H., whose name opens this biography; Mary, 
wife of George Meachem; Lewis; Catherine,- 
who is married to John Newton, and Frank, 
who is employed by the Standard Oil company 
at . Cleveland. The deceased were named 
Daniel, who died in 1859, aged two years; 
Henry, who was aged fourteen years at his 
death in 1862, and Annie, who was married to 
J. B. Wilcox, and died in September, 1896, 
at the age of thirty years. 

In 1859 Frederick Rhodes bought his 
present farm in Portage county, on which he 
settled in i860. Here he lost his wife in 1881, 
who died at the age of sixty years, a devout 
and earnest Christian, a faithful wife and de- 
voted mother, and a kind neighbor. Mr. 
Rhodes is a consistent member of the Lutheran 
church, and now, at the age of eighty-one 
years, is remarkably well preserved, with the 
exception of his eyesight, which is beginning 
to fail. 

Leidigh H. Rhodes was reared to farming 
and remained with his father until Jjwpnty 
years old, when he took charge of a farm on 
his own account; in 1882 he settled on his 
present place, which is known as the Celery 
farm, one and one-half miles from Kent, inas- 



482 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



much as he devotes about one-third of his 
place to the cultivation of this edible, growing 
the iinest in the state of Ohio. He has been 
verj' fortunate in his farming, which has been 
his occupation through life, with the exception 
of three years, during which time he was em- 
ployed on the Atlantic & Great Western rail- 
road as brakeman. 

Mr. Rhodes was united in marriage, De- 
cember 23, 1863, with Miss Catherine Gross, 
born July 8, 183S, a daughter of Christian and 
Elizabeth (Flickinger) Gross, and this union 
has been blessed with three children, viz: 
Amanda A., wife of J. H. Reidinger; F. E., 
who married Miss Lillian Kreager, and Charles 
E.. who graduated from the Kent high school, 
and at present makes his home with his par- 
ents. In politics Mr. Rhodes is a republican, 
and for eight years has filled the ofi&ce of town 
supervisor; his religion is that of the Lutheran 
church, of which he and wife have been mem- 
bers for many years. 

Christian Gross, father of Mrs. Rhodes, 
and his wife, Elizabeth Gross, were both na- 
tives of Portage county, and to their marriage 
were born four children, viz: Elizabeth, John, 
Priscilla and Catherine (Mrs. Rhodes). The 
father died at the age of seventy-three years, 
and the mother, aged seventy-five — both in 
the faith of the Dunkard church. 

Mr. Rhodes and family stand very high in I 
the social circles of Franklin township, and 
Mr. Rhodes is individual!} very popular with j 
his fellow-citizens, who esteem him for his 
thoroughly upright course through life. 



@EORGE O. RICE, the well-known , 
real-estate and insurance agent of 
Kent, Ohio, is a native of Brandon, 
Vt. , was born April 22, 1819, and is 
a son of Hastings and Nancy A. (Bates 1 Rice, ' 
who were born in Massachusetts, but were ' 



married in Brandon, Vt., where both passed 
the remainder of their lives — the father dying 
in 1829, and the mother many years later, at 
the age of seventy-eight. 

George O. Rice, the subject, was the only 
child of his parents, and at the early age of 
about ten years lost his father. He was reared 
on a farm, but received a good common-school 
education and for a few terms was himself a 
school-teacher. He next engaged in farming 
on his own account, and at the age of twenty- 
five years married Miss Joanna P. Lincoln, 
daughter of John H. Lincoln, of Pittsford. Vt., 
and to this union were born three children, none 
of whom now survive. In the meantime Mr. 
Rice had learned harnessmaking, and in 1850 
came to Ohio and opened a harness shop in 
Kent, which he conducted nearly ten years, 
and then, for a few years, was engaged in the 
coal trade, and then in the general produce 
business, which he followed until about 1875, 
■when he became interested in insurance and 
real estate. 

The death of Mrs. Rice occurred in Kent, 
December 19, 1874, and on June 19, 1877, 
Mr. Rice married Miss Helen E. Parmelee, 
daughter of Luther H. Parmelee, of Kent. 
Mr. and Mrs. Rice are members of the Con- 
gregational church, in which Mr. Rice is a 
deacon and was for eighteen years Sabbath- 
school superintendent. In politics Mr. Rice 
was in his early days a whig of the strongest 
anti-slavery proclivities, and on the formation 
of the republican party became one of its 
stanchest adherents. Although he has nevei 
had a desire for public office, he has done his 
duty as a citizen b\- serving in the cit}- council 
of Kent. 

In the insurance and real-estate business 
Mr. Rice has made a success, and is probably 
one of the best-posted men in Kent to-day as 
to realty. To facilitate his many real-estate 
transactions he secured, nearly twenty-five 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



483 



years ago, a commission as notary public, 
which, in his line, is a very convenient docu- 
ment to have. As a citizen Mr. Rice is enter- 
prising, liberal and public spirited, and is ever 
among the foremost in contributing to all 
projects designed for the public good or the 
improvement of his adopted city of Kent. He 
has been attentive to every line of business in 
which he has been engaged, and through his 
own efforts has realized a competency and 
earned the universal respect and esteem in 
which he is held. 



HNDREW B. RINEHART, general 
manager of the Akron Belting com- 
pany, was born in Allen county, Ind., 
near Fort Wayne, November 14, 1862, 
a son of Andrew and MaryE. (Trimmer) Rine- 
hart, both natives of Knox county, Ohio. The 
father, while \et a single man, left his home 
in Kno.x county, went to Allen county, Ind., 
purchased his farm, then returned to his home 
and married, went back to his new home and 
followed farming until some time prior to his 
death, which occurred in the mountains of 
California November 18, 1889. His widow 
then returned to her native county of Knox, 
where she still resides. They had born to 
them four children, viz: Florence A., wife of 
J. B. Wright, of Rich Hill, Knox county, 
Ohio; Ida J., wife of Elwood Montgomery, 
also of Rich Hill: Ellis F., farmer of the same 
place, and .Andrew B., the subject. 

Andrew B. Rinehart was born on his 
father's farm and attended the district schools 
of Allen county, Ind., regularly until twelve 
years of age, and from that age until fifteen 
attended during the winters only, working on 
the home farm in the summers. At the age 
of twenty-one years he began to learn teleg- 
raphy, but continued his work on the farm 
morning and evening, walking a considerable 



distance to receive instruction in his art, which 
he soon mastered and was given a position at 
night work. He worked alternately at farm- 
ing and telegraphing at various points as op- 
portunities presented themselves, and finally 
was appointed to day work at Cuyahoga Falls, 
where he remained until February 21, 1887, 
when he associated himself with the Akron 
Iron company as shipping clerk and time- 
keeper, which position he held six months, 
and did general office work until October, 
1888, when he was appointed traveling sales- 
man for the territory of the United States east 
of the Rocky mountains. For this class of 
work he was especially fitted, and became one 
of the most successful salesmen on the road. 
While thus engaged, in the fall of 1891, he be- 
came salesman, also, for the Brigger Belting 
company of Akron, and the following year 
bought stock in this concern and then became 
its -president, holding the position until its con- 
solidation, in 1893, with the Akron Belting 
company. 

The Akron Belting company was incorpor- 
ated October i, 1885. by A. M. Barber, C. E. 
Sheldon, Samuel Findley, Sumner Nash and 
Charles T. Bodifield, for the purpose of man- 
ufacturing leather belting and mill supplies. 
Its present officers are George \\'. Crouse, 
president; A. M. Barber, vice-president: A. B. 
Rinehart, general manager; Sumner Nash, 
secretary and treasurer; George Wince, assist- 
ant secretary, and \\'ebster Thorpe, superin- 
tendent. The plant is located at what is 
known as the Allen mills, at the corner of 
Cherry and Canal streets, and it employs some 
thirty-seven people. Its output is disposed of 
all over the United States and much of it taken 
by foreign purchasers, and has been constantly 
increasing, notwithstanding the stagnation in 
trade from 1893 to 1896. Mr. Rinehart has 
been a prime factor in the success of this con- 
cern, and his abilitv as a business man, and 



484 



" PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



especially as a salesman, is universally con- 
ceded. In 1893 Mr. Rinehart also became 
connected with the Whitman & Barnes com- 
pany as manager of the advertising and credit 
department, and later as sales manager, which 
position he now holds. 

Mr. Rinehart is a republican in politics, 
but has never been an office seeker. Frater- 
nally he is a member of Adoniram lodge, No. 
517, F. & A. M., and of Washington chapter; 
he is also a member of Akron commandery. 
No. 25, K. T. His marriage took place Jan- 
uary 23, 1889, to Miss Minnie M. Miller, 
daughter of Virgil T. and Helen S. Miller, and 
this marriage has been blessed by the birth of 
one child — May Irene. Mr. and Mrs. Rine- 
hart are consistent members of the Congrega- 
tional church, and their pleasant residence is 
at No. 204 South Forge street. 



t^^ AVID L. ROCKWELL, president of 
I I the City bank of Kent, Portage 
>^^_^ county, Ohio, was born in Franklin 
township. May 13, 1843, of good old 
New England descent, his grandfather, Har- 
vey Rockwell, having been born in East Wind- 
sor, Conn. About 1808 or 1809 the latter 
gentleman came to Ohio and settled in Ashta- 
bula county, where he engaged in farming. 
He was also a soldier in the war of 18 12, was 
a true American and died in his new home, 
the father of nine children. 

Hon. David L. Rockwell, Sr. , son of this 
patriot and father of the subject of this mem- 
oir, was born in Pierpont, Ohio, November 
22, 18 1 2, was reared a farmer, and there mar- 
ried Miss Mary E. Pal miter, who was born in 
Bridgewater, N. Y., a daughter of Ephraim 
Palmiter. Mr. Rockwell came to Portage 
county in 1838 or 1839, and for a year kept a 
hotel in Brimfield, and then moved to Frank- 
lin Mills (now Kent), and for two years kept 



the hotel known as the " oldWoodard stand;" 
later, he kept the Franklin exchange for a 
year, and then engaged in merchandizing, 
which he followed until his death, February 
28, 1868. His widow survived until 1875, 
when she died at sixty years of age. Both 
were members of the Episcopal church. In 
politics Mr. Rockwell was first a whig, but 
afterward became a republican, and for a 
number of years served as justice of the peace. 
In 1848 he was elected a member of the Ohio 
general assembly, and in 1861 was re-elected 
to the same office. Fraternally he was a 
Freemason and Odd Fellow, and was prom- 
inent, and, it may be said, distinguished 
throughout his useful life. Of the six children 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell, four grew to 
mature years, viz; Dorena A., wife of Judge 
U. L. Marvin, of Akron; David L. , the sub- 
ject of this memoir; Charles Henry, a graduate 
of West Point, who held a commission as 
captain in the United States army, and died 
in Washington, D. C, in 1888, and Orlo 
Scott, an attorney of Kent, Ohio. 

David L. Rockwell, whose name intro- 
duces this sketch, was educated primarily in 
the public schools of Kent and then attended 
Hiram college, after which he taught school a 
year or more, and also passed some time in his 
father's store. He read law in the office of 
Judge Marvin, then of Kent, but now of Akron, 
and was admitted to the bar in April, 1866, 
and was in partnership with Judge Marvin for 
two years, or until the judge removed to Ak- 
ron, after which he practiced alone until a 
stroke of paralysis, in 1884, forbade him 
longer continuing in the profession. During 
this period he had law offices in Kent and Ra- 
venna, and since 1878 has had his residence 
in the latter city. 

Mr. Rockwell was one of the directors of 
the Kent Savings bank from its organization 
until 1878, when he sold his stock, and in 1881 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



485 



associated with himself other citizens and or- 
ganized the City bank of Kent, with a capital 
of $50,000, and of this bank Mr. Rockwell has 
since been president. This institution has al- 
ways had the confidence of the public, and has 
been well managed, as has been proven by the 
fact that its deposits exxeed $100,000; that it 
has always declared its dividend and has a 
surplus. Its present officers are David L. 
Rockwell, president; John H. Williard, vice- 
president; M. G. Garrison, cashier, and C. M. 
Davis, assistant cashier. 

Mr. Rockwell was most happily married, 
May 30, 1867, to Miss Mary E. Metlin, a 
daughter of Samuel Metlin, of Summit county, 
and this union has been blessed with three 
children — Mollie E., Dorena A. and David L. , 
Jr. In politics Mr. Rockwell is a democrat, 
but, while he has never desired public office, 
still takes an active part in forwarding the in- 
terests of his party and has represented it in 
various state conventions and in the national 
convention at Chicago in 1896. Fraternally 
he is a Freemason. He has made his own 
way through life, being wonderfully energetic 
and enterprising, and has acquired consider- 
able property in Portage and other counties, 
and has also erected several buildings in Kent, 
for renting purposes, and has done much other- 
wise toward promoting the growth of the city 
by freely aiding all projects designed for its 
benefit. He is, indeed, what is usually de- 
nominated a useful citizen, and has won the 
highest esteem of the whole population of Kent 
and surrounding country. 



ORLO S. ROCKWELL, attorney at 
law, of Kent, was born in Franklin 
township. Portage county, Ohio, 
March 26, 1851, a son of David L. 
and Mary E. (Palmiter) Rockwell, also natives 
of the Buckeye state. His preparatory educa- 



tion was acquired in the public schools of Kent, 
and his legal instruction was imparted by his 
brother, David L. Rockwell, of whom mention 
is made in full on an adjoining page, and this 
instruction was supplemented by a course of 
study under Judge U. L. Marvin, of Akron. 
In 1873 he was admitted to the bar of the dis- 
trict court, before the establishment of the 
circuit court. In 1873-74 he held the office 
of deputy clerk of probate court of Summit 
county, and in 1875 engaged in the active 
practice of his profession in Kent, and here he 
has since built up a lucrative legal business, 
which has claimed his entire attention up to 
the present time, with the exception of two 
years — one year in the early part of his legal 
career — 1876 — when he went to Fort Hayes, 
Kans., where his brother, Charles H., was an 
officer in the regular army, and where Orlo S. 
himself served for the time as civilian clerk in 
the "quartermaster's department — and one year, 
1883, which he passed in Akron in partnership 
with Judge Marvin. With this exception he 
has always been alone and has done an exten- 
sive general practice. 

Mr. Rockwell was united in the bonds of 
matrimony in September, 1876, with Miss 
Nellie M. Sawyer, daughter of Francis and 
Margaret (McMean) Sawyer, of Brimfield town- 
ship. Mrs. Rockwell was born October, 1857, 
in Davenport, Iowa, at which place her par- 
ents made their home one year, all the re- 
mainder of their lives having been passed in 
Portage county, Ohio. The marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Rockwell has been crowned by the 
birth of two children — Mary Dorena and 
Charles Henry. 

From 1883 to 1885 Mr. Rockwell found 
time between his professional engagements to 
manage and edit the Kent News, a democratic 
organ, but when he resigned the chair editorial 
of the journal the plant was sold and removed 
to Ravenna and issued as the Graphic for a 



486 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



short time, and was finally absorbed by the 
Ravenna Republican. Mr. Rockwell, it will 
easily be inferred, is in politics a democrat. 
He cast his first presidential vote for Horace 
Greeley in 1S72, and has since acted loyally 
with the democracy. Under the auspices of 
this great party he served one term as city so- 
licitor of Kent, and has twice been elected as 
mayor, serving from 1882 to 1884, and from 
1892 to 1894. From 1888 to 1892 he was 
postmaster of Kent under President Cleveland. 
In this last office he was ably assisted by Mrs. 
Rockwell as his deputy until her death, which 
occurred in 1890, in the faith of the Episcopal 
church, a most highly esteemed and accom- 
plished lady. Mr. Rockwell has also served 
as clerk of the county board of election, and 
has ever been alert in advancing the interests 
of his party during campaigns, and has invaria- 
bly held a position on some one of the impor- 
tant committees, but has never slighted his 
legal business for the sake of politics, and is 
recognized as an attorney of unblemished in- 
tegrity. Fraternally, he is a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the 
Royal Arcanum, and is as highly respected so- 
cially as he is professionally. 



<>^ OBERT M. RISK, of Kent, county 
I /^ commissioner, was born in Brimfield 
1 W township. Portage county, Ohio, No- 
vember S, 1840, and is a son of 
George and Isabella (McCauley) Risk, natives 
of Londonderry, Ireland. 

George Risk, father of subject, was a 
farmer by vocation, was married in Ireland 
and had born to him in that county one child. 
In I 829 he brought his little family to America 
and first located in Stowe township. Summit 
county, Ohio, where he purchased and culti- 
vated a farm for a few years; he then came to 
Portage county, and bought a partially im- 



proved farm of 100 acres in Brimfield town- 
ship, which he fully improved and lived on 
thirty odd )-ears; he lost his wife in 1866, then 
removed to Franklin township, where he pur- 
chased a small place; his own life was spared 
until 1886, wtien-he also died, respected by all 
who knew him. To George Risk and wife 
were born eight children, vi^: Samuel, a 
farmer of Brimfield township, who died and 
left two children, one of whom is also de- 
ceased ; George, who was crippled with rheu- 
matism at the age of six years, was never 
able to walk afterward, but nevertheless accu- 
mulated considerable propert}' in Kent, and 
there died, universally respected; Eliza died 
in childhood; Sarah Jane is the wife of Wilber 
Sapp, of Carroll county, Ohio; Martha, mar- 
ried, resides in Allegheny, Pa. ; John is a stock 
dealer and farmer, of Battle Creek, Neb. ; 
Robert M. is the subject of this sketch; Will- 
iam, a soldier in the Union army, died in the 
pursuit of the rebel raider, John Morgan, at 
the age of twenty years. Of this family, four 
sons served in the Civil war, viz: Samuel, 
John, Robert M. (subject) and William. 

Robert M. Risk, with whom this biography 
has most to do, was reared on the home farm 
in Brimfield, Portage county, and received 
something more than the education usually 
vouchsafed to farmers' lads, and himself 
taught school several years in the states of 
Michigan and Indiana. April 19, 1861, be- 
fore reaching his twenty-first year, he enlisted 
in company F, Seventh Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, and was mustered in for three months 
at Camp Taylor, Cleveland, and after having 
served his term was honorably discharged, but 
re-enlisted for three years at Camp Dennison. 
Under this enlistment his first engagement was 
at Cross Lane, W. Va., and he was kept at 
marching, skirmishing and fighting until he 
entered the conflict at Cedar Mountain, Va. , 
where he was shot through the left thigh by a 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



487 



rifle ball, which effectually brought his fight- 
ing days to a close. He was again honorably 
discharged March 5, 1863, and on his return 
home and after recovery from his wound he 
employed his time in farming on his father's 
land until he rented a farm in Ravenna town- 
ship, in 1865, in which year he married Miss 
Mary Madole, a native of Franklin township 
and a daughter of George and Sarah Madole. 
Some little time after marriage he purchased 
a farm of fifty acres in Ravenna township and 
ran in debt for the full amount of its cost, but 
was industrious, managed well, and soon paid 
off his obligation; later, he sold this farm and 
bought the old homestead in Brimfield town- 
ship, and also purchased another farm of fifty- 
five acres, both of which he still owns. He 
also purchased a home in Kent, and in Sep- 
tember, 1894, moved to the city. To the 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Risk have been 
born eight children, in the following order: 
Sarah Isabell, a teacher; Josephine married 
Edward Elliott and lives in Ravenna; May, a 
teacher; Harry W. , also a teacher; George, a 
street-car employee, who married Belle Bush- 
nell and resides at Cuyahoga Falls; Edward, 
also a street-car employee; Maud and Iva. 

In politics Mr. Risk has always been a re- 
publican, and cast his first presidential vote 
for Abraham Lincoln. In 1893 he was elected 
county commissioner, and during his incum- 
bency it was that the electric street-car line 
was run through the county. So satisfactorily 
did Mr. Risk perform his duties in this office, 
he was re-elected in 1896, and is now filling 
his second term, having been nominated for 
re-election in convention by acclamation, with- 
out a dissenting vote, the public falling into 
full accord with the action of the convention. 
Mr. Risk has also served as delegate to several 
county and district conventions of his party, 
and has well shown himself able to be a party 
leader. 



The subject of this sketch lost his wife 
January 13, 1891, and was married again Au- 
gust 18, 1895, to Miss Julia Blake, daughter 
of Buel and Sallie Blake; to this marriage has 
been born one child, Dorothy. 



*y-» UCIUS E. RODENBAUGH, a noted 

I r builder and contractor of Kent, Ohio, 

I jl was born in Springfield township. 

Summit county, June 3, 1844, a son 

of John and Laura A. (Purdy) Rodenbaugh, the 

former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter 

of Vermont. 

Peter Rodenbaugh, grandfather of subject, 
was a German by birth and early settled in 
Pennsylvania, where he married and reared a 
family of four sons and four daughters, of 
whom the following reached the years of ma- 
turity: Isaac, a potter and farmer of Spring- 
field township. Summit county, Ohio; John, 
the father of subject; William, a farmer of 
Parke county, Ind., where he followed his 
calling until his death; Peter, who was a pot- 
ter by trade and died in Akron, Ohio; Eliza, 
whose second husband is a Mr. Humniiston 
and a resident of Iowa. Peter Rodenbaugh, 
the father of this family, soon after marriage, 
came to Ohio and followed his trade of potter 
and his vocation of farmer, but eventually 
came to Portage county, and died in Franklin 
township at the advanced age of near!}- eighty 
years. Solomon Purdy, the maternal grand- 
father of subject, on coming to Ohio from 
Vermont, first located in Summit county, where 
he, like the paternal grandfather, followed his 
callings of potter and farmer, and eventually 
came to Portage county and co'ntinued in the 
same vocations until his death, at the age of 
eighty-four years. 

John Rodenbaugh, father of subject, on 
coming to Ohio, located in Summit county, 
was there married, and there followed his 



488 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



trades of potter and niillwrigjht until 1853, 
when he came to Portage county, where he 
became a farmer and auctioneer, and in the 
latter capacity was widely known, not only in 
Ohio, but in adjoining states. He owned a 
good farm, a portion of which is now used as 
the meeting ground of the Spiritualistic asso- 
ciation. He was universallj' popular, but met 
with a sudden and tragic death. October 24, 
1865, when returning home from Kent in his 
wagon, he was assaulted with clubs on his 
wagon-seat b}- demoniacal ruffians, brutally 
murdered for his valuables, and despoiled of 
$285 in cash and his watch. For this heinous 
crime Jack Cooper was hanged at Ravenna in 
April, 1866, and his partner in the nefarious 
act, Joel Beery, was sentenced for life to the 
state's prison, where he died in 1879. To 
John Rodenbaugh and wife were born five sons 
and one daughter, viz: John Milford, a rail- 
road employee, in Kent; a son that died in in- 
fancy; Henry Clay, will be again mentioned 
in the following paragraph; Calvin Perry, a 
grocer in Denver, Colo., and also an auction- 
eer; Lucius Edward, the subject, and Emma 
R. , wife of Jerome Converse, of Denver, Colo. 
The mother of this family died May 7, 1888. 

Henry Clay Rodenbaugh, mentioned above, 
was a turfman and had purchased the hotel 
Woodford at Versailles, Ky., for his son James, 
who was a cripple, aged twenty-three years. 
A short time after the purchase had been ef- 
fected an intoxicated Kentuckian named Lane 
came into the hotel August 5, 1865, and shot 
both father and son, who expired immediately. 
This Lane, a very wealthy man, has never had 
a final trial for the commission of the dastardly 
crime. 

Lucius E. Rodenbaugh, at the age of 
seventeen years, left the home farm and en- 
listed in company D, Eighty-fifth Ohio volun- 
teer infantry, served seven months, and was 
honorably discharged at Annapolis, Md., on 



account of physical disability. August 8, 
i 1862, he re-enlisted and was mustered into 
company I, One Hundred and Fourth Ohio 
infantry, which was assigned to the Twenty- 
third army corps, under Gen. J. M. Schofield. 
He fought at Knoxville and was in the Atlanta 
campaign as far as Lovejoy Station, Ga. , 
when the regiment was ordered back to inter- 
cept Hood's rebel corps, which was encoun- 
tered at Columbia, Tenn; then followed the 
sanguinary struggle at Franklin, November 
30, 1864, and the two days' fight at Nashville, 
December 15 and 16, when Hood's army was 
annihilated. The One Hundred and Fourth 
was then sent to Cincinnati and thence bj' 
railroad to \\'ashington, D. C, and by gun- 
boats to Wilmington, N. C, which city was 
captured, and at Goldsboro was received the 
news of Lee's surrender. The regiment was 
here detailed to take charge of the munitions 
of war, and to parole Johnston's army, which 
closed its service, and Mr. Rodenbaugh was 
mustered out at Cleveland, Ohio, June 17, 
1865. Twice during the war Mr. Roden- 
baugh was wounded — both times, however, 
accidentally — the first being through the dis- 
charge of a gun in the hands of a comrade at 
Dallas, Ga. , which sent him home for sixty 
days, and the second bj' the awkward hand- 
ling of a hatchet on the part of another 
comrade. 

After the war Mr. Rodenbaugh became a 
brakeman on a passenger train of the Atlantic 
& Great Western railroad, in which capacity 
he served seven years, and while in this em- 
ploy was united in marriage, September 29, 
1867, with Miss Flora Buzzell, who was born 
near Ravenna, Ohio, a daughter of Ozias 
Buzzell, but of this marriage there is no off- 
spring. After leaving the railroad company, 
in 1872, Mr. Rodenbaugh engaged with a con- 
tractor and builder, and within two weeks was 
made foreman, he himself thus learning the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



489 



carpenter's trade. He next worked as a 
journeyman two years for one man, and then 
took a contract to erect a residence, and from 
that time on his services were in constant de- 
mand. He erected man}' business blocks in 
Ravenna and Kent and also several school- 
houses; eleven skating rinks in Ohio, and a 
number of buildings in Saint Louis, Mo., for 
Marvin Kent, and continued in the business 
until November, 1895, and then for a time 
engaged in the liquor trade. In politics Mr. 
Rodenbaugh is a stanch republican, and al- 
though he has never aspired to public office, 
takes an active part in the campaigns of his 
party. He is a genial and even-tempered 
gentleman, is quick of perception, and has 
earned for himself a handsome competence. 
His residence is on North \\'ater street, and 
the social standing of himself and wife is with 
the best circles in Kent. 



•"V'AMUEL G. ROGERS, of the law 
•^^^k* firm of Sauder & Rogers, Akron Sav- 

^^ y ings bank building, is a native of this 
city, was born November 6, 1865, 
and is a son of Joseph M. and Sarah J. (Gray- 
bill) Rogers, of English and German extrac- 
tion. 

Joseph M. Rogers, father of the subject, 
was a mechanic, and settled in Akron early in 
1865, where he followed his vocation until his 
death, in 1888, at the age of fifty-five years. 
He was a republican of the stanchest kind in 
his earlier political associations, but afterward 
became one of the organizers of and leaders 
in the union labor party and was one of its 
first candidates for congress, but, not being an 
office seeker, was nominated on his own mer- 
its and as a mark of recognition for the serv- 
ice he had rendered to the new organization. 
As a patriot, he fought in the war of the Re- 
bellion, as a member of the First Nebraska 



volunteer infantry, company C, in which he 
enlisted in 1861, and served for two years, 
when he was discharged as a sergeant for dis- 
ability, after having bravely fought at Forts 
Henry and Donelson, and at Pittsburg Land- 
ing. To his marriage were born five children, 
in the following order: Samuel G., subject 
of the present memoir; Ella M., a teacher in 
the Akron public schools; Francis E., a sten- 
ographer in New York city; George S. , a letter- 
carrier in Akron, Ohio, and Gertrude M., at 
home with her parents. 

Samuel G. Rogers, the especial subject of 
this biography, was primarily educated in the 
public schools, worked thereafter in the mold- 
ing rooms of the Buckeye company until he 
had secured the means of self-education pre- 
paratory to entering the office of Judge U. L. 
Marvin, a student at law, in 1885. He then 
took a full course in the Cincinnati Law 
school from which he graduated in 1887, with 
honors, was admitted to the bar the same 
year, and at once began practice in Akron. 
He held the position of clerk under Mayors 
Seward and Miller, under whom it was part of 
of his duty to act as prosecutor in the police 
court during the years of 1889-90-91, and in 
1892 was elected prosecuting attorney of Sum- 
mit county, which office he filled with marked 
ability for three years. 

Since 1891 he has been a conspicuous 
figure in the ranks of the democratic party, 
and to-day stands foremost in its ranks, having 
been a delegate to its conventions each year 
since that date and an effective orator in its 
campaigns. 

The legal firm of which Mr. Rogers is a 
member was formed January i, 1893, and has 
now the management of some of the most im- 
portant law cases in which the citizens of 
Akron are interested; and already, in one case, 
before the supreme court of Ohio, involving 
the validity of the government of the citj' 



490 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



itself, it has won a signal victory as attorneys 
for the city. 

March 6, 1895, Mr. Rogers was united in 
marriage with Miss Chloe Faust, daughter of 
Joseph Faust, of Akron, and they have been 
blessed by the birth of one child — Virgil E. 
The societary relations of Mr. Rogers are with 
the American Bar association, the Summit 
county Bar association, the Summit lodge, 
No. 50, I. O. O. F., iEtolia lodge. No. 24, 
K. of P., and Akron division, uniform rank, 
K. of P. The residence of Mr. Rogers is at 
No. 424Buchtel avenue. 



,>^ EV. DAVID DAVIES (Dewi Emlyn) 
I ^T was a native of South Wales, having 
J , P been born in the year 18 17, in Car- 
marthenshire, near the line of Car- 
digan. His ancestry has been traced as far 
back as 1667, through a long line of distin- 
guished bards. From his illustrious ancestor, 
Morgan Rhydderch, is descended more than 
forty ministers. There are now in America 
more than one hundred of this Rhydderch's 
descendants, among them being the Hon. 
Horatio Gates Jones, of Philadelphia, now 
dead, and Maj. General Gershon Mott, of 
New York. He united with the Congregational 
church at Iwan chapel, and v/as received by 
the renowned Rev. Morgan Jones, Trelech. 
Much attention was given to his early educa- 
tion, and his advantages in that line were bet- 
ter than most boys of his time, so that he be- 
came an efficient school-teacher. In 1843 he 
commenced preaching; in 1845 he was united 
in marriage to Miss Rachel Williams, born in 
1815. They emigrated to America in 1852, 
and, in the same year, he was ordained at 
Paris, Portage county, Ohio. During his long 
and useful ministry he labored at Tallmadge, 
Thomastown, and Brookfield, Ohio. He died 



at the age of seventy-one, August 2, 1888, at 
Paris (Wayland) Portage county, where his 
ministr}' began. His widow died September 
19. 1895. H's son. Rev. D. Davies, is a suc- 
cessful minister connected with the East Ohio 
conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
His eldest daughter, Mary, is the widow of 
James Geer Brewster, of Thomastown, near 
Akron, and his youngest daughter, Rachel, re- 
sides with her sister, Mrs. Brewster. 

He was a man of distinct and prominent 
characteristics, and was familiarly known, both 
in the mother country and in this, as "Dewi 
Emlyn." His literary and bardic productions, 
as well as his ministerial standing, have made 
him. known wherever the Welsh language is 
spoken. His writings were confined to that 
language, but had he composed in English, 
with which he was as familiar, his genius 
would undoubtedly have been recognized and 
honored by the English press and public. 

His life was devoted to the advancement 
of the pure and good. He was an ardent and 
uncompromising defender of truth and right 
in political and religious affairs. As a spiritual- 
minded and faithful minister, he was highly es- 
teemed. His acquaintance with books was 
wide; he kept abreast with the times, and en- 
couraged the progress of every legitimate re- 
form. He was a quiet man, who shunned 
conspicuousness, and gladly served his Master 
in quiet country places where he received but 
moderate compensation. 

His death was the result of a brief but not 
violent illness. He was buried with great re- 
spect, and memorial services were held in sev- 
eral places within the circle of his work. His 
last lines of poetry were composed a few days 
before he was taken sick. One who reads 
them now cannot fail to be struck by their e.\- 
pression of his strong aspirations after that 
higher, purer existence to which he was soon 
to be called. 




oCh-c^r^fL-. KJTU^z-^^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



49» 



eETER ROTHERMEL, a thriving and 
respected farmer of Rootstown town- 
ship, Portage county, Ohio, was born 
in Germany June 24, 1835, a son of 
Peter and Margaret (Brotzes) Rothermel, the 
former of whom was a weaver by trade, and to 
whom was born a family of eight children, five 
of whom are still living, viz: Theressa, widow 
of Andrew Rettig; Mary, wife of Andrew Horn- 
ing; Adam, Peter and Matthias. The de- 
ceased were George, who died April 3, 1897, 
aged sixty-seven years; John, who died March 
II, 1862, aged twenty-four, and Philip, who 
died at the age of three. The family came to 
America in 1840 and settled in Randolph town- 
ship, Portage county, Ohio, and here the 
father, for a short time, followed his trade of 
weaver, and then bought a farm, which he 
cultivated until his death, which occurred at 
the age of eighty years, in the faith of the 
Catholic church, in which faith, also, the 
mother was called away May 21, 1890, aged 
eighty-four. 

Peter Rothermel was but five years of age 
when brought to Randolph township by his 
parents, and was here reared to manhood on 
his father's farm, receiving but a limited edu- 
cation. At the age of twenty-one years he hired 
out among the neighboring farmers as a helper 
until his first marriage, which took place Octo- 
ber 4, i8s8, to Miss Elizabeth Elmerich, 
daughter of Joseph and Mary Elmerich, but to 
this union there was no issue, as Mrs. Rother- 
mel was called away July 12, 1859, in the 
faith of the Catholic church. Octobers, 1S59, 
Mr. Rothermel was united in wedlock with 
Miss Mollie Weidaman, who was born in Ran- 
dolph township June 27, 1842, a daughter of 
of John and Magdalena (Spellman) Weidaman, 
and this union has been blessed with ten 
children, viz: Margaret, Frank, Henry, An- 
drew, Annie, Otto, Clara, Joseph, Edward and 
Leo. 

18 



John Weidaman, father of Mrs. Mollie 
Rothermel, is a native of Germany and a car- 
penter by trade. He came to Ohio in 1840, 
settled in Randolph township, and here engaged 
in farming, working at his trade meanwhile. 
In 1 84 1 he married Miss Spellman, the union 
resulting in the birth of seven children, viz: 
MoUie; Margaret, wife of Conrad Hauff; Barn- 
hard, John, Charles, all still living, and Eliza- 
beth and Abbie, deceased. The mother of 
this family died August 25, 1892, at the age of 
seventy-nine years, a devoted member of the 
Catholic church. The father now resides in 
Rootstown, a highly respected citizen, having 
filled several township offices and having been 
a steward in the Catholic church for many 
years. 

In 1877 Peter Rothermel settled on the 
farm he now owns in Rootstown township, 
which he has brought to a fine state of cultiva- 
tion and improved with a good dwelling and 
all necessary farm buildings. He began life a 
poor man, but was very industrious and eco- 
nomical in his earlier days of labor, and is now 
one of the most respected and substantial 
citizens of his township. Politically he is a 
democrat, and for many years has served as 
supervisor of his township and as school 
director, and in religion is a Catholic, to which 
faith all his family devoutly adhere. 



^"V* AMUEL S. ROTHTROCK, one of the 
•^^^k* representative men of Copley town- 

K^ y ship. Summit county, Ohio, is a na- 
tive of Stark county, was born De- 
cember 12, 1846, and is the eldest in a family 
of ten children born unto Samuel and Cather- 
ine (Stauffer) Rothtrock: Samuel S., the sub- 
ject; Christian, a resident of Copley, farmer, 
and married to Miss Sarah Ritchie; David, 
who died June 8, 1897; Amos, a resident of 



494 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Portage county and an honored teacher there, 
was educated in a common school and was a 
student four years at Otterbein university; 
Levi died in 1861; Susan, widow of David 
Morhier, is a resident of Akron; Marj, wife of 
WilHs Bissel, resides in Polk county, Iowa; 
Margaret, wife of Elias Hoagland, resides in 
Copley township; Anna, wife of E. W. Soil- 
man, resides in Copley township; Jacob re- 
sides in Medina county, Ohio. 

Samuel Rothtrock, father of the subject, 
was a native of Nothampton county. Pa., born 
OctDber 20, 1820, and was reared a farmer, 
and received a limited education in the com- 
mon schools. He emigrated to Ohio at the 
age of fifteen, in the j'ear 1835, and first lo- 
cated in Stark county, and in that county mar- 
ried Miss Stauffer, daughter of Christian and 
Christina (Ensminger) Stauffer. He came to 
Summit county in 1853 and purchased 160 
acres in Copley, and in 1863 added eighty 
acres to his original purchase, and in 1870, 102 
acres, making a total of 344 acres. Here he 
remained until his death, in 187 1. As a poli- 
tician, he was an old-line whig, and when the 
republican party was born he cast his lot with 
it. He was an ardent friend of the public- 
school system. He and wife were members 
of the Dunkard society, and he died a man 
respected by all who knew him. The mother 
of the subject of this sketch still survives her 
husband, resides in Copley, aged seventy-three 
years, has her mental faculties intact, and is 
an adherent of the United Brethren church in 
Copley township. 

The name Rothtrock is of German origin. 
Mr. Rothtrock, of this biography, is a typical 
Ohioan, having spent his entire life in Stark 
and Summit counties, was reared to agricult- 
ural pursuits, and received a common-school 
education as well as a short course at the 
Copley high school. He commenced life for 
hiuiself empty-handed as regards money, 



his first earnings being $20 per month, given 
by his father. He is a man of industrious and 
frugal habits, and his competency places him 
and his family in easy circumstances. 

He married Miss Mary E. Yoey, a native 
of Wayne count}'. They were married Jan- 
uary 26, 1 87 1, and five children, all daugh- 
ters, grace this union. Gertrude Elnora was 
educated in the common schools and the 
Cople3'high school; she has been one of Sum- 
mit county's successful teachers, and is a lady 
whose close companions are good books and 
authors. She is a member of the Ohio Teach- 
ers' Reading circle; Nellie May also received a 
good education in Copley high school and a 
normal course at the normal school at Ada, 
Ohio. She is also a teacher of note in her 
township; Almeda J. is at present a student 
in the high school and will graduate in the 
class of 1898; Mabel Fern died September 22, 
1894. She was a bright little miss of nine 
summers, and a great deal of the golden sun- 
light of the home circle went out when she 
was called to her heavenly home; Blanche 
Yoey is the youngest in the home and is very 
bright in her school work. Mrs. Rothtrock 
was born January 6, 1850, in \\'ayne county 
and was the second child born to George and 
Hannah (Wagoner) Yoey, the eldest child of 
the family being Kate A., wife of Eli Fretz, 
residents of Doylestown, Ohio; Mrs. Roth- 
trock is next in order of birth; and Adaline J. 
died aged twenty-eight; she was a teacher; 
Benjamin Franklin, resident of Copley, mar- 
ried Miss Rose Ream. Mrs. Rothtrock's fa- 
ther was born in Pennsylvania about 1850 and 
died December 14, 1877. He was a farmer 
by occupation, although a man of fair educa- 
tion, and taught school successfully. He was 
about six years of age when his parents emi- 
grated to Ohio. He and wife were members 
of the Reformed church, and he was a stanch 
republican in politics. The mother was a na- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



495 



tive, also, of Pennsylvania, and is aged 
seventy-three years. 

Mrs. Rothtrock received a good common- 
school education and is a lady of pleasing ad- 
dress, and possesses the cardinal points in 
character which make the true wife and 
mother. Mr. Rothtrock is a democrat in pol- 
itics, casting his first presidential vote for Hon. 
Horatio Seymour, of New York. Officially he 
was township trustee from 1873 until 1876, 
and a member of the board of education for 
years, as well as director of the schools for six 
years, justice of the peace from 1886 to 1895, 
receiving his commissions fromEx-Govs. For- 
aker and McKinley, and he was also real es- 
tate assessor of Copley township in 1 890 and 
township assessor in 1887. Socially, Mr. and 
Mrs. Rothtrock are members of Copley grange 
No. 1298 and have been since 1878. He was 
master of the grange for five years. Miss 
Gertie is lady assistant steward. Miss Nellie 
is lecturer of the grange. Mrs. Rothtrock is 
a member of the German Reformed church, 
and the three daughters are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church at Copley. 

The Rothtrock homestead comprises 102 
acres of land lying within two miles of the 
village of Copley, and the home is the abode 
of hospitality, and the friends as well as the 
strangers receive a cordial welcome. 



HRTHUR JAMES ROWLEY, city so- 
licitor of Akron and a young lawyer 
of great merit, with his office at No. 
43 Akron Savings Bank building, is a 
native of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, was born 
December 4, 1868, and is a son of William 
and Mary J. (Wills) Rowley. 

Enoch Rowley, grandfather of subject, 
came to America from Stoke-upon-Trent, 
Staffordshire, England, about 1848, and with 
his family located in Akron, Ohio. He was a 



potter by trade, and soon after his arrival es- 
tablished the first pottery of the city, which 
he conducted for many years — a part of the 
time in partnership with his son, the father of 
subject, and on his retirement from business 
sold the entire plant to the latter. He was a 
republican in politics and for eight years 
served as councilman from the Sixth ward. 
His family consisted of himself, wife and 
eleven children, of whom four of the latter 
were born in Akron, the other seven, with the 
father and mother, having come from England 
together. He died at the age of seventy-three 
years, an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. 

William Rowley, father of Arthur James 
Rowley, was born in England, and was a lad 
of about ten years of age when brought to 
Akron, Ohio, by his parents, he being their 
eldest child. He spent his boyhood days 
here, receiving in the meantime a solid com- 
mon-school education, and, as stated above, 
eventually succeeded his father in the stone- 
ware business. He married in Cuyahoga 
Falls, Ohio, and his union was blessed with 
four children, viz: Florence, who died in in- 
fancy; Arthur J., subject; Maud L. and Zelle 
I. Mr. Rowley, like his father, was also a 
stanch republican in politics, and for six years 
was a member of the board of equalization. 
Fraternally, he was a member of Apollo lodge, 
I. O. O. F. , and as a business man bore a 
name that was everywhere respected for its 
unblemished integrity. He retired from 
active business life in 1886, and lived in peace 
on his income until his death, which occurred 
in November, 1891, at the age of fifty-four 
years. 

Arthur fames Rowley was reared in the 
city of Akron and graduated from its high 
school in January, 1886, and from Buchtel 
college, in the same city, in June, 1890. He 
then read law with Charles Cobbs, and later 



496 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



with Green, Grant & Seiber; was admitted to 
the bar in March, 1892, and was elected a 
member of the board of education upon the 
repubhcan ticket in 1893, which position he 
resigned on being elected city solicitor in 1895. 
In the spring of 1897 he was re-elected for a 
further term of two years, receiving the largest 
plurality of any officer elected. He has filled 
this office, as he did his former office, with 
ability and credit to himself and to the satis- 
faction of the public, and is now one of the 
most promising young attorneys of the city. 
He is a member of the Summit county Bar 
association; of the Benevolent & Protective 
Order of Elks, and also of his college frater- 
nity. Delta Tau Delta; he is likewise a mem- 
ber of the Akron club, and of the Akron cham- 
ber of commerce. The family residence is at 
No. 1044 East Market street, and its members 
are among the most reputable and respected 
of the city of Akron. 



aHARLES E. RUGG, a practical and 
prosperous farmer of Franklin town- 
ship. Portage county, Ohio, is a na- 
tive of the Buckeye state, and was 
born in Northampton township. Summit coun- 
ty, September 3, 1850, a son of Ora and Jane 
(Everett) Rugg, of New England and Penn- 
sylvania descent. 

Elias Rugg, the paternal grandfather of 
subject, was a native of New Hampshire, was 
a cabinetmaker by trade, and married Sarah 
Wellman, to which union were born twelve 
children, of whom two are still living — Jo- 
seph, and Mary, the wife of Benjamin Batch- 
elder; the deceased were named Betsey, Sallie, 
Elias, Francis, Bial, Ora, Elvira, Lucinda, 
Walter and George. The father of this family 
was called away in 1840, and the mother June 
20, 1854. 

-Ora Rugg, father of Charles E., was born in 



Keene, N. H., October 30, 1807, was a wood- 
turner by trade, came to Ohio in 1837, and 
located at Cuyahoga Falls, where he followed 
his trade for a short time. In the spring of 
1839 he bought a farm in Northampton town- 
ship, which he cleared and improved, and 
when, in 1869, he sold this farm, it was con- 
sidered one of the finest farms in that town- 
ship. He then removed to Earlville, Frank- 
lin township, Ohio. March 29, 1839, he mar- 
ried, at Ravenna, Miss Jane Everett, and of 
the four children born to this union, Charles 
E., the subject, and Minnie A. still survive; 
Wilson died May 11, 1851, aged seven years, 
and Charles S. died September 12, 1846, at 
the age of seven months. Ora Rugg was 
called away October 3, 1880, in his seventy- 
third year, and his widow passed away March 
2, 1886, at the age of seventy years, in the 
faith of the Methodist church. 

John Everett, the maternal grandfather of 
the subject, was born in Northumberland 
county. Pa., September 10, 1781, was a black- 
smith by trade, and married, in his native 
county, September 3, 1807, Miss Jane Hart, 
to which marriage were born eleven children, 
of whom two only are living — Ann, wife of S. S. 
Prior, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Florence, 
wife of George Whaley, of Hudson; the nine 
deceased were named Susan, Mary, Rachel, 
John, Matthew, Jane, Rebecca, Sarah and 
David. After coming to Ohio, Mr. Everett 
was engaged in farming until his death, in 
January, 1872, at the extreme age of ninety- 
one years. 

Charles E. Rugg, the subject proper of 
this biography, received a very good education 
in the district schools of Summit county, Ohio, 
and there grew to manhood on his father's 
farm. In 1869 he came with his parents to 
Earlville, Portage county, and in 1885 pur- 
chased his present farm, which was but partly 
cleared. He at once cleared up this place in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



497 



full, set out an orchard and erected a hand- 
some and commodious dwelling, and within 
the past twelve years has so improved his farm 
that it is one of the most productive and prof- 
itable in the township. 

Mr. Rugg was united in marriage, at Ra- 
venna, April 3, 1 88 1, with Miss Rose M. Gray, 
who was born in Limaville, Stark county, 
Ohio, May 27, i860, a daughter of Thomas 
L. and Mary Jane (Carver-Webster) Gray, 
who were of Irish and English extraction, re- 
spectively. This union has been blessed with 
three children, the eldest of whom, born Jan- 
uary 8, 1884, died, unnamed, January 14 of 
the same year; Edna M. was born August 12, 
1888, and Ruth A. was born May 16, 1892, 
and these two still live to add happiness to 
subject's pleasant home. 

Thomas L. Gray, the father of Mrs. Rose 
M. Rugg, was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
by trade was a wheelwright. He was still 
young when he came to Ohio and settled in 
Limaville, Stark county, where he engaged in 
farming. In 1862 he moved to Louisville, 
Stark county, Ohio, and in 1866 sold his farm 
and moved to Earlville, Franklin township. 
Portage county, Ohio, where he remained 
until his death, which occurred March 25, 
1890, at the age of seventy-seven years. He 
had been thrice married, and the only child 
born to his first union, John, died while serv- 
ing in the late war; his second marriage, which 
was with Sophia Rech, resulted in the birth 
of three children, of whom William and Frank 
are still living, but Leander died in June, 1880; 
to his third marriage, which was to Mrs. Mary 
J. Carver Webster, two children were born — 
Mrs. Rugg and Sherman T. — the latter born 
Aprils, 1864. The mother of this family was 
called away February 12, 1892, a member of 
the Disciples' church, at the age of sixty-four 
years. 

In politics Charles E. Rugg is a decided 



republican, although he is not very aggressive 
and has never been an office seeker; his fam- 
ily are members of the Methodist church, to 
the support of which they freely contribute, 
and he is a liberal supporter of all movements 
designed for the good of the public. He holds 
an exalted place in the esteem of his fellow- 
citizens, and is recognized as one of the most 
progressive and useful farmers in Franklin 
township. 



BRANKLIN P. RUSSELL, M. D., an 
eminent practitioner of surgery and 
medicine in Suffield, Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Valparaiso, Porter 
county, Ind., October 29, 1852, the eldest son 
of Newell and Paulina (Blakeslee) Russell, of 
whom further mention will be made in a par- 
agraph yet to follow. Franklin P. was edu- 
cated primarily in his native city, which is 
somewhat renowned for its educational institu- 
tions, and when about fourteen years of age 
came to Portage county, Ohio, where his lit- 
erary studies were completed. In 1877 he 
commenced the study of medicine under the 
preceptorship of Dr. C. L. Belden, of Ravenna 
— a graduate from the Eclectic Medical college 
of Philadelphia, with the class of 1859, and 
one of the most experienced physicians of Ra- 
venna. Being thoroughly prepared by this 
scientist for a course of lectures, Mr. Russell 
entered the university of Wooster, at Cleve- 
land, from which he received his diploma, in 
in 1880, as M. D., and at once engaged in 
practice in Streetsboro, Portage county, 
where, for nearly two years, he met with the 
most flattering success, but finding the field 
too contracted for the exercise of his acknowl- 
edged ability, he sought the broader field 
of Suffield in 1881, where his practice has 
been most satisfactory to himself. In his 
professionally fraternal relationship, the 



498 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



doctor is a member of the Northeastern Ohio 
Medical society — his only other fraternal con- 
nection being with the Knights of Pythias. In 
politics he is a democrat, and during the last 
administration of President Cleveland he was 
a member of the board of Portage county pen- 
sion examiners; he has also served as a mem- 
ber of the school board for several years, and 
in both positions has fully and creditably at- 
tended to his duties. 

The marriage of Dr. Russell took place 
May 13, 1880, to Miss Lillie E. Tucker, a 
daughter of Daniel and Betsey (Willcox) 
Tucker, of Streetsboro, and the result of this 
union has been three children, viz: Cora 
Leona, Bessie P. and Hortense Ardell. Daniel 
Tucker, father of Mrs. Dr. Russell, was a na- 
tive of Portage county, born March 29, 1820, 
and when a young man learned the carpenter's 
trade, but later in life became a farmer. His 
marriage with Miss Willcox was crowned by 
the birth of one child only — Lillie E., the wife 
of Dr. Russell. Mr. Tucker passed away 
April 20, 1887, aged sixty-seven years, and 
his wife died February 19, 1896, at the age of 
sixty-eight. 

Newell Russell, father of Dr. Franklin P. 
Russell, was born in Aurora, Portage county, 
Ohio, March 29, 1820, of Connecticut parent- 
age, and was married in Porter county, Ind., 
to Miss Paulina Blakeslee, a native of the same 
county. Some years after marriage he re- 
moved to Iowa, lived in that state until 1862, 
when the family removed to Quincy, 111., the 
father January 5, 1862, having enlisted in 
company H, Fifteenth Iowa volunteer infantry, 
and served three years in defense of the integ- 
rity of the flag of his native country. At the 
close of the war he went west and engaged 
in silver mining, and died in Denver, Colo., 
November 3, 1872, at the age of fifty-five 
years, his wife having died in Ouincy, July 29, 
1867, at the age of thirty-four, in the faith of 



the Presbyterian church, leaving a family of 
five children, all still living, and respectively 
named, in order of birth, F"ranklin P., Chester 
M., Agnes V. (wife of A. C. Seaton, of Omaha, 
Nebr.), Lola L. (wife of W. A. Folger, of Ak- 
ron, Ohio), and Charles Henry. Dr. Russell 
is a successful physician. 



Sr— * ON. HENRY C. SANFORD, attorney 
i'^^ at law, Akron, Ohio, was born in 
^ _ P New Portland, Me., September 11, 
1833, a son of John and Priscilla 
(Delano) Sanford, also natives of the old lum- 
ber state. 

John Sanford, grandfather of subject, was 
a native of Massachusetts, was of English 
descent, was captain of a sea-going vessel, 
married Mary Wilson, and in his middle age 
retired to Topsham, Me., where he passed the 
remainder of -his days. John Sanford, Jr., the 
father of subject, was born in Topsham, where 
he was reared to manhood and in his earlier 
days was engaged in the lumber trade, but 
later became a farmer. His lumber business 
was very extensive, but the embargo of 18 12- 
13, ruined his trade and his lumber and ships 
rotted on his hands. Nevertheless he had ac- 
quired a competence long before he retired to 
his farm. He was of an ingenious turn of mind, 
and among his numerous inventions was a. mill 
to grind feed, the motive power of which was 
the ebb and flow of the tide; he invented the 
process for the manufacture of straw board; a 
device for turning a grindstone; a winnowing 
machine; a windlass for raising heavy weights; 
also, the curved plowshare — and to secure 
patents for these he rode horseback to Wash- 
ington, D. C. He was married in Maine, in 
I Si I, to Priscilla Delano, who bore him a 
family of nine children, viz: Judah and Will- 
iam T. , deceased; Elizabeth, wife of A. S. 
French; Susan, of Portage county, Ohio; 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



499 



Harriet, wife of William Lettys; John, de- 
ceased; Henry C, the subject; Lucia, wife of 
E. Sawyer, and Thomas, deceased. The 
father of this family died in Maine in 1841. 
The mother, who was born in Plymouth, Mass., 
December li, 1793, was a daughter of Capt. 
Judah and Penelope (Sampson) Delano, also 
of the Bay state. This venerable lady died 
July 9, 1897, at the extreme age of 103 years. 

Henry C. Sanford attended a private acad- 
emy at Manchester, N. H., and then, for a 
period of a year and a half, was employed in 
the Amoskeag Locomotive works of Manches- 
ter. He then came to Ohio, locating in San- 
dusky City, and, for several years, was em- 
ployed on the Lake Shore railroad. In 1855 
he went to Ouincy, 111., and ran the first pas- 
senger train on the C, B. & Q. road from 
Quincy to Galesburg, and remained as engi- 
neer with the company for six years; was next 
in mercantile business in Lorain county, Ohio, 
a year, and in 1861 went to Meadville, Pa., 
as engineer for the Atlantic & Great Western 
road, and when the division was established in 
1864, at Kent, Ohio, was placed in charge as 
engine dispatcher. In 1867 he quit railroad- 
ing and spent a year in the law department of 
the university of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. In 
1868 he was admitted to the bar at Ravenna, 
Ohio, where he practiced until September, 
1870, when he came to Akron. As a repub- 
lican he was elected, in 1S72, prosecuting at- 
torney, and served one term; in 1876 was 
elected city solicitor; in 1887 was elected to 
the state legislature and re-elected in 1889, 
when he introduced and secured the passage 
of numerous important bills. 

January 19, 1857, Mr. Sanford was married, 
in Lorain county, Ohio, to Miss Emily J. Fair- 
child, a native of that county and a daughter 
of Elam and Lydia (Wilcox) Fairchild, and 
this union was crowned by the birth of three 
children, viz: William H., attorney and reaU 



estate dealer; Burton ]., grocer of Akron, and 
May F., who is a graduate of the Cleveland 
Art school, and who possesses superior art 
qualities. The mother of these children died 
January 6, 1890, a member of the Congrega- 
tional church, and was a woman filled with 
charity and good will toward mankind and of 
more than ordinary mental ability. Mr. San- 
ford, in his fraternal affiliations, early became 
a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers. Outside of his regular practice, 
he is the attorney for the Peoples' Savings 
bank. 

William H. Sanford, elder son of Hon. 
Henry C. Sanford, was born in Lorain county, 
Ohio, February 2, 1859, and was eleven years 
of age when his parents came to Akron. Here 
he was graduated from the high school in 1 877, 
after which he attended Buchtel college two 
years, and then entered the Cincinnati Law 
school, from which he was graduated in 1883, 
since which time he has been engaged in legal 
practice in Akron, making a specialty of real 
estate. He is associated with his father in 
business, and, like him, is a republican. 



* y ^ ON. GEORGE SACKETT, one of 

1'''^^ the prominent citizens of Cuyahoga 

I , * Falls, and an old resident, springs 

from an old New England family 

which was among the founders of Connecticut, 

and the early settlers of Litchfield county. 

Homer Sackett, grandfather of our subject, 
was born in Kent, now Warren, Litchfield 
county, married Sarah Carter and lived on a 
farm in Warren township, which farm is still 
in the Sackett name. Homer Sackett was the 
father of Theron, Augustine, Polly, Aurelia, 
Aaron, Seth (a Congregational minister), 
Orange, Homer, Sarah, Pattie, Maria and 
Chester (who died young). Mr. Sackett and 
family were members of the Congregational 



500 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



church; he was a prosperous farmer and sub- 
stantial man and the family was one of promi- 
nence and sterling worth; he lived to be about 
ninety years of age and died on the homestead 
— a farm originally owned by the family 
prior to Homer Sackett's birth. 

Aaron Sackett, father of our subject, was 
born January 7, 1891, on the old Sackett 
homestead, received the usual common educa- 
tion and became a school-teacher. He fol- 
lowed farming all his life and married in War- 
ren, Conn., Hulda C. Tanner, a native of 
Warren and daughter of Deacon William 
Tanner, a lieutenant of the Revolutionary war, 
who fought under Gen. Anthony Wayne at 
Stony Point. In 1836 Aaron Sackett moved 
to Canandaigua, N. Y., where he lived two 
years in order that his children might attend 
its excellent academy and seminary. 

In 1838 he came to Ohio and settled in 
Tallmadge township. Summit county, where 
he bought a farm of 160 acres, but in 1868 re- 
tired and lived with his son William, at 
Copley, until his death, in 1872, at the age of 
eighty-four years. He was a man of stanch 
traits of character, temperate and moral, pros- 
perous through life, and reared an excellent 
family. His children were Theodosia, Har- 
riet T. , George, Sarah, Emiline, William, 
Seth, Maria, Francis and Sarah (who died in 
childhood.) 

Hon. George Sackett, son of above, was 
born January 6, 1821, at Warren, Litchfield 
county. Conn., and received his education in 
the common schools and then attended the 
academy two years, at Canandaigua, N. Y., 
and at the academy in Tallmadge, Ohio, three 
terms. He has always been a farmer. Mr. 
Sackett married the first time, September 10, 
1848, Miss Helen Williams, a native of Au- 
burn, N. Y., and a daughter of Nelson Will- 
iams, of Connecticut. They had no children, 
and Mrs. Sackett died June 10, 1 8 5 1 . Mr. Sack- 



ett next married February 9, 1854, at Tall- 
madge, Ohio, Frances V. Grant, who was 
born December 8, 1882, at Orange, New 
Haven county. Conn., daughter of William 
and Esther (Treat) Grant. William Grant 
was born in North Fork, Va., July 30, 1807, 
son of Richard and Elizabeth A. Grant. Mr. 
Grant went to New Haven, Conn., when a 
boy of sixteen, with his employer, Andrew 
Smith, a shoe manufacturer for the southern 
market, who setttled in Orange township, 
New Haven county. Conn., about 1823 or 
1824. William Grant remained in Orange all 
the rest of his life, was long in the employ of 
Mr. Smith, and afterward engaged in the manu- 
facture of shoes on his own account. 

William Grant married, at Orange, and 
his children were Matilda E., Frances V., 
Henry Clay, Frederick, Anna Elizabeth, 
Charles R. , and Emily A. Mr. Grant and wife 
were members of the Congregational chnrch. 
He was an honored citizen, a justice of the 
peace many years, and was a member of the 
Connecticut state legislature in 1843-4. He 
lived to be seventy-five years old and died in 
July, 1882, in Orange, a highly respected 
man. His wife, Esther Treat, was born at 
Orange, Conn., March 2, 18 10, a daughter of 
Samuel and Clarissa (Wetmore) Treat. 

Samuel Treat enlisted as a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, at the age of sixteen years. 
He was the son of Maj. Samuel Treat, of the 
same war, and well known as Deacon Samuel 
Treat. He was born August 6, 1728, at Mil- 
ford, Conn., descended from Gov. Robert 
Treat, of Connecticut, who was descended 
from Richard Treat, who came from England 
in 1630. Maj. Samuel Treat was first ap- 
pointed ensign in the continental army, August 
31, 1768, was promoted to second lieutenant, 
then promoted to lieutenant in 1772, and to 
captain in the Revolutionary army in May, 
1775, and- resigned in 1779, being injured. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



501 



He died August 17, 1787, aged fifty-nine years, 
a man of the highest character. 

Samuel Treat, son of Maj. Treat, was the 
grandfather of Mrs. Sackett. He was born 
August 16, 1760, at Milford, Conn., married 
April 22, 1794, Clarissa Wetmore, and their 
children were Sarah, Mary, Samuel, Orin and 
Oriel (twins), Clarissa, Erastus Scranton, 
Almira and Esther F. Samuel Treat lived to 
be fifty-three years old, was a prosperous 
farmer and a member of the Congregational 
church and gave the land for the church in his 
town. He was a private in a regiment of 
light-horse artillery, commanded by Maj. 
Beckus, served imder Washington, was dis- 
charged October 30, 1776; in May, 1777, 
enlisted under Col. Joseph Thompson and 
marched, October 5, 1777, to Becksville and 
was discharged October 27, 1777. 

At marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sackett settled 
on their present homestead, which Mr. Sackett 
had bought, in 1847, the farm then consisting 
of 200 acres, which he had acquired when a 
young man, being very industrious and hard 
working and of great energy. He engaged in 
the wheat raising and wool business, and had 
good prices, rapidlj' accumulating property 
and bought more land, until he owned about 
1,400 acres, but laid out and sold property in 
town lots. He laid out Sackett's addition to 
Cuyahoga Falls, also Sackett's addition to 
Salida, Colo., and part of Laredo, on the Rio 
Grande, Tex. For several years he engaged 
in papermaking at Cuyahoga Falls, and has 
been engaged in mining silver and gold in 
Colorado and Nevada. In politics he was one 
of the founders of the republican party in 
Summit county, Ohio, was chairman of the 
Fremont and Dayton club and took a very 
active part in all the early campaigns. He 
was present at the first inauguration of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, and was county commissioner 
of Summit county in 1868, and a member of 



the state board of equalization in 1880-81; 
also member of the town council, and treas- 
urer of the township before the organization of 
Cuyahoga Falls, and assisted in its organiza- 
tion. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sackett are mem- 
bers of the Congregational church. Mr. 
Sackett has lived a most remarkably active 
life, and has been generally successful. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sackett adopted a daughter, Mary 
Pauline Sackett, now married to Augustus F. 
Smith, of Cleveland, Ohio, in the Pennsyl- 
vania railroad office, and they have one son — 
Leslie Grant Smith. 



HLBERT H. SARGENT, a prominent 
citizen of Akron, Ohio, was born in 
Bloomfield, Prince Edward county, 
Ontario, Canada, October 31, 1846, 
a son of George A. and Lydia (Blount) Sar- 
gent, the mother being of English Quaker ex- 
traction. 

John Sargent, paternal grandfather of sub- 
ject, was a native of Battle, Sussex county, 
England, and was the third in the family bear- 
ing that name, being a son of John, who was 
a son of John, both the latter farmers of Sus- 
sex county. John Sargent, grandfather of 
subject, was a carpenter by trade, and came 
to America about 1825, settled in Jefferson 
county, and there died early in the 'fifties. 
His wife, Susan Luff by birth, was a native of 
Sussex county, England. Her father was a 
miller by occupation, and an early pioneer of 
Jefferson county, N. Y. 

George A. Sargent, the second son of John 
and Susan (Luff) Sargent, was born in Hast- 
ings, Sussex county, England, Septemcer 6, 
18 1 3, was brought to America by his parents, 
was reared from twelve years of age to man- 
hood in Jefferson county, N. Y. , and after 
learning the carpenter's trade from his father, 
went, after reaching his majority, to Prince 



502 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Edward county, Canada, where he worked at 
carpentering and contracting until 1878, when 
he retired on a competency and Hved in 
comfort until his death, which occurred June 
3, 1888. His wife, although a native of Prince 
Edward county, Canada, was of New England 
Quaker descent or parentage. She bore her 
husband four children, in the following order: 
John G. ; Walter \V. (deceased), who left one 
son; Marshall B. , a resident of Chicago, 111.; 
Albert H., our subject, and Marshall B., de- 
ceased. 

Albert H. Sargent received a good com- 
mon-school education, taught school two 
years, and was also graduated from the Com- 
mercial college of Montreal in 1866. In 1867 
he located in Rochester, N. Y., where he read 
law in the office of his uncle, Henry Sargent, 
four years, and then became bookkeeper for 
James Vick, the famous florist and seedsman, 
which position he filled ten years. He next 
studied landscape gardening and engineering 
under Charles W. Seelye, and was engaged in 
the laying out and adornment of the city parks 
of Rochester until February i, 1880, when he 
was called to the superintendency of the Ak- 
ron (Ohio) Rural cemetery, which position he 
has filled with consummate ability until the 
present time. In 1882 Mr. Sargent was ap- 
pointed by the Akron city council on the com- 
mittee to organize the board of health, and 
of this committee he was clerk for three years. 
As a republican, he was elected, in the spring 
of 1885, a member of the board of education 
of Akron, served six years, and for the last 
two years of his term was president of the 
board. In 1886 he was elected coroner of 
Summit county and in 1888 was re-elected, 
thus serving a double term of four years. 
Again, as far as political positions are con- 
cerned, Mr. Sargent was elected a member of 
the board of health and served during 1892- 
93-94, and in the incumbency rendered effi- 



cient service in quelling the small-pox epidemic 
that waged during the winter of 1892-93. 

Mr. Sargent was united in marriage June 
26, 1873, with Miss Sue S. Sargent, whose 
ancestry on the paternal side was the same as 
that of subject, and on the maternal side the 
descent is traced through Capt. Nathan 
Seelye, for five years a soldier of the Revolu- 
tion, to Nathaniel Seelye, who came from 
Wales in 1695 and settled in Bridgeport, 
Conn. Mrs. Sue S. Sargent is also a great- 
granddaughter of George Morehouse, who, in 
the same glorious war, was quartermaster on 
the staff of Col. Morris Graham, under com- 
mand of Brig. -Gen. Clinton. This lady is a 
member of the Cuyahoga-Portage chapter. 
Daughters of the American Revolution; Mr. 
Sargent is a thirty-second-degree Mason, is 
past eminent commander of knights templar 
and past master Akron council No. 42, royal 
and select Masons. To Mr. and Mrs. Sargent 
have been born two children — Albert H., de- 
ceased, and Jennie L. 



EENRY K. SAUDER, of the well- 
known and highly reputable firm of 
Sauder & Rogers, attorneys at law, 
Nos. 34 and 35 Savings Bank build- 
ing, Akron, is a native of Smithville, Wayne 
count}', Ohio, was born in March, 1852, and 
is a son of Benjamin and Caroline (Kreiter) 
Sauder, the former of whom is now deceased, 
but the latter still living. They were both 
born in Pennsylvania, of German descent. 

Benjamin Sauder, father of Henry K. , was 
reared in Lancaster county, Pa., in the Men- 
nonite society. He there married Miss Krei- 
ter, whose father was a man of great intelli- 
gence, was one of the pioneers of Canal Dover, 
Ohio, and was one of the founders of the Mo- 
ravian church of Tuscarawas county. Shortly 
after marriage, Benjamin Sauder came to Ohio 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



503 



and established a wagon factory in Wayne 
county, employing several hands, and to this 
interest he devoted himself until within a few 
years of the close of his life, which were em- 
ployed in farming. He was a radical anti- 
slavery advocate, and his early party affiliations 
were with the whigs, but on the organization 
of the republicans became an ardent member 
of that party. He died at the comparatively 
early age of forty-nine years, the father of fif- 
teen children, viz: Elvina, who died in early 
childhood; Joseph K., a molder of Akron, 
Ohio; John M. , with William Buell & Co., 
druggists of Akron; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph 
M. Morrett, carpenter, also of Akron; Jacob, 
a lumberman of Wilson, Mich. ; Mary Ann, 
married to Jesse Hare, a farmer of Portland, 
Mich.; Henry K., the subject of this memoir; 
Ellen, who died in infancy; Benjamin, a life- 
insurance agent, of Akron, Ohio; William M., 
lumberman, of Wilson, Mich.; Elmer E., a 
carpenter, of Akron, Ohio; Caroline, wife of 
Perry Krummell, of Barberton; Emma, de- 
ceased wife of Milton Sell; Edwin T. , of Pe- 
oria, 111., and Minnie L., wife of E. A. Kra- 
mer, dentist, of Wadsworth, Ohio. 

Henry K. Sander, the subject of this biog- 
raphy, was reared until he had nearly reached 
his majority in Smithville, Wayne county, 
Ohio, received a common-school and academ- 
ical education, and for some time worked as a 
farm hand in the summer season; he learned 
the trade of printing subsequently, also taught 
school and filled a position as clerk in the post- 
office. In 1875 he came to Akron, studied law 
for two years with Green & Marvin, was ad- 
mitted to practice in 1877, and for two years 
carried on an initiatory business in this city. 
He then went to Seville, Medina county, but, 
on account of failing health, relinquished prac- 
tice for about three years, but in 1882 re- 
sumed his profession in Akron, and in his leis- 
ure hours practiced shorthand. In 1884 he 



was appointed court stenographer of Summit 
county, which position he held for seven years, 
performing its duties in conjunction with his 
legal practice. In 1893 he formed his present 
partnership with Mr. Rogers. Together they 
do general law business and a first-class one, 
and owing to the fact that Mr. Rogers was 
prosecuting attorney, a great deal of criminal 
practice was brought to their office. 

In politics Mr. Sander is a democrat, and 
for three years was a member of the library 
board, two years of the time being its secre- 
tary. He had always been a devoted student 
of literature and was admirably well fitted for 
the position. In 1893 he was nominated for 
the probate judgeship, and in 1896 was renom- 
inated. In 1894-95 he was president of the 
Ohio Stenographers' association. He is still un- 
married and resides with his mother at No. 229 
North Main street. He is one of the best known 
men in the county and is recognized as one of 
its brightest legal lights. He is urbane and 
gentlemanly in his deportment, and is highly 
esteemed by the profession as well as by the 
public at large. 



VICTOR P. SAWYER, a prosperous 
farmer, was born in Brimfield town- 
ship. Portage county, Ohio, Septem- 
ber 12, 1848, and here he has always 
made his home. 

Uriah Sawyer, paternal grandfather of Vic- 
tor P., was a native of Massachusetts, was a 
cooper by trade, and settled in Brimfield town- 
ship in 1817, and here followed his trade and 
also engaged in farming. He married Miss 
Sallie Spofford, the union resulting in the birth 
of eight children, of whom only one — Hannah 
— is now living; the deceased were named 
Oliver, Henry, Uriah, William B. , Frank B., 
Lockhart and Sallie. Mrs. Sallie (Spofford) 
Sawyer died at the age of eighty-two years, 



504 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and Mr. Sawyer at the age of eighty-four, in 
August, 1862. 

Uriah Sawyer, Jr., father of subject, was 
born in New Hampshire, July 14, 1810, and 
was brought to Ohio by his parents in 1817; 
here he was reared a cooper, and likewise a 
farmer. July 3, 1836. he married Miss Caro- 
line Pike, daughter of Jeremiah and Rebecca 
(Walbridge) Pike. Jeremiah Pike was also a 
native of Massachusetts, and settled in Brim- 
field township in 1820. Miss Caroline Pike 
was born in Massachusetts December 28, 1816, 
and came to Ohio with her parents; by her 
marriage to Mr. Sawyer she became the mother 
of two children — Adelaide R., who died Jan- 
uary 6, 1 86 1, aged fourteen years and four 
months, and Victor P., the subject of this me- 
moir. Mrs. Sawyer died February 23, 1879, 
at the age of sixty-two years. Her husband, 
Uriah Sawyer, when he started in life on his 
own account, located on lot No. 20, in Brim- 
field township, which he cleared up and im- 
proved, and on which he resided until i860, 
when he purchased the farm on which Victor 
P. Sawyer now resides. Uriah was a very 
successful farmer and a popular gentleman, 
and for a number of years served as a justice 
of peace. His death took place on his last- 
named homestead, November 2, 1881, at the 
age of seventy-one years. 

Victor P. Sawyer attended the public 
schools until twenty years of age and continued 
to work for his father until the latter's death, 
when he fell heir to the farm on which he still 
lives. September 27, 1870, he married Miss 
Eunice S. Kelso, daughter of William R. and 
Lucy (Sawyer) Kelso, and this union has been 
blessed with -three children, of whom two — 
Lucy C. and Addie C. — are still living; Frank 
E. died April 20, 1876, at the age of four 
years. The parents of Mrs. Victor P. Sawyer 
were natives of the state of New York, and 
the father was a blacksmith, but having lost 



an eye while at work, he afterward engaged in 
hotel keeping for a number of years; he also 
served as county commissioner several terms. 
Their marriage took place October 16, 1834, 
Lucy Kelso being a daughter of Asa and Eunice 
(Bruce) Sawj-er, and of their twelve children 
four still survive, viz: Mary, wife of E. D. 
Saw3'er, of Cleveland; Sarah, wife of A. T. 
Porter, of Brimfield; George, and Eunice S. 
(Mrs. V. P. Sawyer). Two of the twelve chil- 
dren died in infancy unnamed; the si.\ others 
were Albert, Eunice, Franklin, Carrie, Cornelia 
and Alice. Mr. and Mrs. V. P. Sawyer and 
children are members of the Universalist 
church, and Mr. Sawyer is superintendent of 
the Sunday-school, as well as a trustee. So- 
cially, the family hold a very high position. 



m 



ILLIAM T. SAWYER, one of the 
most astute young attorneys of 
Akron, was born near the center 
of Springfield township, Summit 
county, Ohio, December 3, 1862, a son of Robert 
V. and Martha Ann Sawyer, natives of Penn- 
sylvania, but now deceased, the father having 
died March 7, 1877, and the mother February 
3, 1892. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren, viz: Mary, wife of Isaac Madleni, at- 
torney at law, Omaha, Neb. ; Robert V. , who 
was engaged in the secret service, and died in 
Chicago, 111. in 1889; Jennie and Anna, who 
died in early childhood; Elizabeth Adell, wife 
of T. O. Spessard, baker and confectioner, of 
Knoxville, Tenn. , and William T. , the subject 
of this notice. 

The great-grandparents of subject were 
Benjamin and Margaret (Haynes) Sawyer, who 
were the children of English colonists. Their 
children were Thomas, William, Hannah 
Peters and James. 

Thomas, paternal grandfather of subject. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



505 



was born in Dauphin county. Pa., in 1782, 
and was married to Elizabeth Day, March 6, 
1806. In 1 8 10 they moved to Union county, 
Pa., and in October, 1829, they moved to 
the "Old Sawyer" farm in Springfield town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, bringing with 
them their ten children. The trip was made 
in covered wagons and they were on the road 
fourteen days. Their children were James S., 
Thomas H., Matilda M., John B., Ann E., 
Robert V., father of subject, Hannah S., 
William G. W., Benjamin F. and Mary J. 
Margaret C. , was born after her parents came 
to Ohio. 

James Sawyer, youngest child of Benjamin 
and Margaret Haynes Sawyer, was the mater- 
nal grandfather of subject. His wife was 
Mary Fife, granddaughter of John Fife, who 
was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1721, and 
came to America from county Tyrone, Ire- 
land, in 1756. The children of James and 
Mary (Fife) Sawyer were Benjamin, Margaret 
Kelly, Martha Sawyer, mother of subject, 
Hannah, Mary, Thomas, William, John and 
Isabel List. 

William T. Sawyer was reared on his fa- 
ther's farm in Springfield township, where he 
attended the district school. After his father's 
death his mother moved to Akron, so that the 
children could have better educational advan- 
tages. After spending two years in the city 
schools and two years in the preparatory de- 
partment of Buchtel college he was admitted 
to the college proper, where he studied four 
years and graduated with his class June 23, 
1887. 

He then made an extensive trip through 
the west and south, visiting nearly twenty 
states, and finally settled down at Kno.wille, 
Tenn. , where he read law under the direction 
of the firm of Kornic & Caldwell. After pass- 
ing the examination for admission to the bar 
of Tennessee, in May, 1888, he returned to 



Akron, making the trip on a bicycle. He was 
employed as a reporter on the Akron Daily 
Telegram for about si.\ months, at the same 
time diligently prosecuting his studies of law, 
and was admitted to practice at the Ohio bar 
in June, 1890. He at once opened an office, 
and some months later formed a partnership 
with James V. Welsh, his present associate. 
They transact a general law business and are 
meeting with more than ordinary success. 
Their firm ranks well up toward the head of 
the Summit county bar, and they are known 
throughout northeastern Ohio as conscientious 
and successful lawyers. 

Fraternally, Mr. Sawyer is an Odd Fellow 
and is a member of Summit lodge. No. 50. 
Politically, he is a democrat, is particularly 
active in his party, and has done earnest work 
in its behalf. His voice has been heard on 
the hustings in every campaign since 1884. 
He is a fluent speaker and has frequently held 
the attention of his audience for two hours 
and a half at a time. He has repeatedly 
served his party as a member and twice as 
chairman of the county executive committee. 
He has held the office of police prosecutor, 
and in 1895 was elected treasurer of Portage 
township and re-elected to that office in 1897. 

At the solicitation of his ardent party 
friends he made the race for state representa- 
tive in 1895 and has ever since rejoiced in the 
fact that he was defeated. In 1896 he was 
the nominee of his party for representative in 
congress, made a thorough canvass, and re- 
ceived twice as many votes as any other dem- 
ocratic nominee for that office ever received in 
the district since its organization. 

He was instrumental in the establishment 
of the Daily Democrat in 1892 and is still a 
director and treasurer of the company by 
which it is published. For several years after 
the paper was started he was frequently re- 
ferred to as the "Daddy of the Democrat." 



506 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



He is a member of the Akron club and is a 
trustee of Buchtel college. 

Mr. Saw3er was married October 15, 1889, 
to Miss Bessie C. \'oris, j-oungest daughter of 
Gen. A. C. Voris, and their union has been 
crowned by the birth of one child, Lucy Martha. 

Mrs. Sawyer is a woman of artistic and 
literary tastes. The walls of her home are 
covered with pictures from her brush, in oil 
and water colors, which show much more than 
ordinary ability. In addition to her familiar- 
ity with all the standard authors, she has 
written a number of short stories, which her 
friends have fruitlessly urged her to of^er for 
publication. She is a member of the Univer- 
salist church and the Daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. 

The family residence stands on the brow of 
North Hill and is surrounded by spacious rus- 
tic grounds, upon which many of the native 
forest trees still flourish. Mr. Sawyer and 
his wife are among the most respected resi- 
dents of Akron. 



<>^ROF FREDERICK SCHNEE, a 

II 9 prominent educator of Summit 

^ county. Ohio, and for the past 

twelve years superintendent of schools 

at Cuyahoga Falls, was born at Freeburg, Pa. , 

April 30, 1848, a son of John F. and Hannah 

(Young) Schnee. 

The great-great-grandfather of subject, 
Johannes Schnee, came from Germany in the 
ship Phoenix in 1743 and settled in Pennsyl- 
vania. After the Revolutionary war there 
were four Schnees, and three of them changed 
or translated the name to Snow. Johannes 
Schnee was a member of the Lutheran church. 
His son, John, settled in Lebanon county, 
Pa. , was a miller and business man, and mar- 
ried Elizabeth Stehr. He was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war. His son, Joseph, was the 



grandfather of Prof. Schnee, and was born in 
Lebanon county. Pa. His brothers are John, 
Jacob, Henry, Philip, and George. John 
Schnee married Elizabeth Fisher, and their 
children were William, Mary L. , Joseph F., 
John F., Jacob F., Sarah, Susannah, Peter 
F., Ann M., Henry F. , and Elizabeth. 

Joseph Schnee learned the printer's trade 
and surveying. He moved to Union count)'. 
Pa., and bought a large farm near and partly 
on the Shade Mountain. He also engaged ex- 
tensively in the manufacture of coverlets, and 
had three manufactories, at Lewisburg, Free- 
bury and Schnee's Mill, or Mount Pleasant. 
Mr. Schnee was a colonel in the Pennsylvania 
state militia, and was in the war of 18 12. He 
was well educated for his time and kept school 
on his farm. He was an active politician and 
well and favorably known; he lived to be 
about forty-eight years old and died at Free- 
burg, Pa. He was justice of the peace at one 
time and married many people. He surveyed 
a great deal of land in Pennsylvania and 
taught others the surveying business. 

John F. Schnee, father of the professor, 
was born in Perry township. Union county. 
Pa.. May 17, 1823, received a common-school 
education and attended the academy at Lewis- 
ton, Pa., and taught school for a few terms. 
He learned the tanners trade, and married 
Hannah Young, a native of New Berlin, 
Union county, Pa. , a daughter of Frederick and 
Eva (Spotts) Young. The Youngs were of 
Scotch descent; the Spotts were of German 
ancestry. Frederick Young was a carpenter. 
His children were John, Samuel, Jacob, Bar- 
bara and Hannah. Mr. and Mrs. Schnee 
settled, after marriage, at Freeburg, Pa., 
where he carried on the tanning business until 
1864, when he came to Summit county, Ohio, 
and bought a good farm of 149 acres in 
Springfield township, and here he lived until 
his death, a Lutheran in religion and a deacon 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



507 



for many years. In politics he was a demo- 
crat, was a constable in Pennsylvania and a 
township trustee in Springfield township. He 
was a substantial farmer and much respected. 
His children were Frederick, Joseph and Eliza- 
beth E. Mrs. Schnee died at F"reeburg and 
Mr. Schnee married Lydia Swengel, and to 
them was born one son, now living — Charles 
M. Lydia Swengel was born in Union county, 
Pa., a daughter of Michael and Esther (Has- 
singer) Swengel. Mr. Schnee lived to be 
fifty years of age, and died November 9, 1873. 

Prof. Frederick Schnee received his educa- 
tion in a common school and then in the 
Freeburg academy until sixteen years old. He 
came to Ohio in 1864, attended the high 
school at .Akron and Greensburg seminary at 
Inland, in Summit county, which was a 
prosperous school of the Evangelical associa- 
tion. He taught school in Summit county 
four consecutive winters, and then became 
principal of the Richfield Central -high school 
and remained one year. 

Prof. Schnee married, in Springfield town- 
ship, December i, 1870, Caroline M. Gilcrest, 
who was born August 14, 1848, within the 
township limits, a daughter of Robert and 
Rebecca (Myers) Gilcrest. Robert Gilcrest 
was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and John Myers, 
the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Schnee, was 
a soldier in the war of 18 12. 

Robert Gilcrest was born in Washington 
county. Pa., a son of William, a pioneer. 
Robert was a millwright by trade and came 
when young to Summit, Ohio. He married 
Rebecca Myers, of Summit county, a daugh- 
ter of John Myers, of Union county, Pa., 
but formerly of Berks county. Pa. Robert 
Gilcrest engaged in the milling business in 
Springfield township and owned and operated 
Gilcrest's mill for many years, and also 
bought a farm. His children were Caroline 
M., Thomas J., Matilda E., Mary A., and 



Robert Anson. Mr. Gilcrest was an honored 
citizen and held the office of township trustee 
and treasurer, was a successful man and died 
aged eighty-four years. His wife still lives, 
aged eighty years. 

After marriage, Mr. Schnee taught school 
a few years, and then located in Akron and 
engaged in the life-insurance and school-fur- 
niture business until 1877, and then was su- 
perintendent of schools at Magadore, Ohio, 
for six years, and in 1883 was superin- 
tendent of the township schools of Norton, 
Ohio, and in 1885 came to Cuyahoga Falls, 
where he has been superintendent since, and 
has charge of all the school buildings and 
fourteen teachers. He has been successful in 
building up the schools and improving the tone 
of scholarship. Prof. Schnee has been a 
member of the county board of school exam- 
iners since April, 1883, and in former years 
did much institute work. 

Prof. Schnee and wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a 
trustee; in politics he is a democrat. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Schnee have been born Robert G. 
and John T. His son Robert G. is a graduate 
of the Cleveland college of Physicians & 
Surgeons, in which institution he teaches 
bacteriology and practices medicines with Dr. 
Rogers. 

Prof. Schnee gained his education by his 
own efforts, is a self-made man, and has suc- 
ceeded through his individual ability. He 
stands high as a man and citizen, as well as 
in the educational profession. 



BENRY SCHULTZ. the well-known 
tinner, roofer and spout and gutter- 
maker, in Ravenna, was born in Ran- 
dolph,, Portage county, Ohio, March 
4, 1845, a son of Adam and Elizabeth (Beisel) 
Schultz, natives of Germany and parents of 
seven children, viz: Peter, who died a soldier 



508 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in the Civil war; Eva, wife of Jacob Ginter; 
Adam; Elizabeth, married to Jacob Laubert; 
Henry, the subject; Willie and his twin 
brother, Albert. 

The paternal grandfather of Henry Schultz 
had been a soldier in the German army, was 
a farmer by vocation and the father of four or 
five children; he brought his family to America 
at a comparatively early day, about 1830, set- 
tled in Portage county and followed his voca- 
tion until his death, which occurred in 1856, 
at the age of eighty years. The maternal 
grandfather of subject died in Germany. 
Adam Schultz, father of subject, came to 
America with his father and grew to manhood 
in Randolph township, where he still lives on 
his farm, one mile from the old home of his 
father He and wife are members of the Ger- 
man Reformed church and are highly respect- 
ed in their community. 

Henry Schultz, the subject of this biography, 
was reared on his father's farm and received 
the usual education accorded farmers' lads in 
the district schools. He rendered his faithful 
assistance to his parents until he was twenty- 
two years of age, and then started in the 
butcher business in Akron, Summit county, 
where he remained four years and nine 
months, after which he worked two years at 
the carpenter's trade. In 1884 he started in 
the tin roofing and spouting business in Suf- 
field, Portage county, and did a prosperous 
business until 1889, when he moved to Ra- 
venna, where he has been more successful than 
ever before. 

The marriage of Mr. Schultz took place in 
June, 1880, with Miss Ida Moatz, daughter of 
Jacob and Elizabeth (Agne) Moatz, and this 
union has been blessed by the birth of four 
children, who are named Edith, Nettie, Floyd 
and Clinton. In their religious affiliations 
Mr. and Mrs. Schultz are Congregationalists, 
and fraternally, Mr. Schultz is a member of 



the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
the National Union. In politics Mr. Schultz 
has always been a republican, but has never 
held positions of emolument or doubtful pub- 
lic honor, preferring to exercise his franchise, 
pure and simple, in support of the nominees 
of his party, provided that they be good and 
capable men and worthy of support. 

Mr. Schultz has always maintained a spot- 
less reputation as a business man, has been 
attentive to the needs of his customers, has 
been thrifty and industrious, owns a good 
home and place of business, and enjoys, with 
his family, the respect of a large circle of 
friends and also that of the general public. 



>-j* AMES GEER BREWSTER (deceased). 
M who was the twin brother of Jonathan 
ft J H. Brewster, county commissioner of 
Summit county, and with whom he 
was in partnership, and for many years one of 
the leading business men of Summit county, 
was born at Thomastown, this county, Janu- 
ary II, 1834, a son of James G. and Martha 
(Hasson) Brewster. Receiving a good com- 
mon-school education, he remained on the 
farm until gaining his majority, when he went 
to California, where he was engaged in mining 
for twelve years, or until 1867, when he re- 
turned to the county of his nativity and en- 
gaged in farming, and about this time he, in 
company with his brother, Jonathan H., be- 
gan operating the coal mine which was located 
upon their farm. This occupation he continued 
for many years, doing the controlling business 
of northeastern Ohio. He was also interested 
for a long period in the Buckeye Sewer Pipe 
works of Middlebury, and for many years was 
engaged in the flouring-mill business in Cov- 
entry township. He was a man of sound busi- 
ness ability, and in politics an uncompromis- 
ing republican, in which party he was a prime 




^/Ck/ynM ^ ijyU^tfjy^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



511 



factor, and his counsel along this line was 
much sought after. 

May 25, 1870, James Geer Brewster was 
united in marriage with Miss Mary Davies, 
daughter of Rev. David and Rachel (Williams) 
Davies, natives of Wales, where Mrs. Brew- 
ster was also born. To Mr. and Mrs. Brew- 
ster were born nine children, of whom eight 
are living — Albert James; Martha V., now 
Mrs. John Shaffer; Mary I., Rose V., Modena 
R., Louise M., David Davies, and James 
Geer. Of these children, Laura S. is now 
deceased, and Mr. Brewster, it is sad to add, 
died January i, 1897. 

To better educate her children Mrs. Brew- 
ster has removed from the homestead at 
Thomastown to Akron, and now resides at 
No. 1 19 Johnson street, where she will readily 
be enabled to secure the means, through the 
excellent educational institutions of the city, 
of carrying out the commendable purpose 
which brought her to Akron. 

The Davies family, from which Mrs. Brew- 
ster descends, came to the United States in 
1852 and settled in Portage county. Her 
father, of whom a sketch is given in full on 
another page, was born in 18 17 and died at 
Paris (now Wayland) in Portage county, Au- 
gust 2, 1888. He was prominent as a Con- 
gregational minister and noted as the Welsh 
poet and wrote over the nom de plume of Dewi 
Emlyn. His wife was born in 1815 and died 
September 19, 1895. Of the nine children 
born to Rev. and Mrs. Davies three survive: 
Mary, Rev. David and Rachel, and no family 
of Portage county was ever more closely en- 
deared to the population. 



BREDERICK W. SCHUMACHER, 
one of the best known, most pros- 
perous and most highly respected 
farmers of Bath township, is a na- 
tive of Germany, and is a descendant of an 

19 



old and honored family in that country. His 
great-grandfather, Henry C. Schumacher, born 
June 12, 1749, in Wiensen, county of Usler, 
province of Hanover, was in the seven-year 
war with Frederick the Great, joining the mil- 
itary in November, 1767, and serving for six 
years and a half. Following this service he 
went to Hanover and turned his attention to 
letters, thoroughly equipping himself for the 
profession of teaching. In 1775 he was ten- 
dered a position as teacher in the village of 
Marienhagen, in the county of Lauensteiu, 
which he occupied with honor for forty years. 
The next in line was George Henry Ludwig, 
born September 13, 1780, in Neuhaus, prov- 
ince of Hanover. He was a merchant, an 
extensive landowner and speculator, and had 
amassed a large fortune, which by unfortunate 
investments he lost. His son, Albert, the 
father of our subject, was born at Bevern, in 
the dukedom of Brunswick, Germany, July 
30,- 1827. He began the active duties of life 
as a merchant, and later as atraveling salesman, 
after several years of which experience he en- 
tered the military service, in 1848, serving two 
years in the artillery. After this duty to his 
country he established a cutlery factory and 
store, which he conducted and is still con- 
ducting with much success. He married 
Louisa Buse, who was born September 14, 
1835, a daughter of William Buse, and 
to them were born three sons: Frederick 
William, our subject, born April 15, 1858; 
Theodore, born in i860, now a leading jew- 
eler in Germany; and Hermann, born in 1868, 
a prosperous merchant in his native country, 
whose army services were performed in the in- 
fantry between the years 1894-1896. 

Frederick William Schumacher received 
his education in the public schools of his na- 
tive town of Bevern and at the normal school 
at Holzminden. After a brief experience in 
the mercantile way he entered the army when 



512 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



he was sixteen years of age, serving in the 
cavalry until 1879. He then had charge of 
his father's business for a year. Determining 
that there were wider possibilities in this 
country, he decided to come to America, and 
in 1880 landed in New York city. He came 
directly to this county, and has managed the 
farm on which he npw resides in Bath town- 
ship, and also owns a residence in Akron. 
This farm consists of 200 finely-kept acres of 
rich river bottom land, well improved, and 
possesses good buildings and excellent apple 
and peach orchards. Mr. Schumacher stocked 
the farm well with full-blooded Holstein cattle 
and fine horses. He is a special lover of a 
hne horse, and has a number of which he may 
well be proud. 

On April 14, 1880, Mr. Schumacher was 
united in marriage to Miss Frances, daughter 
of William and Mary Cranz. To them were 
born two children: Katie, born August i, 1881, 
and Ferdinand, born September 26, 1882. A 
sad bereavement to this household was the 
death of the wife and mother. Mr. Schumacher 
afterward married Miss Clara Emig, daughter 
of Martin and Sophia (Wehrly) Emig, who 
were the parents of the following chidren: 
Clara, born November 19, 1868; Edward, 
January 11, 1870; Charles, December i, 1872; 
Mary, July 11, 1879; and Albert, March 5, 
1 88 1. Martin Emig was a veteran in the late 
war, serving with company C, One Hundred 
and Seventh Ohio volunteer infantry. To our 
subject, by his second marriage, four children 
have been given: Herbert O. , born July 8, 
1890; Helen S., March 12, 1S92; Hermine 
E., March 19, 1894; and Louisa, February 
9, 1896. 

Mr. Schumacher and his family are de- 
lightfully situated in their pleasant home, and 
he is well liked by all who know him. In ad- 
dition to the superior education he received in 
his native tongue, he has acquired a compe- 



tent knowledge of English and keeps well in- 
formed on current affairs. Incidentally, he is 
a nephew of Ferdinand Schumacher, the oat- 
meal magnate. 

In politics Mr. Schumacher is an ardent 
supporter of the principles of the republican 
party. He is a member of the Ivnights of 
Maccabees, lodge No. 281, and a member of 
the German military organization at Akron, 
Ohio. Both he and Mrs. Schumacher are 
members and earnest supporters of the Ger- 
man Lutheran church at Akron, Ohio. 



*'|-» OUIS G. SCHWEITZER, a well- 
I I known business man of Ravenna, 
1^^^ Portage county, was born in Cleve- 
land, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, Janu- 
ary 4, 1856, and is a son of Frederick and 
Catherine (Engelhorn) Schweitzer, natives of 
Bavaria, Germany, born, respectively, June 
18, 1829, and January 3, 1829. 

Frederick Schweitzer received a good edu- 
cation in his native land, and in 1847 came to 
the United States with his parents, who set- 
tled on a farm near Parma, about nine miles 
from Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and 
there he remained until twenty-one years of 
age, when he went to Cleveland and for three 
years served an apprenticeship at the black- 
smith's trade in the shop of Mr. Burrows. 
For the seventeen years following he was em- 
ployed as foreman in the John Drum Carriage 
works, and then moved to Marquette, Mich., 
where for three years he was employed by a 
brother, and in 1867 returned to Cleveland, 
where he took charge of Goodfellow's hall 
and conducted a wine, liquor and restaurant 
business until September 25, 1871, when he 
moved into his own building, known as 
Schweitzer's hall, at the corner of Pearl and 
Bridge streets, and here conducted a large 
billiard room, in conjunction with a sample 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



513 



room, until his death, which occurred July 24, 
1893. To the marriage of Frederick Schweit- 
zer with Miss Engelhorn were born five chil- 
dren, viz; George, now deceased; Louis G., 
the subject; Lizzie, now Mrs. Metzger; Fred- 
erick, Jr.', and Catherine, now Mrs. Lang. 

Louis G. Schweitzer attended the public 
schools of Cleveland until thirteen years old, 
and then worked for his father until his mar- 
riage, November 30, 1887, with Miss Lena 
Gretzinger, of Ravenna, a daughter of Martin 
and Lena Gretzinger, old and respected resi- 
dents of Portage county. Martin Gretzinger 
was the owner of the oldest tannery in the 
state of Ohio, it having been started in 18 10 
by Jared Mason, who came from Beaver coun- 
ty, Pa., and did a lucrative business for three 
years, dying in 18 13. In 1815 J. T. Wells 
married the widow of Mr. Mason, and thus be- 
came possessor of the tannery, which, in part- 
nership with Jesse R. Grant, father of Gen. 
U. S. Grant, he conducted for several years, 
when it passed into the hands of Mr. Gret- 
zinger, who ran it for many years, or until 
1867, when it was disposed of to C. F. 
Goeppinger. This old tannery was located 
southeast of the court-house grounds, and 
some of the vats are still to be seen in the 
cellar of the original building on Jefferson 
street, Ravenna. To the marriage of Mr. 
Schweitzer with Miss Gretzinger have been 
born two children — Karl Frederick, June 20, 
1892, and Fritz Lewis, October 5, 1894. 

Mr. Schweitzer is engaged in the wine and 
liquor business at No. 1 17 Chestnut street, the 
building having once been occupied by a school 
taught by Mrs. President Garfield in her 
younger days, but now owned by the parents 
of Mrs. Schweitzer, and here he is doing a 
prosperous trade. He is a member of Lake 
Shore lodge, No. 6, K. of P., of Cleveland; of 
lodge No. 295, B. & P. O. E., of Warren, 
and of the Ravenna Gun club — being an en- 



thusiastic sportsman. In politics he is a re- 
publican, and is a useful and popular citizen. 
Mrs. Schweitzer is a consistent member of the 
Congregational church and is a most estimable 
lady in every respect. 



>T^AMES HENRY SEYMOUR, ex-treas- 
m urer of Summit county and a member 
/> J of the firm of J. H. Seymour & Co., 
proprietors of the Excelsior laundry of 
Akron, Ohio, was born in Colebrook, Litch- 
field county. Conn., July i6, 1842, a son of 
Henry R. and Ann P. (Gross) Seymour. 

Rufus Seymour, the paternal grandfather 
of subject, was also a native of Colebrook, 
Conn., and of Puritan stock, being of the same 
family from which the Govs. Seymour of Con- 
necticut and New York descended. He was a 
farmer and lumberman by vocation, and passed 
his entire life in Colebrook. His son, Henry 
R., and wife came to Hudson, Ohio, in 1850, 
the son being at that time a traveling sales- 
man for the American Whip company, of 
Chicago, which he represented in Ohio and 
other western states until about 1856, and 
then engaged with another wholesale Chicago 
house as salesman of cigars and tobacco, re- 
taining the position two years, and during 
these two years made his home in Chicago. 
He then returned to Hudson and purchased a 
bakery, which he conducted up to the breaking 
out of the Civil war, and next carried on a 
grocery until his death, which occurred m 
1864. He had been twice married, his first 
wife having been Ann P., daughter of Israel 
and Sarah (Ellsworth) Gross, of Torringford, 
Conn., to which union were born two chil- 
dren — James H., the subject, and Anna M. 
(Mrs. Z. P. Allee), now deceased. His second 
wife was Sarah Bush, of Westfield, Mass., 
who bore him one son — Ernest W. 

James Henry Seymour was reared in New 
England and in Ohio, and received an academ- 



514 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ical education in Hudson, Summit county. 
During the Civil war he was a member of the 
Second Ohio cavalry, going out as a musician 
in 1862, and being honorably discharged after 
one year's service. In the spring of 1864 he 
was appointed clerk in the quartermaster's 
department at DuVall's Bluff, Ark., but re- 
signed in December and returned home, on 
account of his father's death. He then suc- 
ceeded to the latter's grocery and provision 
business, which he conducted until 1S86, when 
he was elected treasurer of Summit county, 
and was re-elected in 1888 — thus serving two 
full terms of two years each. In 1891 he 
became identified with the Akron Queensware 
company, of which he was secretary and treas- 
urer about two years. In May, 1895, as a 
member of the firm of Badger & Seymour, he 
became a purchaser of the Excelsior laundry; 
Mr. Badger sold his interest in May, 1897, 
and the firm became J. H. Seymour & Co., 
which has since been doing a most thriving 
business. 

Mr. Seymour has been twice married, his 
first wife having been Louise Case, of Hud- 
son; his second marriage was to Martha L., 
daughter of Joel and Marion (Anderson) 
Webb, of Mogadore, Summit county, Ohio, 
and this union has been blessed with two chil- 
dren — Marion and Ruth. Mr. Seymour is a 
member of the First Congregational church, of 
which he is a trustee, and Mrs. Seymour is a 
member of the Universalist church. In pol- 
itics Mr. Seymour is a stanch republican; fra- 
ternally he is a member of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, and of this great army he 
was department commander of Ohio in 1878, 
and for several years was commander of Gen. 
Sheridan post, at Hudson, Ohio. As a busi- 
ness man, Mr. Seymour is universally re- 
spected, and as a citizen he is held in great 
esteem for his public spirit and untiring use- 
fulness. 



^r^^USTAVUS SEIBERLING, a repre- 
■ ^\ sentative farmer of Norton township, 
%^^f Summit county, Ohio, was born on 
the farm he now owns and occupies 
June 19, 1854, and is of remote German an- 
cestry, being the descendant of one of two 
brothers, Jonas and Michael Seiberling, who 
were natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, and 
came to America in 1745. Of these two 
Michael died without issue and Jonas became 
a substantial farmer of Lehigh county, Pa., 
where he passed the remainder of his life. 
Christian Seiberling, only son of Jonas, was a 
noted hunter and Indian fighter, and died in 
Lehigh county. Pa., at the age of eighty-four 
years. His son, Frederick Seiberling, was a 
soldier in the war of the Revolution and in the 
early Indian wars. He was a farmer of Lehigh 
county, and his nearest courthouse was at 
Philadelphia, whither he went once a year to 
pay his ta.xes, making the trip on horseback. 
He died on his farm at the age of seventy- 
seven years, the father of the following chil- 
dren: Christian, John F., Peter and Jonas. 

John F. Seiberling, grandfather of subject, 
was born in Lehigh county, Pa., in 1783, was 
postmaster at Linville, Pa., fifty-five years, 
and it is said he was the oldest postmaster in 
the United States. He married Catherine 
Bear, by whom he had a family of si.x sons 
and four daughters, the second son being 
Nathan, the father of our subject. In his old 
age John F. Seiberling came to Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, and here died December 25, 1876. 

Nathan Seiberling was born in Linville, 
Pa., April 14, 18 10, was reared to farming 
and on December 6, 1829, married Catherine 
Peter, who was born June 27, 181 1, a daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Margaret (Moser) Peter, of 
Northampton county, Pa., the marriage re- 
sulting in the birth of the following children: 
Kittie A. , deceased wife of Paul Wall; John 
F. ; James H. ; Sarah, wife of Jacob M. Harter; 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



515 



Monroe; Mary (deceased), wife, first, of John 
Biery, and, secondly, of Joseph Kemmerer; 
Frank, deceased; Eliza, deceased, wife of 
Sherman Baughman; Charles; Septimus, de- 
ceased; Columbus; Milton and Gustavus, all, 
with the exception of the first named, born in 
Ohio. In April, 1831, Nathan Seiberling 
brought his wife and first-born child to Norton 
township, Summit county, Ohio, and bought 
ninety acres of timber-land, cleared it up, 
built a log cabin, and erected the first saw- 
mill in the township, which was operated by 
water power, and this farm constitutes part of 
that on which our subject now resides. Mr. 
Seiberling was strictly a temperance man, was 
zealous in the Lutheran faith, was an elder in 
the W'alsh Lutheran church, of which he was 
a pillar, and, although he never sought official 
preferment, consented to serve for a short 
time as justice of the peace. He was modest 
and unassuming in his deportment, yet was a 
wide-awake business man and was worth over 
$100,000 at his death, which occurred No- 
vember 4, 1889, his widow surviving until 
February 27, 1894. 

Gustavus Seiberling received a very good 
common-school education, and from early 
manhood has been closely identified with the 
agricultural interests of his township and 
county. November 18, 1875, he married Miss 
Julia Kulp, who was born September 8, 1856, 
a daughter of John M. and Sallie A. (Bechtel) 
Kulp, of Medina county. John M. Kulp is a 
son of Isaac Kulp, of Pennsylvania, who mar- 
ried a Miss Miller, and was one of the pioneers 
of Medina county, Ohio. John M. Kulp was 
born in Centre count}', Pa., in 1821, and was 
married in Medina county, Ohio — his wife 
being also a native of the Keystone state. 
His family consists of Mary A., wife of Rus- 
sell Griswold; Sarah J., wife of Frederick 
Williams; Fietta C, wife of Samuel Richards; 
William H., and Julia A., now Mrs. Seiber- 



ling. Mr. Kulp is now a prominent farmer of 
Guilford township, Medina county, is a repub- 
lican in politics, and is a Lutheran in religion, 
while his wife affiliates with the Reformed 
church. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Seiberling have been born five children, viz: 
Wilson F., Cloyd, Sarah C, Pauline and 
Raymond G. 

Mr. Seiberling owns a fine farm of 233 
acres, which he has placed under a high state 
of cultivation and improved with two sets of 
buildings, making it one of the best farms in 
the county. His residence is situated within 
the corporate limits of Western Star, of which 
village he has filled all the offices and has ma- 
terially assisted in developing, and of which he 
is now mayor. An ardent republican in politics, 
he has been active in the service of the party 
in county, state and national affairs, but has 
never sought public office, although he has 
consented to serve in the positions mentioned 
above in order to promote local progress. He 
has been liberal in his aid to the Lutheran 
church, of which he and wife are members, 
and he and family are esteemed as among the 
most refined and respectable residents of Nor- 
ton township. 



eVELYN L. SHALL, of West Rich- 
field, Summit county, Ohio, was one 
of the old soldiers of the Civil war 
and is a straightforward man. He 
was born August 15, 1847, at West Richfield, 
Ohio, a son of Robert and Abigail (Suley) 
Shall, the Shalls being of Mohawk, N, Y., 
German stock, and the Suleys coming from an 
old Connecticut family. Evelyn L. Shall re- 
ceived a common-school education and learned 
the harnessmaker's trade when young. He 
enlisted at Akron, Ohio, February 13, 1864, 
in the Ninth Ohio volunteer battery, independ- 
ent, to serve three years or during the war, and 



516 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was discharged July 25, 1865, at Cleveland, 
Ohio, the war having closed. His services 
were at Tullahoma, Tenn., Bridgeport, Ala., 
and on garrison duty most of the time. He 
was in the last battle at Nashville and in sev- 
eral skirmishes. He was not wounded nor a 
prisoner, nor sick in hospital, but was always 
an active soldier, with but one day off duty. 
After the war Mr. Shall returned to West 
Richfield, but later was in the government 
service at Washington, D. C, in the postal 
department, from April, 1889, to November, 
1895. He is a member of A. N. Goldwood 
post, G. A. R. , and has held the office of 
quartermaster. In politics he is a republican, 
and cast his first presidential vote for U. S. 
Grant on the occasion of his second nomina- 
tion. Mr. Shall has never married. He is a 
respected, industrious citizen, well known for 
his integrity of character. 

I^obert Shall, father of our subject, was 
born in Herkimer county, N. Y. , a son of 
Leonard and Catherine (Brummer) Shall. 
Robert Shall was a merchant tailor by trade, 
and came when young to West Richfield, 
worked at his trade many years, and married 
here Abigail Suley, daughter of Amigo and 
Mary (Baldwin) Suley. Their children were 
Eugene, Evelyn L. , Mary, Charles, Frank, 
George, William and Clarence. Mr. Shall 
was a pioneer citizen and a respected and sub- 
stantial man, but died when only fifty-two 
years of age. In politics he was a republican, 
and had two sons in the Civil war — Eugene, 
serving in company H, One Hundred and Sev- 
enty-seventh Ohio infantry. 



QERWIN SHAW, one of the most 
substantial agriculturists of Norton 
township. Summit county, Ohio, 
was born in Medina county, Sep- 
tember 23, 1826, and is of English descent, 



although the -family has long been listed among 
the residents of America, and for the three 
past generations of the Buckeye state. 

Moses Shaw, grandfather of subject, was 
born in Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, N. Y. , 
where he grew to manhood and was married, 
and whence he came to Ohio overland by wag- 
ons and settled in Guilford township, Medina 
county, but afterward moved to Wadsworth 
township, where he passed the remainder of 
his life and died in the faith of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. His children were named, 
in order of birth, Joshua P., Moses, Hannah, 
Phebe and James. 

Joshua F. Shaw, father of subject, was 
also a native of Dutchess county, N. Y. , was 
born January i, 1798, and was reared a 
farmer, which calling he followed throughout 
life. He was not yet fully grown when he 
came to Ohio and settled in Medina county, 
where he attended school a short time and on 
attaining his majority married Miss Rhoda 
Agard, who was born in Litchfield, Conn., 
July 23, 1802, To this union were born three 
children, viz: Merwin, Mary and George. Of 
these three, Mary, who was married to George 
Wise, is now deceased. Mrs. Rhoda Shaw 
died in Wadsworth township, Medina county, 
and for his second wife Mr. Shaw married 
Mrs. Betsey Johnson, widow of Thomas John- 
son. Here, Mr. Shaw died August 5, 1869, 
in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
of which church his widow was also a member. 
Mr. Shaw was in his earlier days a whig in 
politics, had filled various offices, and was a 
gentleman of standing and respect with his 
neighbors. 

Merwin Shaw, with whose name this biog- 
raphy is opened, was educated in an old-time 
log school-house, but nevertheless received a 
solid education. With the exception of two 
years his practical business life has been passed 
in farming, and these two years were spent in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



517 



a grist-mill at Johnson's Corners, Summit 
county. From September 2, 1862, until No- 
vember of the same year, he served with the 
Twenty-ninth regiment of Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry in Maryland, receiving an honorable 
discharge at the end of his term of enlistment. 
In politics Mr. Shaw is a republican and has 
served his fellow-citizens as township trustee. 
In religion he and his wife are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and he has 
contributed most liberally to the support there- 
of, having at one time donated $3,000 in cash 
toward the erection of the Methodist church 
edifice at Johnson's Corners. For forty years 
he was Sunday-school superintendent, and 
may justly be called a pillar of the church. 
Fraternally he is a Freemason, a Patron of 
Husbandry, and has served as post commander 
and chaplain of post No. 267, Grand Army of 
the Republic. His farm comprises 267 acres 
of excellently improved land, and his dwelling 
and other buildings are of substantial and mod- 
ern construction. 

To Mr. Shaw four children were born by 
his first marriage, viz: Frank J., George A., 
Ella E. and Hattie. Mr. Shaw was next 
married, in 1879, to Mrs. Clara Nichols, of 
Medina county, Ohio. 

Frank J. Shaw was born in Norton town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, June 7, 1850. He 
lived on the home farm until twenty-one years 
of age, when he married Ruth Wilder, daugh- 
ter of Wells Wilder, and to this union have 
been born four children, named Frank M., 
Daisey A., Dora E. and Earnest W. Mr. 
Shaw owns a farm of 100 acres and also oper- 
ated a portable saw-mill for about thirty years, 
and also now runs a threshing machine. He 
is a republican in politics and in religion is a 
devoted Methodist, being a Bible-class teacher 
and church chorister and a liberal contributor 
to the support of his denomination. His 
daughter, Daisey A., is wedded to Ward Ware, 



who was born June 24, 1871, in Norton town- 
ship, and is a son of Josiah and Lovina (Bark- 
hammer) Ware. Ward Ware is a farmer and 
carpenter and is a steady-going young man 
who enjoys the respect of all who know him. 
Mr. Shaw and his son-in-law. Ward Ware, 
are now engaged in general merchandizing at 
Johnson's, and are doing a good trade. 



^""^EORGE A. SHAW, of Barberton. 
■ ^\ Norton township. Summit county, 
^^^^ Ohio, is a native of the township, 
was born in September, 1853, and is 
a son of Merwin Shaw, whose biography pre- 
cedes this mention, and in which will be 
found full details concerning this honored 
family. 

George A. Shaw was graduated from the 
high school of Doylestown and later from the 
Wadsworth college, both of Ohio, after which 
he lived on his father's farm for a few years, 
when he sold his interest in the home estate 
and went to Mitchell, Dak., where he was 
employed by the C, M. & St. P. Railway 
company as yardmaster for about eighteen 
months, and six months as conductor on a 
train running between Mitchell and Woon- 
socket. He then returned to Ohio and en- 
gaged in general mercantile business in New 
Portage, where he was also postmaster during 
the last Harrison administration; later he lo- 
cated in Barberton, where he has since done 
a prosperous trade. He is an ardent repub- 
lican in politics and organized the first Mc- 
Kinley club in Barberton, of which he was the 
president, and in the spring of 1896 was 
elected by a majority of seventy-two votes 
mayor of Barberton, at that time considered 
to be a democratic stronghold. 

The societary connection of Mr. Shaw is 
very extensive, he being a charter member of 
K. of P. lodge, No. 486, of Barberton, in 



518 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



which he has passed all the chairs, and which 
he has represented in the grand lodge ; he is a 
member of the G. A. R. , also of Daniel 
Webster lodge, No. 90. O. U. A. M., of which 
he was also a charter member; of this body 
he has likewise acted in every official capacity, 
was once elected representative to the grand 
lodge, but was prevented by business engage- 
ments from attending, and is now deputj' of 
the local lodge. He has also passed all the 
chairs in the U. R. K. P., Akron division. In 
religion he is a Methodist, and is a charter 
member of and elder in the Barberton congre- 
gation. He is exceedingly popular, and is un- 
tiring in his efforts to promote the prosperity 
of his township. 



,>^ WIGHT SHUMWAY, an old soldier 
I I of the Civil war and a respected citi- 
/<^^_^ zen of Cuyahoga Falls, Summit 
county, Ohio, was born in Peru, 
Berkshire county, Mass., Aprils, 1S3S, and is a 
son of Stewart and Mary (Lelandi Shumway. 
Dwight received the usual education of the 
common schools, came to Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio, March, i860, at twenty-two years of 
age, and worked at farming. He enlisted at 
Cuyahoga Falls, August 28, 1861, in Captain 
Joseph A. Agard's company K, Nineteenth 
regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry. December 
31, 1863, he veteranized in the same regiment, 
in Capt. Joseph Venney's company, at Flat 
Creek, Tenn. , and served until honorably dis- 
charged, October 24, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio, 
on account of the closing of the war. He was 
in the battles of Pittsburg Landing, Stone 
River, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge; 
and in the Atlanta campaign at Dallas, Dal- 
ton, Resaca, Pumpkinvine Creek and Kene- 
saw Mountain. He was shot through the 
right arm by a minie-ball, which completely 
disabled it, the bone being shot out for two 



inches, and shattered from three to four 
inches. He was taken to hospital on the field, 
and a few days later to Chattanooga, where he 
was confined in hospital one month, and then 
at Nashville, Tenn., two months, and at |ef- 
fersonville, Ind., and at Cleveland, Ohio, for 
about six months, and then at Cincinnati, then 
Camp Dennison, and then taken to Columbus, 
where he was mustered out. During this 
time he suffered greatly and many pieces of 
bone worked out of his arm. It became finally 
healed, yet the bone is entirely lacking for the 
space of two inches, but he can use it to some 
extent. On returning from the war, Mr. 
Shumway engaged in the drug business, in 
1866, in Cuyahoga Falls, remaining in this for 
fifteen years, since which time he has been 
engaged in farming. He married, in 1866, in 
Cuyahoga Falls, Miss Eunice James, of this 
city, a daughter of Orin and Betsey James. 

Mrs. Shumway is a member of the Method- 
ist church. In politics Mr. Shumway is a re- 
publican, and has served as postmaster of Cuy- 
ahoga Falls for eight years. He is a member 
of the G. A. R. , Eadie post. No. 37, in which 
he has held the offices of senior vice-commander 
and quartermaster. Until disabled, Mr. Shum- 
way was an active and efficient soldier, prompt 
to do his duty, and was in some of the hardest- 
fought battles of the war and in many skir- 
mishes, and well deserves the esteem in which 
he is universallv held. 



KON. AARON MORGAN SHERMAM, 
M. D., of Kent, Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Brimfield, Mass., 
March 24, 1826, and descends from 
one of the very old English families of New 
England. Of two brothers and a cousin of 
the name who came to America in 1634, one 
brother settled in Massachusetts, the other in 
Connecticut, and the cousin in Providence, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



519 



R. I. From the settler in Massachusetts the 
doctor is descended, while Gen. \V. T. Sher- 
man and Senator John Sherman descend from 
the settler in Connecticut. The great-great- 
grandfather of subject. Dr. John Sherman, was 
one of the two brothers who came from Eng- 
land; the great-grandfather of subject was 
named Thomas; and the grandfather, also 
named Thomas, lived and died on his farm in 
Brimfield, which farm is still owned by the 
family of the late Elijah Sherman. 

Capt. Harris Sherman, father of the doc- 
tor, was born February 22, 1790, was reared 
on the home farm, and married Sally Morgan, a 
native of Brimfield, Mass., born June 30, 1790, 
a daughter of Aaron Morgan. After marriage 
he purchased a farm near the old homestead 
and continued in the pursuit of agriculture. 
In early life he had been a member of a mili- 
tary organization, in which he held the rank 
of captain, and during the war of 1812 was 
twice commissioned to recruit a company of 
soldiers, in which he was successful, but did 
not enter into the war himself, owing to the 
severe illness of his father. In 1831 Capt. 
Sherman disposed of his home farm and took 
in exchange, as part payment, a tract of 250 
acres in Brimfield, Portage county, Ohio, of 
which he took immediate possession, and 
brought hither his wife and six children. This 
farm is now one of the best improved and 
best cultivated of any in its immediate 
vicinity. He was always active in politics, 
being first a whig and later a republican, and 
held several local offices. He was one of the 
founders of the Pioneer association of Portage 
and Summit counties, and he and his wife 
were pioneer members of the Universalist 
church, in the faith of which his wife died Au- 
gust 3, 1870, and he February 14, 1878, the 
parents of eight children, viz: Lewis M., a 
resident of Kent, Ohio; Caleb, who was a farm- 
er and died in Kent, Portage county, in 1856; 



Caroline, who died unmarried; Sarah, who is 
married to William R. Matthews, and resides 
in Lynnville, Jasper county, Iowa; Dr. Aaron 
M., the subject; Thomas, a farmer of Jasper 
county, Iowa; John Warren, who was a farm- 
er and died in Brimfield, Portage county, Ohio, 
and Otis S., who died at eight years of age. 

Dr. Sherman was but five years of age 
when brought by his parents to Ohio. The 
trip was made from their farm to Albany, 
N. Y. , by wagon, and by canal and lake Erie 
to Cleveland, Ohio (that city containing a 
population at that time of only 1,000), and 
from Cleveland to Akron by the Ohio canal. 
He was reared on his father's farm, and re- 
ceived such education as the district schools 
of the day afforded. He then taught school 
four winters, and at night taught singing 
school — all the family being excellent vocal- 
ists. At the age of twenty years he com- 
menced reading medicine under Dr. John A. 
Knowlton at Garrettsville, Portage county, 
and in 1851 was graduated from the Cleveland 
Medical college, which was then the medical 
department of the Western Reserve univer- 
sit)'. He at once entered upon his practice in 
Garrettsville, and there remained until 1857, 
when he removed to Kent, being now the old- 
est physician in the city. From 1857 until 
i860 he was also engaged in the drug trade 
and met with much success both as a practi- 
tioner and as a pharmacist. In 1864-65 he 
was assistant surgeon in the Lincoln general 
hospital at Washington, D. C, but with that 
exception his practice has been confined to 
Kent and vicinity since 1857, having been sur- 
geon for several railroad companies for many 
years while pursuing his general practice. The 
doctor is a member of the Union Medical asso- 
ciation of northeastern Ohio, and was its sec- 
ond president; the State Medical society and 
the Portage county Medical society, before all 
of which he has made many interesting ad- 



520 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



dresses, and has, beside, contributed many 
valuable articles to the better class of medical 
journals of the day. 

In politics the doctor was originally a 
whig, and cast his first presidential vote for 
Zachary Taylor. He united with the repub- 
licans on the formation of that party, and his 
first public office was that of coroner of Port- 
age county, and was acting in that capacity 
when the distressing railroad accident hap- 
pened at Ravenna, July 3, 1891, through 
which twenty-three lives were lost — nineteen 
of the victims being burned beyond recogni- 
tion. In 1884 he was elected a member of 
the Ohio general assembly, and ser\ed on sev- 
eral highly important committees, and he has, 
beside, held many local offices. 

The doctor is now the president of the 
Pioneer association of Portage and Summit 
counties, which he assisted to organize in 
1874, and of which he drew up the constitution 
and by-laws, having been the first secretary of 
the association — a position he filled twentj' 
consecutive years. Since the association was 
formed there have been over 600 deaths of its 
members, the average longevity of whom was 
over eighty years, and of whom the doctor has 
written the biographical sketches of over 500. 
Dr. Sherman was made a Mason at Garretts- 
ville, Ohio, in 1S56, is one of the charter 
members of Rockton lodge. No. 316, of Kent, 
which was organized in 1858, and of which he 
was the first master, serving ten years. He is 
also a member of Washington chapter, R. A. 
M., at Akron. 

The first marriage of Dr. Sherman was 
solemnized in 1851, with Miss Henrietta Ta- 
bor, in Garretsville. This lady was a daugh- 
ter of John Tabor, and died in 1854, without 
issue. The second marriage was celebrated in 
October, 1854, with Miss Harriet A. Gray, a 
native of Ravenna township, Portage county, 
and a daughter of Watson I. Gray. This 



happy union has been blessed with one son, 
Harris G., now a celebrated oculist of Cleve- 
land. The doctor has been an extensive 
traveler throughout the United States, visiting 
forty states and territories, and the winters of 
1893-94 and 1895-96 were passed b}- himself 
and wife in Pasadena, Los Angeles county, 
Cal. They are members of the Universalist 
church and have a pleasant home, but the 
doctor has never had any inordinate desire for 
wealth, and his ambition is gratified by the fact 
that he stands at the head of his profession 
and he and his wife are deservedly esteemed 
by all who know them. 



'^tt'OHN SISLER, retired merchant and 
■ farmer of Franklin township. Summit 
/• 1 county, Ohio, and now a resident of 
Manchester, was born in Lycoming 
county. Pa., December 16, 1817, and is a 
grandson of Lewis Sisler, who was a native 
of Germany and was there married, but about 
1775 came to America, before any of his chil- 
dren were born, and first located in Boston, 
Mass., where, for a short time, he taught 
school; later he moved, to Lancaster county. 
Pa., thence to Lycoming county, and, being a 
highly educated man, followed the profession 
of educator until his death, which occurred 
in Lycoming county about 1820. His chil- 
dren were born in the following order; George, 
Nicholas, Lewis, Houston, Betsey, and Mary. 
Lewis Sisler, son of Lewis, the immigrant, 
was born in Lancaster county, Pa., about 
1790, was a farmer from childhood, and about 
the year 1812 married Margaret Marsh, daugh- 
ter of George Marsh, a German, and to this 
marriage were born eleven children, viz: George 
W. , Houston, John, William, Thomas, Adam, 
Charles, Mary A., Lewis, James and Marga- 
ret. In 1824 the family moved to Erie coun- 
ty, N. Y. , where the father engaged in farm- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



521 



ing until his death, in August, 1855, and in 
1856 the mother came to Summit county, 
Ohio, and passed the remainder of her life 
with her daughter Margaret, dying on the 28th 
day of March, 1872. 

John Sisler was reared on a farm, received 
a good academic education, taught school one 
term in York state, and on September 10, 
1839, came to Franklin township. Summit 
county, Ohio, and here taught several years. 
He was married in this county, June i, 1853, 
to Miss Mary C. Justes, a native of Wayne 
county, Ohio, and a daughter of Michael J. 
and Margaret (Hoy) Justes, and this union has 
been blessed with the following children: Ida, 
wife of Hiram Allen; William W., Cassius C, 
John M., deceased; Abbie, now Mrs. Price; 
Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Prout; Mary, mar- 
ried to Isaac Myers ; Arthur, Bertha and 
Earnest. W^hen Mr. Sisler first came to 
Franklin township the country was quite new 
to civilization, although log cabins were nu- 
merous and all the school-houses were built 
of logs, as were many of the churches, and 
he has been an eye-witness of hundreds of 
changes for the better, and in these changes he 
has himself been a prime factor. His present 
homestead comprises twenty acres, to which 
he has retired to pass in peace the remaining 
years of his long and useful life. In politics 
he is a republican; he has filled the of^ce of 
justice of the peace many years, and has served 
in minor offices when called upon to do so. 
He and wife are members of the Disciples' 
church, of which he has been an elder for a 
number of years, and they have reared a fam- 
ily which is a credit to the township. 

A. G. Sisler, of the firm of Sisler & Co., 
general merchants of Manchester, and a son 
of John and Mary C. Sisler, was born in 
Franklin township September 19, 1867, and 
passed his earlier days on his father's farm. 
He received a good common-school education, 



which was supplemented by an attendance of 
three years at the Valparaiso (Indiana) normal 
college. For the past four years, in partner- 
ship with his brother, William W. , he has 
been doing a very successful retail business in 
general merchandise, their stock in trade being 
well asorted and equally well adapted to the 
wants of the community, while their affable 
treatment of their patrons make them uni- 
versal favorites with the buying public. May 
9, 1896, A. G. Sisler was happily united in 
marriage with Miss Cora Reifsynder, daughter 
of Edward Reifsnyder, a resident of Green 
township. Summit county. In politics Mr 
Sisler is a strong republican, and in religion he 
adheres to the faith of his forefathers and is 
very Hberal in his financial aid to the church. 

William W. Sisler, an elder brother of 
A. G. and his partner in business, was born in 
Franklin township January 16, 1855, and is 
still unmarried. In politics he is also a repub- 
lican, and fraternally is a member of lodge 
No. 173, Junior Order American Mechanics, of 
Clinton, Ohio. Like his brother, he is very 
popular both as a merchant and citizen, and 
the entire Sisler family stand among the fore- 
most of the residents of Franklin township 
and Summit county. 

Mrs. Sisler was a native of Wayne county, 
Ohio, and was educated in the common schools. 
There were nine children in the Justes family, 
four sons and five daughters, only five now 
living, of whom Elizabeth is the wife of Elijah 
Troxel, of Defiance, Ohio, a plasterer by 
trade; Ellen, wife of Lewis Farris, of Garretts- 
ville, Ohio; Nancy, wife of a Mr. Brown, a 
miller of Evansport, Ohio; Samuel, of Striker, 
Ohio, and a plasterer by trade; and Mrs. Sis- 
ler, of this biography. Those deceased are 
William, Susan, James and David. For 
almost one-half century have Mr. and Mrs. 
Sisler traveled life's journey hand in hand, 
sharing the joys and sorrows of life, and 



522 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



now in the declining years of their lives are 
living in peace and contentment, surrounded 
by their loving children and dear friends, who 
will be glad to read this excellent life sketch 
of this worthy couple. 

J. M. Sisler, M. D. , son of Mr. and Mrs. 
Sisler, was a young man of brilliant promise. 
He graduated from the Cincinnati Medical 
college March i, 1882, and located in Man- 
chester, Ohio, and three years after his grad- 
uation his life labors ended, he dying at 
twenty-seven years of age. He married Miss 
Ella Kaufman, a native of Manchester, Ohio. 
During his short but useful life he had also 
engaged in teaching, and was successful to a 
marked degree. 



HDAM SISLER, M. D., of Manches- 
ter, Summit county, Ohio, is a native 
of Lycoming county. Pa., and was 
born December 30, 1823. He traces 
his ancestry to Germany, whence his paternal 
grandfather came to America after marriage, 
and bought a farm in Lycoming county, Pa., 
where, after taking part in the war of 1812, 
he died in the faith of the Presbyterian church 
and in politics a whig. 

Lewis Sisler, son of the immigrant men- 
tioned above, was born in Lycoming county, 
Pa., in 1790, there grew to manhood and 
married Margaret Marsh, who was born in 
1795, a daughter of George Marsh, who came 
from Germany, and to this marriage were born 
the following children: George W., Houston, 
John, William, Thomas, Adam, Mary A., 
Charles, Lewis, Margaret and James. In 
1827 Lewis Sisler moved his familv to Erie 
county, N. Y., where he purchased a farm 
with a log cabin on it, but with no other im- 
provement. This farm Mr. Sisler cleared 
from the wilderness and erected on it good, 
substantial buildings, and made it one of the 



best homesteads in the county. He became a 
man of wealth and influence, and gave all his 
sons academic educations, and, as a whig, was 
elected to several township offices. He died 
on his farm in August, 1855, in the Presby- 
terian faith; his widow subsequently came to 
Summit county, Ohio, and died March 28, 
1872, in Manchester. 

Dr. Adam Sisler was but four years of age 
when his parents removed from Pennsylvania 
to New York, and in the latter state attended 
the academy at Aurora, where he later taught 
school a 3'ear and then came to Manchester, 
Ohio, where he taught four j'ears, in the 
meantime reading medicine with his brother, 
^^'illiam. In the fall of 1847 he entered Cleve- 
land Medical college, studied one year, then 
practiced three years, after which he re-entered 
college and graduated therefrom in 1853. He 
immediately returned to Manchester, and for 
twenty years was associated with his brother, 
who finally removed to Akron, and there 
passed the remainder of his life. In the earl}' 
years of the doctor's practice here the country 
was new and the roads little better than trails, 
and he was forced to travel a radius of thirty 
or forty miles on horseback in order to attend 
to his patients; but he has been very successful, 
and his reputation, hard earned as it is, is as 
high as that of any physician in the county. 

In politics the doctor was at first a whig, 
but is now a prohibitionist. In religion he 
is of the belief of the Disciples, in whose 
church he has for many years been an elder. 
April 6, 1848, the doctor married Miss Aman- 
da E. Hoy, who was born in February, 1828, 
a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Troxler) 
Hoy, natives of Pennsylvania and early pio- 
neers of Summit county, Ohio. Mr. Hoy ran 
the first stage line between Wellsville and 
Cleveland, Ohio, and was also the first inn- 
keeper in Manchester. He was a leader in 
the whig party, held office as associate county 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



523 



judge, was land appraiser two terms, and for 
a long time a justice of the peace. He was 
an elder in the Disciples' church and died in 
that faith August 6, 1S83, having lost his wife 
June 20, 1866. To the marriage of Dr. Sisler 
and wife have been born the following chil- 
dren: Frances E.. wife of Lafayette Swigart; 
Charles E. ; Clara A., wife of Frank Raber; 
Caroline B. ; Lewis E. ; Everett B. ; John L. ; 
Jennie L., wife of Prof. Rood, and William 
H. Dr. Sisler is now probably the oldest as well 
as the most prominent physician in Stmimit 
county, is known far and wide, and has ac- 
quired a competency in his practice, but is too 
closely devoted to his profession to abandon 
it, although he could easily afford to do so, 
but such a step would prove a matter of re- 
gret and an irreparable loss to a large portion 
of the suffering invalids in his community. 



"^ EWIS E. SISLER, M. D. , and coun- 
I I ty auditor of Summit county, Ohio, 
1^ ^ was born April 8, i860, a son of Dr. 
Adam and Amanda (Hoy) Sisler, the 
place of his nativity being the village of Man- 
chester, in the county of which he is now the 
auditor. 

Lewis E. Sisler was primarily educated in 
the district school of Manchester, graduated 
from the high school, ne.xt attended the.Smith- 
ville academy, and then entered the North- 
western Ohio normal university at Ada. Fol- 
lowing his graduation from the latter institu- 
tion, he taught school two or more years in 
Manchester and its environs, and in 1879 be- 
gan reading medicine. When he had been 
sufficiently prepared by diligent study for a 
full comprehension of oral utterances, he at- 
tended lectures at the medical department of 
the Western Reserve university at Cleveland, 
from which he received his diploma in the 
spring of 1883. He then practiced his pro- 



fession, in partnership with his father, for a 
year or more, in his native village, whence he 
moved to Clinton, Summit county, where his 
practice was so remunerative that he re- 
mained there fourteen years, establishing an 
imperishable reputation for unusual skill and 
proficiency. 

In politics Dr. Sisler is an uncompromis- 
ing republican, and for eleven years has been 
a member of the republican county executive 
committee, of which he was vice-chairman 
three years, and chairman in 1890. In 1889 
he was appointed, by President Harrison, a 
member of the Akron board of pension exam- 
iners, and in 1895 elected auditor of Summit 
county by the handsome plurality of 1,600, 
and was qualified for the office September 14, 
1896, and up to the present writing no word 
of disparagement has been uttered against 
him, but, on the other hand, constant praise 
has been his, for the able manner in which he 
has filled the duties of his office. 

The first marriage of Dr. Sisler took place 
in 1884, to Miss Metta B. Miller, of Canal 
Fulton, and to this union were born two chil- 
dren — Dreamond Miller and John Rutherford. 
The doctor was bereaved of his amiable wife 
May 25, 1891, and in December, 1895, he 
married Miss Eva Tilton, a highly accom- 
plished lady, also of Canal Fulton. In relig- 
ion Mrs. Sisler adheres to the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, while the doctor worships N\ith 
the Christian society. The fraternal relations 
of Dr. Sisler are broad and extended, as he 
holds membership with the Masonic order, 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent & Pro- 
tective Order of Elks, and the Knights of 
Maccabees, in which last-named order he is 
medical examiner-in-chief for the state ot 
Ohio. The doctor and his amiable lady hold 
a very high position in the social circles of 
Akron, as they also did while residing in Man- 



524 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Chester, and his professional success has ever 
been a matter of satisfaction to himself as 
well as of cong;ratulation b}' his numerous 
friends. 



m. 



*ILLIAM G. SMITH. M. D., the 
well-known physician and surgeon 
of Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, 
was born in New Wilmington, Law- 
rence county. Pa., July ii, 1854, and is a son 
of Samuel and Sarah (Banks) Smith. Both 
parents were born in Pennsylvania — the father 
in Beaver county and the mother in Latrobe, 
Westmoreland county, and there were born to 
them nine children — four sons and five daugh- 
ters — of whom the following are still living: 
Dr. William G. ; Robert A., of New Wilming- 
ton; Ella, wife of N. A. Philips, of Bedford, 
Ohio; Edward H., of Cleveland, Ohio, and 
Edith, who resides with her mother in New 
Wilmington, Pa. The father of this family 
was a farmer and died at New Wilmington in 
May, 1875, at the age of forty-four years, a 
member of the old-school Presbyterian church; 
the mother still lives on the home farm, and 
is a member of the same religious denomina- 
tion, as are also all the surviving children. 

Jacob Smith, the paternal grandfather of 
subject, was also a native of Pennsylvania, 
was of German parentage, a butcher by call- 
ing, and was the father of twelve children, of 
whom Samuel, father of Dr. William G. , was 
the eleventh in order of birth. Robert Banks, 
maternal grandfather of the doctor, was like- 
wise a native of the Keystone state, was a 
cooper and farmer, was of English descent, 
and married a Miss Coulter, of Irish extrac- 
tion. This lady lived to be upward of sev- 
enty years of age, and her husband reached 
the advanced age of eighty-seven years. 

William G. Smith, the subject proper of 
this memoir, was reared on the home farm in 



Pennsylvania until thirteen or fourteen years 
old, then went to New Wilmington, where he 
clerked during the summer months and at- 
tended the public school in the winter, grad- 
uating finally from the high school. W'hile 
still employed as a clerk in a drug store, 
he commenced the study of medicine about 
1874, and in the fall of 1875 entered Miami 
Medical college, from which he graduated in 
the spring of 1877. In the same year he 
came to Ohio and began practice in Palmyra, 
Portage county, where he enjoyed a lucrative 
patronage for over fourteen years, constantly 
increasing his knowledge of the profession 
both by study and experience. The winter of 
1890-91 he passed in the city hospital at Cin- 
cinnati, further enlarging his experience. In 
the spring of 1891 he brought his family to 
Ravenna, whither his fame as a practitioner 
had preceded him. and here has since stood 
among the foremost physicians of the city and 
surrounding country. 

The marriage of the doctor was solemnized 
October 26, 1879, with Miss Mary A. Force, 
daughter of David and Abigail (Merwin) Force, 
which marriage has been blessed with three 
children, Charles W., George Merwin and 
Ada Lillian, but of these the parents have 
been afflicted with the loss of the second born, 
George M., who died when one year old. Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith are members of the Methodist 
church, in which the doctor is a steward, and 
for two years was superintendent of the Sun- 
day school while residing in Palmyra. 'Frater- 
nally the doctor is a Freemason, an Odd Fel- 
low, is examining surgeon in the Royal Ar- 
canum, and is also a Forester of America, of 
which order he is the grand chief ranger of 
Ohio. He is likewise a member of the State 
Medical society, the Northeastern Ohio Med- 
ical union, and the Portage county Medical 
society, and of the last named was one year 
president. His practice is general in its scope 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



525 



and extensive in its dimensions. He is, more- 
over, a genial and affable gentleman, and he 
and wife hold distinguished positions in the 
social world of Ravenna and of the county. 



@EORGE J. SNOOK, the artistic pho- 
tographer, of Akron, Ohio, is a native 
of Brantford, Canada, was born 
March 9, 1857, and is a son of 
George and Amy (Hull) Snook, natives of 
England. 

George Snook, father of subject, learned 
the trade of miller in his native county of 
Somerset, and came to America while yet a 
single man and located in Canada, where he 
met and married Miss Amy Hull, and there 
operated a mill until 1863, when he brought 
his family to Akron, where he passed the re- 
mainder of his life, working at his trade. To 
his marriage were born seven children, viz: 
William P., foreman of a spice mill in Chi- 
cago, 111.; Thomas B., orange grower. Weirs- 
dale, Marion county, Fla. ; John I., miller of 
Akron, Ohio; George J., the subject; Henry 
W., orange grower, Marion county, Fla.; 
Charles A., foreman in the City Roller mills, 
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Amos B., plumber, 
Jacksonville, Fla. The death of the father of 
this family occurred April 24, 1868, in the 
faith of the Episcopal church, in which faith 
his widow still lives. 

George J. Snook, from about the age of 
six years, was reared in Akron and educated 
in its public schools. When fourteen years 
old, he entered the studio of G. W. Manley 
for the purpose of learning photography, and 
with him remained about three years; later 
and for one year was in the employ of B. F. 
Battles, and afterward with Epley, Howard & 
Co. In April. 1882, he opened a gallerj' on 
his own account at No. 186 South Howard 
street, where he established a high reputation 



and remained twelve years, when he removed 
to his present elegant parlors and studio, 
which form the only ground-floor gallery in the 
city, and which he has especially fitted up for 
his purpose, and where he executes every 
variety of photography, including portraits, 
views and commercial work. In connection 
with his gallery he conducts an art store, in 
which he carries a complete line of works of 
art, artists' supplies, picture frames, etc. 

Mr. Snook is a member of the State Pho- 
tographic association; of Nemo lodge, of Akron 
encampment, I. O. O. F. ; of Adoniram lodge, 
Washington chapter, and Akron commandery, 
F. & A. M., and of Akron senate, A. E. O. 
In politics he is a republican. 

The marriage of Mr. Snook took place 
September 19, 1882, with Miss Mary I. Bart- 
lett, daughter of A. A. Bartlett, but after four- 
teen years of wedded life Mrs. Snook was 
called from earth November 13, 1896. 



eETER I. SNYDER, an enterprising 
young farmer of Norton township. 
Summit county, Ohio, was born on 
the farm which he still occupies, in 
the original log cabin erected by his parents in 
1852, and in which his birth occurred on the 
4th day of July, 1863. 

Jost Snyder, grandfather of subject, was a 
native of Sweden, but while still a young man 
came to America, and was married in Penn- 
sylvania to a Miss Baughman, who bore him 
the following-named children: Abraham, Joel, 
Paul, Jonas, Joshua, George, Daniel, Isaiah, 
Nathan, Sophia, Elizabeth and Peter. Some 
time after his marriage Jost Snyder came to 
Ohio and settled on a farm in Springfield town- 
ship. Summit county, became a substantial 
citizen, and died highly esteemed March 
27, 1876. 

Isaiah Snyder, father of subject, was born 



526 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in Springfield townsiiip May 7, 1821, and was 
reared on his father's farm. Although he 
learned the stonemason's trade after having 
acquired as good an education as could be ob- 
tained in the pioneer log school-house of his 
early youth, farming was the chief occupation 
of his active life. He married Elizabeth 
Grube, who was born November 2, 1829, in 
Lehigh township, Lancaster county, Pa., but 
who was six years of age only when brought 
by her parents, Peter and Nancy (Landis) 
Grube, to Norton township. Summit county, 
Ohio. The Grube children were four in num- 
ber and were named in order of birth David, 
Peter, Margaret and Elizabeth. Mr. and 
Mrs. Isaiah Snyder resided for some years after 
marriage in Springfield township and then 
came to Norton township, where Isaiah bought 
the farm on which subject now lives in 1852. 
Isaiah was a democrat in politics, was an elder 
of the German Reformed church, was respected 
as an honest and substantial citizen, and died 
February 9, 1876. His widow afterward mar- 
ried Tillman Koons, and her death took place 
in Doylestown, Ohio, January 25, 1895. 

Peter I. Snyder received all the advantages 
in the way of education that the common 
schools of his district afforded, and has been 
identified all his life with the farming interests 
of Norton township. November 4, 1885, he 
was united in marriage with Miss Alice V. 
Miller, who was born in Sharon township, Me- 
dina county, Ohio, April 4, 1869, a daughter 
of Joseph B. and Rebecca J. (Lower) Miller, 
of whom further mention will be found in the 
biography of M. L. Miller, on another page. 
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Snyder has been 
blessed with six children, who are named, in 
order of birth, as follows: Ollie L. , William 
E., Elsie M., Charles L., Harry R. and Ira 
P. The farm of Mr. Snyder comprises fifty 
acres, and, although comparatively small, is 
extremely fertile and well kept, comparing 



favorably with many of greater dimensions 
both in tillage and yield. In politics Mr. Sny- 
der is a democrat. He is a deacon in the 
Waltz German Reformed church, and is well 
known as well as respected throughout the en- 
tire township of Norton and the townships 
adjoining. 



J 



OHN L. REID, the popular proprietor 
of Reid's livery establishment, at the 
corner of Mill and High streets, Akron, 
Ohio, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scot- 




land, June II, 1854, a son of John and Jane 
L. (Lowe) Reid, and came to Akron in 1868. 
John Reid was a carpenter and contractor 
and also came to America in 1868, first located 
on a farm near Lodi, Medina county, Ohio, 
but later came to Akron, where he followed 
his trade until his death, in 1873. His widow 
has now reached her seventy-fifth year. They 
were the parents of seventeen children, of 
whom six died in Scotland in early childhood. 




Mrs. jane L. reed. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



529 



and eleven came to the United States with 
their parents. Of these, George resides in 
Cleveland; Mary is the wife of Gad Wheeler, 
of Akron; John L. is the subject of this notice; 
Charles and Duncan, twins, are shoe dealers 
in Akron; Frank, also a shoe dealer in Akron, 
is the twin of Jennie, the wife of William 
Dunham, of Berea; Helen, wife of Edward 
Mitchell, of Akron; James R. , a cabinetmaker 
of the same city; Fannie, wife of C. Wells, of 
Cleveland, and Willie, deceased. 

John L. Reid drove a team — a horse and 
cart — for his father in the highlands of Scot- 
land until coming to the United States, at- 
tending school in the meantime, and on com- 
ing to Akron found employment in the Stone 
cereal mill as engineer and remained in that 
employ about ten years. He then engaged in 
the livery business on North High street for 
several years, then removed to the rear of the 
Buchtel hotel and conducted the livery at that 
place until 1892, when he removed to his 
present location, where he has fitted up one 
of the largest and best equipped livery estab- 
lishments in the city, having erected a building 
to suit his own ideas of conveniences and 
facilities for transacting his business. His 
barns are well stocked with rigs for general 
livery purposes, for the transfer trade and for 
funeral purposes, as well as for picnic parties, 
weddings or other festivities. He at first 
started in business with two horses and two 
buggies; he now owns twenty-nine horses, six 
fine coaches costing $1,200 each, surreys, bug- 
gies, phaetons, traps and other vehicles of the 
daintiest as well as of the most substantial 
description. He keeps a full corps of assist- 
ants, who clean, clip and otherwise care for 
his own and his • ' boarding " stock, and sharpen 
and cork shoes according to the season. The 
barns are well ventilated, and lighted by elec- 
tricity, and by this power he grinds his feed. 

In fact, he is up to date in everything. 
20 



Mr. Reid was married, March 7, 1876, to 
Miss Anna Flowers who has borne him four 
children: William, Robert, Jennie and one 
deceased. In politics Mr. Reid is a repub- 
lican, and as a citizen he is wide-awake, public 
spirited and law abiding; his integrity is marked 
in his every act, and he is well worthy of the 
high esteem in which he is universally held. 



HDAM G. SPANGLER, general mer- 
chant of Manchester, was born in 
Franklin township, Summit county, 
Ohio, June 18, 1853, and is a son of 
Joseph and Caroline (Smith) Spangler, who 
were the parents of three younger children, 
viz: John (deceased), Charles, a resident of 
Clinton, Ohio, and Jennie, wife of O. W. 
Baum. 

David Spangler, grandfather of subject, was 
a native of Pennsylvania, but was one of the 
pioneers of Summit county, Ohio, where he 
entered a tract of land from the government, 
and until his death was identified with the 
agricultural development of the county. 

Joseph Spangler, son of David and the 
father of the subject, was born in Summit 
county November i, 1820, and is now the 
oldest man in Franklin township, who has 
since that date been a continuous resident 
thereof. He was educated in a pioneer log 
school-house, has always been a farmer, and 
now owns a farm of 1 54 acres in this township, 
and another of 160 acres in Kansas. He first 
married Caroline Smith, daughter of John and 
Jane Smith. This lady was born in 1828, 
and gave birth to the children named at the 
opening of this article. The second marriage 
of Mr. Spangler took place March 12, 1868, 
to Adeline Hoy, who Was born in Warren 
county, Ohio, January 2, 1838, a daughter of 
David and Jane (Hutchinson) Hoy, and to this 
union have been born David E., July 22, 1869; 



530 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Irwin H.. August 4, 1870, and Joseph G., Jan- 
uary 30, 1873. David Ho}-, father of Mrs. 
Spangler, was a native of Pennsylvania, born 
in Adams county April 25, 1805, and his wife, 
a native of the same state, was born March 
19, 1809. They were married in Adams 
county, and soon afterward moved to Wayne 
county, Ohio; but their declining years 
were passed in Hocking county, where Mr. 
Hoy died October 22, 1883, and Mrs. Hoy, 
October 19, 1881. Mr. Spangler is a member 
of the Reformed church, to the support of 
which he has always contributed freely of his 
means, and in politics is a democrat. 

Adam G. Spangler was reared on his 
father's farm and was well educated in the 
common schools. For eighteen years he fol- 
lowed plastering as a trade, and in 1889 opened 
his general merchandizing establishment in 
Manchester, designed especially for the supply- 
ing of the needs of farmers and miners. He 
is a lirst-class business man and possesses the 
tact of so treating a patron that when he once 
makes him a sale he ever after holds him as a 
customer. In politics Mr. Spangler is a stanch 
democrat and cast his first presidential vote 
for Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, but has never had 
any overweening desire for public office. In 
religion his faith rests with the Reformed 
church, in which he is very active, having been 
for several years a Sabbath-school teacher, 
and which he aids with a liberal hand. Fra- 
ternally he is a member of the Junior Order 
United American Mechanics, Gen. Joe. Hooker 
council No. 173, of Clinton, Ohio, and a Ma- 
son, being a member of Elliott lodge, of Canal 
Fulton, Ohio. 

Mr. Spangler was united in marriage Jan- 
uary 13, 1874, with Miss Mary A. Serfass, 
who was born in Franklin township in 1856, 
a daughter of James and Julia (Shoup) Serfass, 
who came from Cumberland, Pa., to Franklin 
township in a very early day, and here passed 



the remainder of their lives, the father dying 
March 9, 1896. and the mother February 2, 
of the same year. To the marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Spangler have been born two chil- 
dren, viz: Charles E., born November 10, 
1875, but who died May 9, 1896, and Claude 
C, born July 10, 1879. Mr. and Mrs. 
Spangler stand high in the social circles of 
Manchester and Franklin township, and as a 
business man the name of Mr. Spangler is 
without a blemish. 



IRVIN H. SPANGLER, a leading young 
farmer of Franklin township. Summit 
count}', Ohio, is a son of Joseph and 
Adeline (Hoy) Spangler, of whom full 
mention is made in the biography of Adam G. 
Spangler, given above. 

. I. H. Spangler is a native of Franklin 
township, born August 4, 1870, received a 
good common-school education, and has been 
a farmer since his boyhood days, having been 
reared on his father's farm. December 18, 
1890, he married Miss Laura E. Bender, who 
was born in Lake township. Stark count}', 
Ohio, June 14, 1872, a daughter of Harvey 
and Mary (Miller) Bender. Mrs. Spangler, 
when quite young, was bereft of her mother, 
but her father, who now resides in Kalamazoo, 
Mich., is a prosperous farmer, is a member of 
the Lutheran church, and in politics is a dem- 
ocrat. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Spangler have been born four children, who, 
in order of birth, were named Florence L. , 
Robert R., Lydia (deceased) and Charles B. 
Mr. Spangler owns and resides on a snug 
farm of forty-two and a half acres, which he 
keeps in an e.xcellent state of cultivation, and 
has improved with modern accessories. He 
and wife are members of the Reformed church 
and its teachings constitute the rule of their 
daily walk through life. In politics Mr. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



531 



Spangler is a stanch democrat and he cast his 
first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland, 
but he has never yet sought official honors. 
He is recognized as one of the most indus- 
trious and capable young agriculturists of the 
township, is liberal in his support of church 
and school, as well as all commendable en- 
terprises, and socially he and wife enjoy in a 
marked degree the esteem of their neighbors. 



aHARLES OLIVER SPRENKEL, a 
prosperous farmer of Springfield town- 
ship. Summit county, Ohio, was born 
October 14, 1859, in Snyder county, 
Pa., a son of Charles and Charlotte (Hoff) 
Sprenkel, who still reside in Snyder county. 

Charles Sprenkel, father of Charles Oliver, 
is a native of the Buckeye state and was reared 
a shoemaker, but on relinquishing his trade 
engaged in farming and in dealing in live stock, 
and on removing to Snyder county, Pa. , fol- 
lowed farming and saw-milling. He there 
married Miss Hoff, a native of that county and 
a daughter of Josiah and Magdalena (Bickel) 
Hoff, the fruit of the union being nine children, 
viz: Cordelia, wife of Christopher Regie, of 
Selin's Grove, Pa. ; John F. ; Matilda, widow 
of Moses Fisher; Charles Oliver; Zeno W. , 
of Kantz, Pa.; Ida S.. wife of Henry Shum- 
bach, of Snyder county; William H., Isaac 
C, and Mary O. , deceased wife of John A. 
Straub. Mr. Sprenkel and wife are members 
of the Reformed church, are greatly respected 
in their community, and Mr. Sprenkel has 
served his fellow-citizens in various official 
capacities. 

Charles Sprenkel, paternal grandfather of 
Charles Oliver, was born in Germany, came 
to Ohio in early life, was twice married, reared 
two large families, and died at the advanced 
age of eighty-six years. The maternal grand- 
parents of Charles Oliver were natives of En- 



gland, and earl)' settlers of Pennsylvania; 
they had born to them ten children, of whom 
Mary Ann, wife of William Crist, Charlotte, 
wife of Charles Sprenkel, and Margaret, widow 
of Henr}' Kessler, are still living; the deceased 
were Matilda, Sadie, John, George, Samuel, 
Martha and Maria. The father of this family 
died in 1 88 1 , at the age of seventy-seven years, 
and his wife in 1887, aged eighty-one years, 
and both sincere Methodists. 

Charles Oliver Sprenkel was reared on his 
father's farm in Pennsylvania until eighteen 
years of age and then worked about nineteen 
months in a grist-mill, intending to thoroughly 
learn the trade, but relinquished it on account 
of the dust, and worked in the ore banks about 
eighteen months, then resumed milling for 
nineteen months, when, early in 1883, he 
drifted westward to Erie, Pa., where he 
worked in a saw-mill until July of the same 
year, when he came to Summit county, Ohio, 
and engaged in farming until December, 1887, 
when he went to Akron, where he was em- 
ployed as a carpenter (having partly learned 
the trade in Pennsylvania) about five j'ears, 
and later engaged in the jewelry business, car- 
rying on a store until 1897, when he came to 
Springfield township and engaged in farming. 

Mr. Sprenkel was united in marriage, in 
Springfield township, November 16, 1882, 
with Miss Catherine Stein, who was born Au- 
gust I, i860, in Green township, a daughter 
of John and Rebecca (Peters) Stein, and this 
union has been blessed with two children, 
Mary C. and Maud R. 

Daniel Stein, grandfather of Mrs. Sprenkel, 
was born in Baden, Germany, was a farmer, 
and came to America in 183 1. Of his eight 
children the only one living is Catherine, wife 
of Henry Strohman; the deceased seven were 
named Daniel, Peter, Elizabeth (wife of John 
Brown, also deceased), Henry, Magdalen, Mary 
(Mrs. Daniel Winkelman) and John. The 



532 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



maternal grandparents of Mrs. Sprenkel were 
natives of Pennsyhania, where the grandfather 
was a school-teacher for many years, and later, 
for a long time, postmaster in Summit county, 
Ohio. To his marriage with Miss Catherine 
Dague were born six children, of whom but 
one survives — Elizabeth, wife of Simon Keifer; 
the deceased were George Henry (who died in 
the army), Simon, Susan (wife of William 
Beaty), Mary (wife of Jonas Braucher) and 
Rebecca (wife of John Stein). The parents 
of these children died within nine days each 
of the other, in June, 1869. 

John Stein, father of Mrs. Sprenkel, was 
born in Baden, Germany, July 16, 1820, and 
his wife, Rebecca, was born in Dauphin 
county. Pa., January 24, 1840. John Stein 
was first a shoemaker and then a farmer, in 
Springfield township. He first married Cath- 
erine Kreighbaum, who bore him two sons, 
Jacob and Andrew, the former of whom died 
in infancy and the latter at twenty-two years 
of age. The second marriage of John Stein 
took place February 5, 1859, to Miss Rebecca 
Peters, daughther of John and Catherine 
(Dagne) Peters, and to this union were born 
eleven children, of whom ten are still living, 
viz: Catherine (Mrs. Sprenkel); Mary, born 
April 23, 1862, and now the wife of Charles 
Miller; Henry E., born December 14, 1866, 
married to Ellen Pontius and residing in Akron; 
John W., born March 8, 1869; Charles F., 
born March 20, 1871, and married to Nettie 
Metz; Ida E., born May i, 1873; George 
Oliver, born June 10, 1875 — now a resident 
of Akron; Simeon P., born August 3, 1877; 
Lavina May, born May 24, 1880, and Fred- 
erick, born July 30, 1883, and who makes his 
home with Mr. Sprenkel; Etta was born Sep- 
tember 2, 1864, was married to William 
Mitchell, and died March 13, 1893. The 
mother of this family died March 31, 1896, 
at the age of fifty-six years and two months, 



and the father December 18, 1896, aged sev- 
enty-six years, five months and three days, 
both being members of the Reformed church. 
It was while Mr. Sprenkel was engaged in 
the jewelry business in Akron that the parents 
of Mrs. Sprenkel were called from earth, and 
this event led to his taking charge of the old 
Stein homestead in Springfield township, which 
is now his home, and which he has shown 
himself to be fully capable of managing. In 
politics he is a democrat, and in 1897 was 
elected supervisor of Springfield township, of 
which office he is still the incumbent. He is 
a member of Knights of Pythias lodge. No. 
598, of Akron, and is highly respected as one 
of the most upright and useful citizens of 
Springfield township. 



>» vy w ^ ILLIAM H. STAMM, an experienced 
■ ■ I ^^"^ skilled blacksmith of Manches- 
^JLJ ter, Summit county, Ohio, is a na- 
tive of this village and was born 
May 21, 1856, a son of William and Louisa 
(Grubb) Stamm. 

John Stamm, grandfather of subject, was 
born near Philadelphia, Pa., of German par- 
entage, but married in Stark county, Ohio, 
Mary Braucher, a daughter of Jacob Braucher. 
and for a few years lived on a farm in Jackson 
township, Stark county, and then came to 
Summit county, where he died in the fall of 
1840, when the widow returned to her former 
home. Both were members of the Lutheran 
church, and in politics the husband was a 
democrat. The grandmother is still living at 
Canal Fulton, is eighty-eight years of age, is 
still hale and of unimpaired intellect. It is 
related of her that in the early pioneer days, 
during the absence of her husband, she killed 
a deer with a hatchet — the crust of ice on the 
snow at the time being strong enough to sus- 
tain the weight of the household dogs, but 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



533 



through which the sharp hoofs of the deer pene- 
trated, thus rendering it a prisoner to the 
hounds until dispatched by Mrs. Stamm. 

WilHam Stamm, father of subject, was 
born in Stark county, Ohio, December 19, 
1828, on his father's farm, and was educated 
in the pioneer log school-house. He was the 
eldest of the five children born to his parents, 
and his father's early death threw him upon 
his own resources, and he began life for him- 
self by working for the pioneer farmers for 
four dollars per month — at that time consid- 
ered to be very good wages. He first married 
Louisa Grubb, who was born in Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, in 1830, a daughter of John and 
Margaret (Kintz) Grubb, pioneers from Lan- 
caster county, Pa. This lady bore her hus- 
band four children — Almon (deceased); Will- 
iam, our subject; Frances died at three years, 
and Alice, wife of James Proctor. Mrs. Stamm 
died December 3, 1863, a member of the 
Disciples' church — and Mr. Stamm then mar- 
ried Margaret E. Grubb, a sister of his de- 
ceased wife. Mr. Stamm first engaged in 
blacksmithing in Manchester in 1848, worked 
here eleven years, and then moved to Canal 
Fulton, where he worked eight years, and 
thence went to Montville township, Geauga 
county, where he bought a farm and built a 
blacksmith shop, and there he still resides. 
In politics he is a republican, and he and wife 
are adherents of the Disciples' church. 

William H. Stamm, the subject of this 
memoir, was educated in the schools of Canal 
Fulton and Kent, and at nineteen years of age 
entered his father's shop and became a thorough 
blacksmith. October 10, 1880, he married 
Miss Savila Singer, a native of Green town- 
ship, Summit county, born January 22, 1857, 
and a daughter of Gephart and Annie (Epler) 
Singer, who came from Germany to Summit 
county in 1855; here the mother died October 
9, 1889, and the father June 11, 1892, both 



in the faith of the Evangelical church. In 
politics Mr. Singer was a republican. With 
the exception of sixteen years spent in Canal 
Fulton and Kent, William H. Stamm has al- 
ways lived in Manchester, where he now owns 
a modern dwelling. In politics he is a strong 
republican, but has never held an office. He 
and wife are consistent members of the Dis- 
ciples' church, in which he is a trustee and 
teacher in the Sunday-school, and in support 
of which both are liberal with their means. 
They are much respected in the social circles 
of the village, and it is an acknowledged fact 
that Mr. Stamm has no superior as a black- 
smith in Summit county. 



aOE JAMES STANFORD, the well- 
known funeral director and scientific 
embalmer of Ravenna, Ohio, was born 
in Randolph township, Portage coun- 
ty, September 7, 1841, and is a descendant, 
maternally, of one of the oldest families of 
America, being a son of Orrin and Eliza O. 
(Coe) Stanford. 

The Coe family came to this country from 
Suffolkshire, England, where they had resided 
for many generations. The earliest notice of 
them which can be found is in " Fox's Book of 
Martyrs, " which states that Roger Coe, of Mil- 
ford, Suffolkshire, was burned at the stake by 
Queen Mary in September, 1555. Little else 
is known of the family until the removal of 
Robert Coe from Suffolkshire to America, and 
who, in a genealogy of nine generations, rep- 
resents the first. He was born in 1596, and 
with his wife Anna, born in 1591, and their 
three sons, landed in Boston in June, 1634. 
Thus by a direct line of descent the family can 
be traced, almost from the landing of the Pil- 
grim fathers. 

Deacon James P. Coe was the maternal 
grandfather of the subject, and the father of 



534 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Eliza O. Coe, who married Orrin Stanford. 
Deacon Coe was born in Granville, Mass., 
March 19, 1769, and married Nancy Pratt, by 
whom he had six children. In 181 1 here- 
moved to Randolph township in this county 
and resided there for a period of thirty-four 
years, or until his death. His numerous fam- 
ily married and settled in various lines of busi- 
ness in Portage county, and their representa- 
tives are numbered among the prominent fam- 
ilies to-day. 

The Coes were exemplary people — the of- 
fice of deacon in the Congregational church 
being held for sixty-two years by James, Al- 
mon B. and James P., respectively, represent- 
ing three consecutive generations. 

Little is known of the ancestral history of 
the Stanford family. Orrin Stanford, father 
of our subject, was born in New York state, 
and when a child of two years, accompanied 
his parents to Portage county, Ohio. Here 
his life was spent, the township of Randolph 
being the location of the family home. Mr. 
Stanford, though possessed of a good farm, 
spent most of his life in oiechanical pursuits. 
He was a carpenter by trade, a profession 
which our subject followed for several years. 

Orrin and Eliza Stanford had a family of 
eight children born to them, our subject, the 
second in order of birth, and his sister, Stella 
O., being the only survivors. The eldest of 
this family was Celestine, who died in young 
womanhood. Stella resides at Randolph Cen- 
ter, in this county, unmarried. Hiram died at 
twenty years of age a young man of bright 
promise; Rolla died in infancy. Rosa died of 
atrophy of the heart — a young lady of eight- 
een. Flora and Cora — twins — died at the age 
of four years of diphtheria. 

Coe J. Stanford, the subject, passed his 
early years on the farm and also learned the 
use of tools in his father's carpenter shop. 
He acquired a fair common-school education 



and had spent something over a year as a stu- 
dent in Hiram college when the war cloud 
called him from his studies to bear arms in de- 
fense of the Union. Mr. Stanford is one of 
the few survivors who had the honor to serve 
his country under command of the distin- 
guished and lamented Gen. Garfield. He en- 
listed September 25, 1861, as a member of 
company A, Forty-second Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, his company being made up almost of 
students from Hiram college. Owing to his 
educational abilities, Mr. Stanford was ap- 
pointed to several positions on detached duty, 
but persistently refused all offers of promotion, 
and at the end of his three years' service came 
out of the army as he had entered it — a pri- 
vate. On his return from the army in 1864 
he found that his father bad died in the fall of 
that year at the age of fifty-two years; the 
mother died in 1888. 

Mr. Stanford now found it necessary to 
assume charge of his deceased father's busi- 
ness, which he conducted until 1877, when he 
engaged in the manufacture of coffins at Edin- 
burg, subsequently purchasing a stock of 
undertakers' supplies. In 1880 he removed 
to Atwater, sold out m 1886 and went to 
Ouincy, 111., whence, fifteen months later, he 
removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked 
eighteen months as an employee, and then 
came to Ravenna, where he passed a few 
months in unprofitable business, after which 
he went to New Philadelphia, where he passed 
a year and a half in the undertaking business 
as an employee. He then returned to Ra- 
venna and established his present line of busi- 
ness, having in the meantime graduated from 
the Cincinnati school of embalming, and 
being the first to introduce the arterial em- 
balming process in Portage county. 

March 15, 1883, Mr. Stanford was united 
in marriage with Miss Nina Mendenhall, a na- 
tive of Randolph township and daughter of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



535 



William and Asenath Mendenhall, of Atwater, 
Ohio, where the father is engaged in the fur- 
niture and undertaking business. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Stanford have been born two children, 
the elder of whom, Willie, was born Decem- 
ber 2, 1883, and died October 29, 1891; the 
younger, Helen, was born in August, 1886. 
In religion Mr. Stanford was reared a Meth- 
odist, and his wife is a Congregationalist. In 
politics Mr. Stanford is an uncompromising 
republican, but has never been a seeker of 
office. Fraternally he is a member of the I. 
O. O. F., of the G. A. R., and of the A. O. 
F. A. Socially, he and wife stand among the 
61ite of Ravenna. 



A^^T. CLAIR STEELE, an old soldier 
•^^^k* of the Civil war, springs from sterling 

P^^J Scotch-Irish ancestry, his remote an- 
cestry having been old colonial set- 
tlers of Pennsylvania. He was born in Stowe 
township. Summit county, Ohio, September 
13, 1842, a son of Isaac and Margaret C. 
(Steele) Steele. He attended the common 
schools and high school until he enlisted, in 
April, 1 86 1, at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, under 
Capt. A. J. Konkle, in company K, Nineteenth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for three months. 
He was taken sick with measles and was in 
hospital six weeks in Cleveland, and thus saw 
no service under this enlistment. He re- 
turned to Stowe township and on recovering 
enlisted, September 10, i86t, in company D, 
First Ohio light artillery, at Cuyahoga Falls, 
under Capt. A. J. Konkle, to serve three years, 
or during the war. He served out his term 
and one month over, and was honorably dis- 
charged at Columbus, Ohio, October 30, 1864. 
His first campaign was with Gen. Nelson, at 
West Liberty and Piketon, and was then with 
Gen. Buell on the advance from Green River, 
Ky., to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., and was in 



the engagement at this place, where he vol- 
unteered, with others, to carry the wounded. 
He was later in the battles at Corinth, Mun- 
fordville, Green River, Ky., and was taken 
prisoner by Gen. Bragg, and paroled on con- 
ditions, but violated the parole, and a number 
of the party escaped to the Union lines. Aft- 
erward he was exchanged and took part in 
Burnside's siege of Knoxville, Tenn., Rock- 
ford, Tenn., and at Cumberland Gap, and 
assisted in the capture of 5,000 rebel prisoners. 
He was in Sherman's famous Atlanta cam- 
paign, and in battles at Dallas, Dalton, Buz- 
zard's Roost, Resaca, Pumpkinvine Creek, 
Kenesaw, Mountain, and the battles in front 
of Atlanta, and in many skirmishes. He was 
sick in hospital No. 3, at Louisville, about three 
weeks in January, 1863. He was transferred, 
in January, 1864, to the Nineteenth inde- 
pendent battery, and served with this battery 
about five weeks, and then returned to his own 
battery, and served as a non-commissioned 
officer and as chief of caissons throughout the 
Atlanta campaign. Mr. Steele was always 
prompt in the discharge of his duty and served 
his country faithfully. After the war Mr. 
Steele engaged in the saw-mill business at 
Peninsula, Summit county. 

Mr. Steele married, December 13, 1870, 
in Cuyahoga Falls, Sarah J. McCauley, who 
was born October 20, 1850, at Hudson, 
Summit county, Ohio, a daughter of Peter and 
Mary (O'Brien) McCauley. Peter McCauley' 
was born in the north of Ireland September 5, 
1812, was a shoemaker and farmer, and came 
to America when a young man and settled at 
Hudson, Ohio, where he married. He bought 
land and cleared up a farm of about 300 acres 
and became a substantial farmer and a well- 
to-do man. Mr. and Mrs. McCauley were 
members of the Episcopal church, and their 
children were Edward, William and Sarah J. 
Mr. McCauley died April 8, 1863, an honored 



536 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



citizen, and was an industrious, hard-working 
man. Mr. and Mrs. Steele first settled at 
Stowe, where he bought a farm of 120 acres 
and ran a saw-mill. He came to his present 
home about 1884, and is doing a successful 
business. To Mr. and Mrs. Steele have been 
born Harry C. and Mabel M. Mr. Steele was 
guard at the penitentiary at Columbus over 
two years, being in politics a stanch repub- 
lican, and has taken an active interest in 
politics and has served as township trustee of 
Stowe township two terms and as member of 
the town council of Cuyahoga Falls one term. 
Mr. and Mrs. Steele are members of the 
Episcopal church. Mr. Steele stands high as 
a man of business integrity of character. 

Isaac Steele, father of our subject, was a 
son of Isaac, who was a son of Adam, who 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and a 
farmer of Fayette county, Pa. , where he was 
a pioneer, descended from a well-known co- 
lonial family. Col. Crawford, who was burned 
at the stake by Indians, was a relative of his 
family. Adam Steele moved with his family 
to Ohio, where he was a pioneer of Stowe 
township. He died in July, 181 i, about sixty- 
seven years of age, and is buried in the Hud- 
son cemetery. 

Isaac Steele, grandfather of St. Clair Steele, 
was a soldier in the war of 18 12, and a farmer 
of Stowe township, Summit county, Ohio. He 
married, in Pennsylvania, Betsy Galloway, 
and their children were Isaac, Mary, Eliza, 
Anna and Margaret. Isaac Steele came to 
Stowe township about 1804, but returned to 
Pennsylvania and again came out and settled 
in the township in 1820, where he died in 1845. 
When a boy he carried mail in the Revolution- 
ary war. He engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness and lost a vessel-load of flour between 
Spain and her American colonies. On the 
vessel were fifty-two men and one woman, and 
the flour had been bought at $3 per barrel. 



The vessel attempted to enter the blockaded 
Spanish and American ports, and they would 
have obtained $52 per barrel for the merchan- 
dise. They were captured and confined in 
prison three years. All died in prison except 
three of the men and the woman, and they 
lived to be released — among them was Isaac 
Steele. He was the son of his father's first 
wife. 

Isaac Steele, father of subject, was born in 
Fayette county. Pa., in 1812, was a farmer, hav- 
ing come here with his father when a boy eight 
years old, and in 1841 he married Margaret C. 
Steele, a distant relative and a daughter of 
Alexander and Nancy (Galloway) Steele. To 
them were born St. Clair, Nancy, Henderson, 
Ellen E. and Thomas A. Mr. Steele was a 
pioneer farmer, owning 100 acres of land, was 
a respected citizen and lived to be about 
seventy-two years old, and died in 1884. In 
politics he was a democrat. 

St. Clair Steele is a member of the G. A. 
R. post at Cuyahoga Falls, and Lincoln com- 
mand, Veteran Union, Akron. Harry O'Brian, 
the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Steele, was 
born in the north of Ireland September 9, 1 78 1 , 
and on coming to America was one of the first 
pioneers of Hudson township. Summit county, 
Ohio. He cleared a farm from the wilderness, 
owned a large estate, was a wealthy man and 
a well-known and prominent citizen. His chil- 
dren were Moses, Martin, Daniel, William, 
Michael, Mary, Harriet, Fannie and Sarah 
Ann. Harry O'Brian was a very public-spir- 
ited man, and assisted many of the early set- 
tlers from the north of Ireland in obtaining 
land. He was a very strong churchman and 
assisted to found the Episcopal churches at 
Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson. He married 
Sarah Ann Walker June 7, 1804. His house 
in early times was a home for the people look- 
ing for lands, especially the north of Ireland 
people. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



537 



Adam Steele, son of Alexander, is the old- 
est member of this family now living. He was 
a lumberman and mill-man and now retired. 
He married Julia Hart, and their children are 
Cora and Mary. In politics he is a democrat, 
a respected citizen, and a man of unblemished 
character. 



BENDERSON STEELE, one of the 
prominent citizens of Summit county, 
Ohio, and trustee of Stowe township, is 
living on the old Steele homestead and 
has been engaged with his brother, T. A. Steele, 
in the lumber business for more than twenty 
years. He is a son of Isaac and Margaret C. 
(Steele) Steele. Henderson was born in 1845, 
November 15, on the Steele homestead, re- 
ceived a good common education for his day 
and was brought up a farmer. He married 
Emily J. Carr (nee Malone), born January 17, 
1846, at Fulton, Ohio, a daughter of Thomas 
and Lucy (Rice) Malone, of Irish and English 
ancestry. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Steele 
settled in Cuyahoga Falls and there lived one 
year and then moved to the home farm, bought 
out the heirs and have since lived there. It is 
a good farm of eighty acres and he owns one- 
half interest in sixty acres more. They have 
improved this farm and made a pleasant home. 
Mr. and Mrs. Steele have one son — Lester H., 
born February 21, 1888. Mr. Steele is polit- 
ically a democrat, served as township trustee 
three years and has been re-elected for three 
years more. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. , 
Howard lodge, No. 62, Cuyahoga Falls. Mr. 
Steele has been very successful as a business 
man, being sagacious and prudent, and has 
won the respect of all with whom he has ever 
had any transactions, his name standing be- 
yond the reach of reproach. Mrs. Steele is 
the mother of two children by her first mar- 
riage, named Frank B. and Claude L., who 



have been reared in respectability, and the 
social relations of the family are of the most 
pleasant character, as they enjoy the respect 
and esteem of all who know them, and, as may 
well be imagined, the name is well and fav- 
orably known throughout the county. 

Isaac Steele, grandfather of Henderson A. 
Steele, was a soldier in the war of 181 2, and 
a farmer in Stowe township. Summit county, 
Ohio. He married, in Pennsylvania, Betsey 
Galloway, and their children were Isaac, 
Mary, Eliza, Anna and Margaret. Isaac 
Steele came to Stowe township about 1804, 
but returned to Pennsylvania and again came 
out and settled in the township in 1 820, where 
he died in 1845. When a boy he carried mail 
in the Revolutionary war. He engaged in the 
mercantile business and lost a vessel-load of 
flour between Spain and her American colo- 
nies. On the vessel were fifty-two men and 
one woman, and the Ifour had been bought at 
$3 per barrel. The vessel attempted to enter 
the blockaded Spanish and American ports, 
and they would have obtained $52 per barrel 
for the merchandise. They were captured 
and confined in prison three years. All died 
in prison except three of the men and the 
woman, and they lived to be released — among 
them was Isaac Steele. He was the son of 
his father's first wife. 

Isaac Steele, father of subject, was born 
in Fayette county. Pa., in 18 12, was a farmer, 
having come here with his father when a boy 
eight years old, and in 1841 he married Mar- 
garet C. Steele, a distant relative and a 
daughter of Alexander and Nancy (Galloway) 
Steele. To them were born St. Clair, Nancy, 
Henderson, Ellen E. and Thomas A. Mr. 
Steele was a pioneer farmer, owning 100 acres 
of land, was a respected citizen and lived to 
be about seventy-two years old, and died in 
1884. In politics he was a democrat, stanch 
and true. 



538 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 




• HOMAS A. STEELE, one of the 
prominent men of Summit county, 
Ohio, and for many years a himber- 
man, was born October lo, 1853, in 
Stowe township and is a son of Isaac and Mar- 
garet C. (Steele) Steele. He received a good, 
common-school education and learned the 
trade of carpenter, at which he worked seven 
years. In 1877 he engaged in the lumber 
business under the firm name of the Steele 
Brothers (St. Clair, Henderson and Thomas 
A., but later St. Clair withdrew from the firm), 
and has operated in various parts of the 
county, and done a successful business. In 
politics he is a strict democrat and was elected 
county commissioner in 1892 apd served three 
years. Fraternally he is a member of Starr 
lodge, No. 187, F. & A. M., Cuyahoga Falls; 
also of Pavonia lodge. No. 301, K. of P., of 
the same city. 

Mr. Steele was married, December 25, 
1878, in Stowe township, to Lilly J. Reed, 
who was born February 12, 1856, in the town- 
ship named, daughter of Hiram and Phebe 
(Sadler) Reed. Hiram Reed was born in 
Pennsylvania and came with his father, John, 
to Kent, Portage county, Ohio, about 1856; 
he settled in Stowe township, where he bought 
a farm; there he died in 1894, an aged man. 
His children were Angle, Arthur, Hattie, 
Ellen, Lilly J. and Phebe. Mr. Reed was of 
New England ancestry and was a substantial 
farmer and respected citizen. 

Mr. Steele, the subject, settled, after mar- 
riage, on the old Steele homestead, where he 
lived eight years, and then bought the Reed 
farm at Metz, lived there six years, and then, 
in 1893, moved to Cuyahoga Falls and built a 
pleasant residence. Mrs. Steele is a member 
of the Episcopal church, and Mr. Steele has 
always taken an active part in politics, and 
stands high for his integrity of character, and 
socially he is a highly respected gentleman. 



Isaac Steele, grandfather of Thomas A. 
Steele, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a 
farmer of Stowe township, Summit county, 
Ohio. He married, in Pennsylvania, Betsey 
Galloway, and their children were Isaac, Mary, 
Eliza, Anna and Margaret. Isaac Steele came 
to Stowe township about 1804, but returned 
to Pennsylvania and again came out and set- 
tled in the township in 1820, where he died in 
1845. When a boy he carried mail in the 
Revolutionary war. He engaged in the mer- 
cantile business and lost a vessel load of flour 
between Spain and her American colonies. 
On the vessel were fiftj-two men and one 
woman, and the flour had been bought at $3 
per barrel. The vessel attempted to enter the 
blockaded Spanish and American ports, and 
they would have obtained $52 per barrel for 
the merchandise. They were captured and 
confined in prison three years. All died in 
prison except three of the men and the woman, 
and they lived to be released — among them 
was Isaac Steele. He was the son of his 
father's first wife. 

Isaac Steele, father of subject, was born in 
Fayette county, Pa., in 18 12, was a farmer, 
having come here with his father when a boy 
eight years old, and in 1841 he married Mar- 
garet C. Steele, a distant relative, and a 
daughter of Alexander and Nancy (Galloway) 
Steele. To them were born St. Clair, Nancy, 
Henderson, Ellen E. and Thomas A. Mr. 
Steele was a pioneer farmer, owning 100 
acres of land, was a respected citizen and 
lived to be about seventy-two years old, and 
died in 1884. In politics he was a democrat. 



■'ILLIAM H. STEIN, a prosperous 
agriculturist of Green township. 
Summit county, Ohio, was born in 
Springfield township, this county, 
November 9, 185 1, a son of Henry and Mary 
(Kramer) Stein, the former now deceased. 



ea 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



539 



Daniel Stein, grandfather of William H., 
was a native of Baden, Germany, came to this 
country in 1835, was a farmer all his life, and 
was the father of ten children, of whom only 
one — Catherine, wife of Henry Strohman — is 
now living; the deceased were Peter and Bar- 
bara, who died at sea; Daniel; Peter, second; 
Elizabeth, who was married to John Brown; 
Henry and Magdalena; two others died in in- 
fancy. The maternal grandparents were also 
natives of Germany and came to America early 
in life; the grandfather was a shoemaker by 
trade and for many years had been a sailor, 
and after coming to this country followed his 
trade in Canton, Ohio, and later became a 
farmer. He married Anna Brant, who bore 
him eleven children, of whom five still survive, 
viz: Jacob, who resides in Indiana; Mary, 
wife of Henry Stein; Annie, widow of Jacob 
Kreighbaum; William and Phillip. Of the 
others, two died in infancy; Christopher was 
killed in the Civil war; Sarah was the wife of 
Samuel Warner; Moses died single, and Eliza- 
beth was married to Samuel Wertz. The 
parents were consistent members of the Luth- 
eran church, and the father died at the age of 
eighty-six years, his wife also living to be well 
advanced in age. 

Henry Stein, father of William H., also a 
native of Baden, Germany, was born August 
12, 18 1 8, and came to America in 1835 with his 
parents, who first located in MassiUon, Stark 
county, Ohio, but shortly afterward came to 
Springfield township. Summit county, where 
they bought and cleared up a farm. Henry 
Stein was married June 6, 1 841, in Green 
township, to Miss Mary Kramer, who was 
born in Clearfield township, Dauphin county. 
Pa., a daughter of Christian and Anna (Brant) 
Kramer, to which union were born six chil- 
dren, all of whom grew to maturity, but of 
whom four only are now living, viz: Emeline, 
wife of Benjamin Holem; William, the subject 



of this memoir; Amanda E., wife of E. H. 
Killinger, of Akron, and Daniel P., who mar- 
ried Celia Harttong, and is night superintend- 
ent of the Akron street railroad. The deceased 
members of this family were Lovina, who was 
the wife of John T. Sell, and died March 24, 
1896, aged fifty-one years, and John F., who 
died March i, 1897, at the age of fifty years, 
one month and one day. The father of the 
family was greatly respected in the township, 
held various local offices, was a devout Chris- 
tian, having been a member of the Reformed 
church from boyhood, and passed away August 
I, 1 88 1, at the age of sixty-three years; his 
widow is still a resident of Akron, and is highly 
esteemed by all who know her. 

William H. Stein received a good common- 
school education in youth and lived on his fa- 
ther's farm until twenty-three years of age, 
when he married, September 6, 1874, Miss 
EmjnaE. Royer, daughterof Jacob and Rebecca 
(Bidleman) Royer, and born in Green town- 
ship. Summit county, October 23, 1857. Jacob 
Royer was born in Snyder county. Pa., Janu- 
ary 5, 1832, and his wife was born in Green 
township. Summit county, Ohio, in 1838, a 
daughter of George and Rachel (Grotz) Bidle- 
man. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Royer 
have been born five children, viz: Emma E. , 
now Mrs. Stein; Ida E., wife of Aaron Myers, 
of Stark county; John F. , married to Jennie 
Albright, daughter of (ieorge Albright and re- 
siding in Lake, Stark county; William, who 
died when nine months old, and Mary A., who 
died March 16, 1882, at the age of twelve 
years and sixteen days. Mr. and Mrs. Royer 
are active members of the Reformed church, 
of which Mr. Royer has been a deacon for 
many years. 

To the happy union of Mr. and Mrs. Will- 
iam H. Stein have been born seven children, 
of whom, however, four only are now living, 
viz: Cora M., wife of William F. Ritter; 



5iO 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Gertrude B. , Harry A. , and Anna R. Those 
who have been called away were Clifford 
Leroy, who died April 17, 1882, aged one 
year and seventeen days; Jessie Almeda died 
April 16, 1893, at the age of five years and 
seven months, and Norman F., eight years 
and two months old, died April 20, 1893. 

Mr. Stein, since marriage, has followed 
agricultural pursuits in Springfield, Green, and 
Portage townships, and in 1888 permanently 
settled on his present farm in Green township. 
He has a very pleasant home as well as a 
profitable farm, which is one of the finest of 
its dimensions in the township, everything 
about it denoting the oversight of a practical 
and experienced farmer. He is highly es- 
teemed as a useful, upright citizen, and has 
served his township as a school director and 
supervisor, in both capacities giving the ut- 
most satisfaction to the public, and for the six 
years in which he has been connected with the 
school interests of the township evincing so 
strong and effective an interest in educational 
advancement as to win the heartfelt thanks 
of all within the township limits who cherish 
intellectual progress. 



>Y*AMES A. STETLER, a well-known 
m farmer and producer of vitrified clay, 
^ J is one of Springfield township's promi- 
nent citizens. He was born in Union 
county, Pa., Mays, 1840, and comes from an 
old colonial family. His great-great-grand- 
father, John Stetler, was a native of Germany, 
and was married and reared a family in that 
country. He came to America and settled 
near New York city. His son, Conrad, mar- 
ried in New Jersey, where he lived a short 
time, afterward moving to Union county, Pa., 
where he engaged in farming and became very 
wealthy, owning 1,000 acres in the rich heart 



of Dr}' Valley. He reared the following 
family: John, George, Nicholas, Mary and 
Elizabeth. He was one of the wealthiest 
and most prominent men in that section. 
John Stetler (II) was born in 1792. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Baughert, daughter of Anthony 
Baughert, who was a native of Bucks county, 
Pa. Anthony Baughert removed to Columbia 
county. Pa., and later located in Illinois, 
where he died. John Stetler (II) was the 
father of the following children: William, 
Daniel, Mary (wife of Thomas Pursel), John, 
Isaac, Charles and Thomas. He was a whig 
in politics, a deacon in the Albright church, 
and took an active interest in public affairs, 
although he never aspired to office. He died 
September 9, 1868; his wife in October, 1876. 
William Stetler, father of our subject, was 
born in Union county. Pa., October 10, 1816. 
His schooling was received in the little log 
school-house common to that time, and re- 
mained on the farm until he was fifteen years 
of age. He then worked for three years in a 
brick yard, and then for five years worked on 
the construction of the public dams on the 
Susquehanna river, filling in the winter months 
at the shoemaker's bench. In 1846 he was 
promoted to the position of superintendent 
of wood work on these dams, and in that 
capacity did valuable service for the state. In 
1848 he moved to Summit county, Ohio, set- 
tling in Green township, where he lived until 
seven years ago, when he moved to Stark 
county, where he is living in easy circum- 
stances, having accumulated a competence in 
his active life. He was a whig until 1844, 
when he became a democrat. He has held 
township offices. He is a pillar in Methodism, 
and several churches of that denomination 
have received donations of $500 from him. 
On November 2, 1838, he was married to 
Salome Reichley, who was born in Union 
county. Pa., February 10, 1815, daughter of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



541 



William and Mary (Sausaman) Reichley, who 
lived and died in that county. William Reich- 
ley was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was 
at Cleveland, withing hearing distance of the 
great Perry naval battle. 

James A. Stetler, the subject of this sketch, 
was the only child of this union, and he was 
eight years of age when his parents moved to 
this county. He was reared on the farm, and 
received more than the average common- 
school education, his advantages in this 
direction being supplemented by attendance at 
at an excellent select school. On September 
2, i860, he was married to Lovina Koons, who 
was born in Bloomsburg, Columbia county, 
Pa., November 29, 1841, daughter of Henry 
and Esther (Rooke) Koons, natives of Penn- 
sylvania, who for many years lived in Norton 
township, this county, as farmers. Mr. Koons 
died March 24, 1893; his wife January 23, 1889. 

To our subject and wife have been born 
the following children: William H. married 
Rose Hagerty, is an agriculturist and resides 
in Green township; Charles E. married 
Martha A. Rhodes, is a commercial traveler, 
and resides in Piqua, Miami county, Ohio; 
Marvin T. married Maud Morton, and resides 
on the homestead; Clarence O., unmarried, 
resides in Akron, and is also a commercial 
traveler. 

Of the above-named children, William H. 
received, first, a good common-school educa- 
tion, and then attended the academy at Union 
Town, Stark county, Ohio. Charles E., 
after receiving a rudimentary education in the 
common schools, graduated from the Moga- 
dore high school, became a student at Buch- 
tel college, Akron, and then became a practical 
telegrapher. Marvin T. was educated in the 
Magadore high school and at the Union Town 
academy. Clarence O. passed through the 
common schools, graduated from the academy 
at Union Town, and then as an accountant 



and bookkeeper from the Business college at 
Akron. It will thus be seen that Mr. and 
Mrs. Stetler have spared no pains to properly 
educate their offspring. 

Mrs. James A. Stetler was about ten years 
of age when brought from Pennsylvania to 
Ohio by her parents, whose family comprised 
nine children, of whom four are still living, 
viz: Emeline. widow of Solomon Giger, and 
a resident of Green township; Daniel, a tailor 
by trade, residing in Cleveland, and married 
to Miss Sophina Mowen; Mary A., widow of 
Allen Haring, and residing in Doylestown, 
Wayne county; and Mrs. Stetler, who is the 
youngest living member of the family. 

Since 1879 Mr. Stetler has lived on his 
present well-improved farm of i 56 acres. On 
fifteen acres of this land is a valuable deposit 
of vitrified clay. This he has developed until 
an important and profitable industry has been 
formed by him. He has been excavating this 
clay in some quantities for the past fifteen 
years, but within the past two years, particu- 
lary, has taken out large quantities of it. 

Mr. Stetler is a democrat and has taken 
an active interest in politics, having been 
elected to the offices of trustee, justice of the 
peace, treasurer, assessor and clerk of the 
township. He cast his first presidential vote 
for Gen. George B. McClellan, but the first 
presidential candidate he cheered for was 
James K. Polk. Both he and his wife are 
earnest workers in the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and contribute largely to the support 
of that organization, he being one of the trus- 
tees of the church. He is prominent in the 
Apollo Odd Fellows' lodge. No. 61, in Akron, 
and is a member of the Patrons of Husbandrj'. 
being past state deputy master in that body and 
a pillar in lodge No. 1323. 

Almost one-quarter of a century has this 
worthy couple been honored and respected 
citizens of Springfield township, Summit coun- 



542 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ty, and this biography will be treasured and 
held sacred by their children when the father 
and mother have passed away. 



HMOS W. STOCKER, of the iirm of 
Stocker & Slaughter, proprietors of 
the Ravenna Marble & Monumental 
works, was born in East Hampden, 
Me., February 26, 1851, a son of Daniel and 
Sarah (Bickford) Stocker. 

Daniel Stocker' was a native of New 
Hampshire, born in 1815, and in earl)' man- 
hood removed to Maine, in which state he 
married, and in 1853 came west. For one 
year he lived in Belvidere, 111., and in 1854 
came to Ohio, located at Brecksville, Cuya- 
hoga county, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing until 1864, when he came to Ravenna 
township. Portage county, purchased a farm 
on which he lived until the beginning of 1881, 
when he sold his land and built a fine resi- 
dence on West Main street, Ravenna, where 
he died May 17, 1882, and where his widow 
still resides. For several years he served as 
trustee of Ravenna township, and in 1880 was 
real-estate assessor. He had been successful 
as a farmer, was public spirited, and was es- 
teemed as one of the best of citizens. 

Amos W. Stocker remained on his father's 
farm until 1872, assisting in its cultivation, at- 
tending the common schools at intervals, and 
securing a good education, and then came to 
Ravenna and followed painting as a trade until 
1877, when he engaged in the marble and 
monument business, which he successfully fol- 
lowed alone for ten years, and then formed 
his present partnership. The business is not 
confined to monumental work alone, as con- 
tracts are made by the firm for mason and 
stone work of all descriptions. 

Mr. Stocker was united in marriage, in 



November, 1871, with Miss Carrie L. Fox, 
who was born March 6, 1853, in Ravenna, and 
is a daughter of Griffith W. and Emily (Trow- 
bridge) Fox, both natives of Ohio. One son, 
Daniel, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Stocker in 
June, 1873, and he is their only child. 

In politics Mr. Stocker is a republican, and 
as such was first elected to the city council of 
Ravenna in 1885; was thrice re-elected, and 
thus served four consecutive terms of two years 
each, or a total of eight years. In 1893 he 
was elected township trustee; in the spring of 
1894 he was elected water-works trustee, and 
in 1896 was again elected township trustee, 
and still holds both offices. Mr. Stocker has 
alwaj's been faithful to his party and has 
worked strenuously in its behalf. During the 
campaign of 1896 he was active as a member 
of the McKinley club of Ravenna, and gave 
much of his time to the promotionof the cause 
of sound money and the protection of Ameri- 
can industries. He is not a member of any 
religious organization, but is a moral, upright 
man, with a business reputation untarnished 
and pure. He affiliates with the National 
Union of Ravenna, No. 188, is public spirited 
and ever ready to aid with his means all 
projects designed for the public good. 



,V^^ ELSON B. STONE (deceased) was 

I M born at Canfield, Mahoning county, 

J f Ohio, September 18, 1816, and was 

a son of Milo and Sarah (Beardsley) 

Stone, natives of Connecticut, who came to 

Ohio, by ox-team conveyance, in 18 16, for 

the purpose of settling in Tallmadge township. 

Summit county, the subject being born on the 

way. The father cleared and improved a 

farm in Tallmadge township, and there the 

subject was reared; he was educated in the 

district school, in the Tallmadge academy and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



543 



in Alleghen}- college at Meadviile, Pa., and 
then clerked several 3-ears at West Bloomfield, 
N. Y., and in Ravenna and Chardon, Ohio. 
In December, 1840, he located in Akron, 
clerked in a store a few months, and was then 
appointed as deputy under County Clerk 
Lucian Swift, later under Lucius S. Peck, 
serving until October, 185 1, when he was 
elected county clerk — the first under the new 
constitution, the office theretofore having been 
appointive— and served three years. Although 
still a resident of Akron, Mr. Stone next served 
as deputy clerk of Cuyahoga county, and then, 
after a short engagement with Aultman, Miller 
& Co., of Akron, he became secretary and 
treasurer of the Weary, Snyder & Wilcox 
Manufacturing company, filled the position 
eighteen years and then retired from active 
business. 

Mr. Stone was one of the organizers, as 
well as a trustee, of the First Methodist Epis- 
copal church of Akron, was a zealous and 
efficient church worker, and teacher, superin- 
tendent and secretary of the Sunday-school 
from the time of its organization until his 
death, which took place November 9, 1893 — a 
devout and sincere Christian. 

Mr. Stone was first married to Miss Mary 
H. Clarke, daughter of William L. Clarke, of 
Akron. This lady died April 6, 1853, leaving 
one son. Nelson C, now cashier of the City 
National bank of Akron. The second mar- 
riage of Mr. Stone was with Miss Elizabeth 
H. Beardsley, daughter of Philo and Eliza 
(Smith) Beardsley, also of Akron, and this 
union was blessed with two children — Philip 
C. (deceased) and Dwight M. Politically Mr. 
Stone was a stanch republican and was a dele- 
gate to the first republican state convention 
held in Ohio, at which the late Salmon P. 
Chase was nominated for governor of the 
state. The memory of Mr. Stone is still revered 
by the citizens of Akron, as his character was 



that of a pure, upright man and citizen, filled 
with a broad charity toward all his fellow-men 
and devoid of malice toward any human being. 



high or low. 



ePHRAIM STUMP, a retired farmer of 
Franklin township. Summit county, 
Ohio, is a native of this township and 
was born May 28, 1842, being of re- 
mote German ancestr}', yet still of long-ago 
American descent, and of the third generation 
to live in the Buckeye state. 

John Stump, grandfather of subject, was a 
native of Franklin county, Pa., was there 
married to Elizabeth Grove, and after two 
children had been born to the marriage, came 
to Ohio and purchased a tract of 164 acres in 
Summit county, which tract he succeeded in 
denuding of the dense growth of trees with 
which it was encumbered, and eventually con- 
verted it into a profitable farm. His children 
were born in the following order: Jacob, Da- 
vid, Catherine, Mary, Eliza, John, Levi and 
Sarah, of whom David. Catherine and Mary 
are the only survivors. In his politics Mr. 
Stump was a democrat and a leader in local 
party management. An elder in the German 
Reformed church, he assisted in forming, in 
his own house, the first society of that denom- 
ination in Summit county. He was an indus- 
trious man and a good manager, and succeeded 
in acquiring a comfortable competency. 

Jacob Stump, father of subject, was also 
born in Franklin county. Pa., and was a boy 
when brought to Ohio by his parents. He 
was reared to manhood in Summit county, 
on his father's farm, and married Catherine 
Sorrick, daughter of Adam and Mary (Raber) 
Sorrick, also of Pennsylvania and pioneers of 
Summit county, Ohio. Jacob Stump entered 
a tract of government land in Franklin town- 
ship, developed an excellent farm, and had 



544 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



born to him the following children: Ephraim, 
Matilda, Amos (deceased) Nathaniel and 
William. 

Ephraim Stump was reared on the home 
farm and agriculture has been the chief indus- 
trial pursuit of his life. November's, 1870, 
he married Louisa Smith, daughter of Daniel 
and Eliza (Diehl) Smith, the former of whom 
was likewise a native of Franklin township, 
and prominent as a democratic politician and 
township office-holder. In religion Mr. Smi^h 
adhered to the teachings of the German Re- 
formed church, in which faith he died, while 
his wife, who differed somewhat in religious 
belief, died in the faith of the Lutheran 
church. \\'illiam Smith, father of Daniel, 
married Rachael Vanderhoff, and was one of 
the earliest pioneers of Franklin township. 

Ephraim Stump, after his marriage, fol- 
lowed farming until 1884, when he retired to 
his present home of twenty acres at ISIimisila, 
in which village he owns and occupies a mod- 
ern residence and is living in peace and com- 
fort. The children born to his marriage are 
Bertha B., wife of William Fisler; Clarence 
E., who is attending the high school in Ful- 
ton, and Frederick C. In politics Mr. Stump 
is a stanch democrat, and cast his first pres- 
idential vote for Gen. George B. McClellan, 
and in religion both he and wife adhere to the 
German Reformed church, to the support of 
which they liberally contribute financially. 
Mr. Stump is also a member of the Macca- 
bees at Clinton, Ohio. The family is well 
known and respected throughout the county, 
and certainly Mr. Stump is well deserving of 
the high esteem in which he is held. 



^~V"AMUEL SWINEHART, one of the 
•^^^ most respected citizens of Suffield 
^^^ ^y township, Portage county, was born 
in Springfield township, Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, August 25, 1837, a son of Benjamin 



and Catherine (Garl) Swinehart, of whom fur- 
ther mention will be shortly made. 

Christian Swinehart, paternal grandfather 
of Samuel, was a native of Hesse, Germany, 
was a school-teacher by profession, but was 
still a young man when he came to the United 
States and first located in Pennsylvania, where 
he taught school a number of years, and where 
he was married. Late in life he came to 
Ohio, lived a short time in Summit county, 
and then removed to Elkhart county, Ind., 
where he passed the remainder of his life. 
He was twice married, and by his first wife 
became the father of eight children; to his sec- 
ond marriage, with Mary Schuck, there were 
also born eight children, but of the si.xteen 
there is only one now living — Moses, of New 
Berlin, Stark county, Ohio. 

Benjamin Swinehart, father of Samuel, 
was born in Lancaster county. Pa., and while 
yet a single man came on foot to Ohio and 
settled in Union Town, Stark county. By 
trade he was a shoemaker, but followed his 
trade in Stark county for a short time only, 
when he bought land and cleared up a fine 
farm. There he married Miss Garl, daughter 
of Reuben Garl, and to this union were born 
seven children, four of whom are still living, 
viz: Samuel, our subject; Sarah, wife of Isaac 
Dausman; Henrietta, married to Franklin 
Ewell, and Daniel. Those who have passed 
away were Elizabeth, who died in her youth- 
ful days; Lavina, who was married to Jacob 
Brumbaugh and died at the age of thirty- 
two years, and Levi, who died April 24, 1896, 
aged sixty-one. About 1S34, Benjamin Swine- 
hart brought his family to Suffield township, 
Portage county, and purchased the homestead 
on which our subject now resides. He became 
very prominent in local politics, and served his 
fellow-townsmen many years as township trus- 
tee, supervisor and school director. He was a 
deacon in the Reformed church, and died in 



p. 




^^Uo^Gu 




OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



549 



this faith at the age of sixty-seven years, his 
wife having died at the age of sixty-one — both 
deaths having occurred at the present home of 
our subject. 

Samuel Swinehart was but three and a 
half years old when brought to Suffield town- 
ship by his parents, and, the farm being in 
the wilderness, his boyhood days were passed 
in a log cabin with neither doors nor windows. 
His preliminary education was acquired in the 
district school, and later he attended school 
at Kent and Greensburg until twenty-one 
years of age; then, in 1859, he entered the 
academy of which the late James A. Garfield 
was the principal. At the age of twenty-two 
years he himself began teaching, his first term 
being in Suffield. He also taught in Ran- 
dolph township, and for eight winters he fol- 
lowed this vocation, assisting his father on the 
home place during the summer months. While 
thus engaged, he married, October 26, 1862, 
Miss Elizabeth Brumbaugh, who was born 
June 15, 1 841, in Randolph, Portage county, 
and who is one of the thirteen children born 
to Henry and Catherine (Stiffier) Brumbaugh 
— all still living within fifteen miles of their 
birthplace. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Swinehart has been blessed with three chil- 
dren, viz: Marion, who married Emma 
Schumacher and has three children — Ledos, 
Esther and Inez; Perry, who married Alice 
Marsh, daughter of J. J. and Rebecca Marsh, 
and became the father of two children — Clyde 
and Leon — Mrs. Alice Swinehart dying at the 
age of thirty-two years; Lenora, who resides 
at home with her parents, and is a dress- 
maker. 

In 1863, Mr. Swinehart bought from his 
father the old homestead, which consisted of 
thirty-eight acres, but he has added to this, 
from time to time, until he now owns a splen- 
did farm of 100 acres. In addition to farm- 
ing he has given considerable attention to live 
21 



stock, especially to sheep, and has been very 
successful. 

In politics Mr. Swinehart is a sound demo- 
crat, and has filled most of the township 
offices, including those of clerk, supervisor 
and school director — filling the last-named 
office eighteen years. He is a deacon in the 
Reformed church, and maintains a very high 
position in the esteem of the community. 
The Swinehart family hold an annual reunion, 
over which the subject invariably presides, 
and there is no more respected family in the 
township than this. 



>Y'UDGE GIDEON SEYMOUR, of Bon- 
■ niebrook Farm, of Rootstown, Portage 
A 1 county, Ohio, descends from one of 
the oldest families in the United States, 
but, before entering into the details of his own 
eventful life, it were better to narrate his an- 
tecedents to a remote priority and to follow 
them up, in detail, as far as the limited scope 
of this volume will permit. 

The Seymour family originated in Nor- 
mandy (now a province of France), and the 
name was in that country spelled Saint Maur, 
and the town of the same name, in Normandy, 
was derived from the family name of the an- 
cestors of subject, who held sway there in the 
early part of the christian era. The name of 
the family has by easy stages been modified 
and anglicized through the spellings. Saint 
Maurre, Saymaur and Seymour — as the street 
in London, England, now called Rotten Row, 
derives its name froin Route en Roi — the route 
of the king. Early in the thirteenth century 
the present name was adopted, several of the 
Seymour family having gone over to England, 
and the student of English history will remeni 
ber the prominence which the Seymour family 
obtained in Kent and Monmouthshire. 

In 1607 a colony of English people came to 



550 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Popham, Maine, being accompanied, as chap- 
lain, by Rev. Richard Seymour, a younger son of 
Sir Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, but this 
colony was not successful, and in two or three 
years returned to England, where Rev. Rich- 
ard Seymour passed the remainder of his life. 
In 1639 the eldest son of this reverend gentle- 
man came from Barry Pomeroy, Devonshire, 
England, and located in Hartford, Conn., but 
removed to Norwalk, Conn., in 1650, and 
there died in 1655. 

John Seymour, the second son of Rev. 
Richard Seymour, returned from Norwalk to 
Hartford, married Mary, daughter of John 
Watson, and died in 171 3, the father of nine 
children. John, the eldest son of John Sey- 
mour, mentioned above, was born June 12, 
1666, was married December 19, 1693, to 
Elizabeth, daughter of Robert and Hannah 
(Treat) Webster and granddaughter of Gov. 
John Webster. Mr. Seymour died in May, 
1748, leaving a farm to each of his eight sons; 
his widow survived until May 15, 1754. The 
eldest of these boys, also named John Sey- 
mour, was born December 25, 1694, and 
was first married June 25, 1718, to Lydia 
Mason, who died in 1732, but soon after that 
bereavement he married Hannah Ensign. He 
moved from Hartford to New Hartford, Conn., 
in 1750, as one of the earliest settlers of that 
town, and there died July 25, 1758. 

John Seymour, the si.xth child born to John 
and Lydia (Mason) Seymour, mentioned in the 
foregoing paragraph, was born in Hartford, 
Conn., November 24, 1726. He was inspired 
with patriotism and a love of freedom (amor 
patriae), as may be shown by the fact that 
he enlisted, at the early age of fifteen years, 
in the colonial army, and performed a brave 
and noble part in the French and Indian war; 
in the second war in 1756-58, against the 
French and Indian invaders, he also took an 
active part, and his military service culminated 



in his bearing arms in the war of the Revolu- 
tion. He married June 19, 1749, Lydia 
\\'adsworth, daughter of Sergeant Jonathan 
Wadsworth, of West Hartford, Conn. , and 
died February 2, 1809 — his widow surviving 
until 181 7. 

Asa Seymour, fifth child of John and 
Lydia (Wadsworth) Seymour, and the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. Judge 
Gideon Seymour, was born in West Hartford, 
Conn., September 16, 1757. He, also, was a 
soldier in the war of the Revolution, and was 
married, November 14, 1781, to Miss Abigail, 
daughter of Gideon Deming, and afterward 
moved to East Granville, Mass. , where he died 
in 1840, a member of the Congregational 
church. His children were born in the follow- 
ing order: Abigail, Asa, Alexander, Laura, 
Ardon, William, Elijah, Ruby and Gideon D. 
Gideon D. Seymour, father of subject, 
was born in East Granville, Mass., April 18, 
1801, and in 1841 settled in Rootstown, Port- 
age county, Ohio, but in 1845 died from an 
attack of black erysipelas, which at that time 
was epidemic throughout this section of the 
country. In his politics he was a whig, and 
in religion was a member of the Congrega- 
tional church, in which he was a deacon for 
many years. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Corinthia Gibbons, a daughter of Bil- 
dad Gibbons, of East Granville, Mass., be- 
came the mother of two children — Judge 
Gideon and Deming. The latter was born 
May 21, 1840, and came to Ohio with his 
father, and here married Harriet Hallock, 
daughter of W. R. Hallock, of Rootstown, 
and died in Windham, Ohio, in 1888. After 
the death of her husband, Mrs. Corinthia 
Seymour was married to Philo Stilson, but 
bore him no children, and died in Ravenna 
June 1 1, 1878. 

Gideon Seymour, the subject of this bio- 
graphical memoir, was born in East Granville, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



551 



Hampden county, Mass., February 23, 1836, 
his parentage being given above. He was 
reared on the old Seymour homestead, and in 
1 84 1 accompanied his father to Ohio, and vi^as 
here educated in the district schools of Roots- 
town, Portage county. At the early age of 
eighteen he began teaching school, devoting 
himself to this vocation in the winter months 
and in the summer lending his aid toward the 
improvement of the home farm, assisted by 
his brother, the untimely death of their father, 
after reaching Ohio, rendering this course nec- 
essary. In 1859 he purchased the interest of 
his brother in this homestead, and continued 
its cultivation, devoting himself, however, 
during his farm life, to the study of the law at 
home, with Hart & Reed, of Ravenna, as his 
preceptors. In 1872, prior to his admission 
to the bar, which did not occur until J 875, 
his legal ability was fully recognized, and he 
was elected probate judge of Portage county, 
an office he filled with great credit to himself 
for nine years. On retiring from this office he 
entered upen the active practice of his profes- 
sion in 1 88 1, in Ravenna, and was rapidly ad- 
vancing in his profession, and had obtained a 
good practice, but, unfortunately, at the expi- 
ration of three years of active and onerous 
work, his health failed, and he felt it incumbent, 
in order to restore his shattered energies to 
their pristine vigor, to return to his farm and 
recuperate, although the law has not alto- 
gether been abandoned, as he still gives his 
attention to special probate business. 

Among the minor offices that have been 
held by Judge Seymour may be mentioned 
that of justice of the peace of Rootstown town- 
ship, which he filled twelve years, and to 
which he was first elected in 1864, and fre- 
quently thereafter; he was commissioned no- 
tary public in 1884, also served as township 
clerk several terms, and as treasurer of his 
township from 1859 to 1861. In his politics 



the judge has been a life-long republican, has 
always worked energetically in the interests of 
his party, and was a delegate to the conven- 
tion that first nominated Maj. McKinley for 
member of congress from Ohio. Fraternally 
he has for thirty years been a Freemason, and 
is now a member of Unity lodge. No. 12, and 
of Tyrian chapter, R. A. M., No. 91, of Ra- 
venna; he is also an Odd Fellow, being a 
member of Ravenna lodge. No. 65, and of en- 
campment No. 129, and is, beside, a charter 
member of Ravenna council. No. 376, Ro3'al 
Arcanum; also a member of Ravenna grange, 
No. 32, Patrons of Husbandry. In religion 
he is a Congregationalist, has been a member 
since 1864, both at Rootstown and Ravenna, 
has been a deacon up to the present time, and 
also has served as superintendent of the Sun- 
day-school at both places, and was for fifteen 
years a singer and leader of the choir in his 
church. 

The marriage of the judge to Lucy J. Par- 
ker, daughter of F. A. Parker, of Newton Falls, 
Ohio, occurred September 15, 1859. This 
lady led him a happy life until May 6, 1893, 
when she was called to a higher sphere. The 
children that blessed this happy union were 
three in number, and were named Corinthia 
M., Mary L. (who died in 1876) and Fred- 
erick P. — the last-named being now associated 
with his father on the home farm, known as 
" Bonniebrook Farm," where, in addition to 
general farming, they make a specialty of 
breeding Durham cattle and Oxford-down 
sheep. 

Few men in Portage county have passed 
through so varied and successful a career in 
life as Judge Seymour, and fewer still have 
maintained so high a position in the esteem of 
their fellow-men for so great a length of time, 
and he is a gentleman of whom his many 
friends and the population of Portage county 
may well feel proud. 



552 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



KEMAN SWIGART, a well-known gen- 
eral farmer and dairyman of Copley 
township, Summit township, Ohio, 
was born in Edinburg, Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, June 30, 1871. His father, George 
S. Swigart, was born November 12, 1838, and 
March 28, 1862, married Miss Laura Oviatt, 
who was born March 6, 1843, and this union 
was blessed with six children, viz: Nellie A., 
born February 27, 1864, and now the wife of 
Charles Adams, of Cleveland; Sherman G., 
born June 28, 1865, and at present a prom- 
inent civil engineer of the same city; Louis A., 
born September 30, 1868; Heman, the subject 
of this biography; Freddie, born February 16, 
1877, died in infancy, and Maggie, who was 
born May 1 1, 1879. 

Heman Swigart was educated in the high 
school of Copley, and September 4, 1895, 
married Miss Pearl Wager, who was born in 
1876, a daughter of Edward and Anna (Gra- 
ham) Wager, and to this happy marriage has 
been born one child — George — June 24, 1896. 
Mrs. Pearl Swigart is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and a lady of many 
womanly graces and virtues. 

Joseph Swigart, great-grandfather of He- 
man, was a native of Pennsylvania, was a 
farmer, married Elizabeth Peiffer, daughter of 
George and Catherine Peiffer, and became the 
father of eleven children, named George, John, 
Joseph, Samuel, Jacob, Catherine, Polly, Su- 
san, Peggie, Sarah and Martha. 

Jacob Swigart, grandfather of Heman, was 
born in Cumberland county, Pa., October 18, 
1S15, was reared on the home farm until four- 
teen years of age, and then learned the car- 
penter's trade; he married, in Stark county, 
Ohio, Miss Abigail Stover, also a native of 
Pennsylvania, and a daughter of George and 
Catherine (Dauner) Stover. To this union 
were born four children, viz: John, deceased; 
George S., father of subject, who died June 



15, 1895; Alfred, and Maggie. Mrs. Abigail 
Swigart died June 8, 1877, at the age of fifty- 
nine years and nine months, a devout member 
of the Reformed church, of which her husband 
was also a member. 

Heman Swigart and his brother, Louis A., 
rent their grandfather's fine farm at Copley 
Center, and in connection with general farm- 
ing do a large dairying business-under the firm 
name of Swigart Bros., and have the largest 
milk route in Akron. Their buildings are all 
of modern construction, and both brothers are 
highly respected for their strict business integ- 
rity, as well as for their genial dispositions 
and social good qualities. 



at 



ALTER BRONSON TAYLOR, one 

of the ablest of Ravenna's sales- 
men, was born in Palmyra, Portage 
county, Ohio, September 9, 1843, 
a son of Salmon A. and Mary Ann (Caulkins) 
Taylor, the former a native of Hoboken, N. 
J., and the latter of Old Lyme, Conn. 

Salmon A. Taylor was of English and 
French extraction, his mother having been a 
Peret, a family well known in the commercial 
circles of New York city, and one of the fam- 
ily is now the Episcopal bishop of Baltimore, 
Md. Mr. Taylor, who was a merchant, 
opened the first store in Palmyra, Ohio, was 
married in Middlebury, Summit county, in 
1 84 1, and in 1848 removed to Ravenna, Port- 
age county, opened a grocery and established 
the first ice business in the city. September 
18, 1863, he expired in the house now occu- 
pied by subject — his death being the result of 
an accidental fall. The male members of the 
Caulkins family were mostly seafaring men, 
four brothers of the subject's mother having 
been captains of ocean-going vessels. Her 
father, David Caulkins, however, was a cap- 
tain of land forces in the war of 18 12. The 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



553 



death of Mrs. Mary Ann Taylor took place at 
the home of subject April 6, 1894, in the faith 
of the Congregational church. She was truly 
a christian woman, and spent her life for the 
benefit of others. Wherever there was pain, 
poverty or suffering, there was she, a minister- 
ing angel to the suffering. There were two 
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, the 
youngest being Catherine D. , who is now the 
wife of Ezra Fowler, a justice of the peace 
and business man of Kent, Ohio. Mr. and 
Mrs. Fowler have two children, viz: Mary 
Addie, a teacher of instrumental music, with 
classes in l\ent and Ravenna, and Lizzie Jen- 
nings, wife of John Arighi, of Kent. This lady 
is also a proficient instrumentalist, making a 
specialty of the violin. 

Walter B. Taylor, the subject, attended 
the schools of Ravenna until seventeen years 
of age, and then entered the office of his 
cousin, Judge Taylor, as a law student. On 
the removal of the judge from the city, Mr. 
Taylor placed himself under the tuition of the 
law firm of John L. & H. C. Ranney for two 
years, at the end of which period the firing on 
Fort Sumter took place. Mr. Taylor then 
promptly enlisted, in April, 1861, in company 
G, Seventh Ohio voluteer infantry, under Col. 
Barney Tyler, and for three months served 
within the bounds of the state. After a few 
months passed in the office of his former pre- 
ceptors, he engaged with the government as 
contract nurse, and spent four months in 
Louisville, Ky., and it was while there his 
father died. On the expiration of his contract 
as nurse for four months, he returned to Ra- 
venna and re-enlisted, for 100 days, in the One 
Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio national 
guard, and was sent again to Kentucky. At 
Cythiana the regiment was captured by the 
rebel raider, John Morgan, the subject and two 
comrades only escaping by swimming the Lick- 
.ng river. All of the captured, however, were 



paroled with the exception of these three, who 
found their way to the Union lines. Subject 
was discharged at Johnson's island, Sandusky 
bay, at the expiration of the 100 days, and he 
then enlisted, at Alliance, in company D, 
Twenty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, October 
3, 1864, and joined his regiment at Port Royal, 
S. C. , where he was assigned to regular duty, 
then sent to Charleston, S. C, and then to the 
front. He was promoted to be corporal and 
company clerk. He took part in six regular 
engagements and numerous skirmishes during 
his service, acted as clerk of a military court 
at Columbia, S. C, under Gen. Ames, and 
was finally mustered out at Charleston, S. C, 
in November, 1865. 

In May, 1867, in the Keystone state, Mr. 
Taylor was united in marriage with Miss Rosa- 
mond McKee, a native of New Castle, that 
state, and daughter of James and Amanda Mc- 
Kee, the former of whom is deceased and the 
latter now a resident of Salem, Ohio; there 
also reside William, the only brother of Mrs. 
Taylor, and a sister, Carrie; another sister, 
Mrs. Jackson Cotton, resides in Sabetha, 
Kans., where her husband is engaged in the 
banking business. To the marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Taylor have been born two children 
— Efiie B. and Percy M. Miss Effie B. has 
been for several years the leading lady clerk 
in the dry-goods establishment of D. M. Cle- 
well, of Ravenna, and Percy M., a cigarmaker, 
is employed in Kent. 

After his return from the war, Mr. Taylor 
no longer felt an inclination for the study of 
the law, and so relinquished his legal studies. 
He has principally been engaged in the cloth- 
ing trade and has also been identified with the 
hotel husiness. He was at one time proprietor 
of the Poe (now Columbia) hotel, of Ravenna, 
having been trained to this line as clerk of the 
old Exchange hotel at Ravenna. In 18S8-89 
he conducted a winter resort in South Lake 



554 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Weir, Fla. , and was then a clerk in the Col- 
umbia (now Revere) hotel at Kent. He then 
established a hack line in Ravenna, over which 
he kept control for eight years — but in the in- 
terim traveled as salesman of gents' furnishing 
goods, two years as clothing salesman, and 
then for two \ears was a salesman in a cloth- 
ing store in Ravenna. He is now in the con- 
tract painting business. In politics Mr. Tay- 
lor is a stanch republican, is a member of the 
Garfield club of the Nineteenth district of 
Ohio, and of other republican clubs, and is a 
member of the National Union. He attends 
the Congregational church, and is never back- 
ward in his contributions to its support. Mrs. 
Taylor was a member of the Dorcas society, 
attached to this church, and also of the Ladies" 
Cemetery association, but was called from 
earth in June, 1897, a truly good woman and 
devout Christian. 



eRASTUS R. TAYLOR, the promi- 
nent and very popular grocer of Ra- 
venna, was born in Randolph. Port- 
age county, Ohio, October 5, 1845. 
and is a son of Levi K. and Emily R. (Rossi- 
ten Taylor, the former of whom was a native 
of Pennsylvania and the latter of Massachu- 
setts. These parents had born to them four 
sons and three daughters, of which family all 
the sons and one daughter are still living, viz: 
Prentice A., William K., Louisa J. (wife of I. 
S. France), Erastus R. and Joseph W. 

Levi K. Taylor, the father of this family, 
was a farmer in his native state and early 
came to Ohio, settling in Randolph township, 
Portage county, where all his children were 
born, and where he resided until 1881, when 
he removed to Marlboro, Stark county, Ohio, 
where his wife died in June, 1896, at the age 
of eighty-three years, a member of the Meth- 
odist church, of which church Mr. Taylor is 



still a de\oted member. The paternal grand- 
i father of subject died in the east, at an ad- 
vanced age, the father of a large family, and 
j the maternal grandfather, Erastus Rossiter, 
who was a farmer and an early settler of Ran- 
dolph township, Portage county, Ohio, also 
reached a good old age and there reared his 
{ family and there passed the major part of his 
I useful life. 

i Erastus R. Taylor was reared a farmer on 
j the home place in Randolph township, and 
I there received his education in the district 
I schools. Remaining at home until he reached 
full age, he became a clerk in a general store 
■ in Rootstown, and while thus employed, at the 
end of seven months enlisted in company H, 
One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Ohio volun- 
teer infantry, receiving an honorable discharge 
j at the close of the war. After his return from 
the army he passed two years on the home 
farm, and then for a year was re-employed as 
a clerk m Rootstown. 

June 18, 1866, Mr. Taylor was united in 
marriage to Miss Rosella Stanford, daughter 
of Chauncey and Katurah (Redfieldi Stanford, 
to which union was born one daughter, Ina, 
who was married to C. F. Slaughter, a lithog- 
rapher of Chicago, 111. , and now the mother 
of one daughter, Nina. Mrs. Rosella Taylor 
died in November, 1868, and in 1870 Mr. Tay- 
lor came to Ravenna and for three }ears was 
employed as a clerk by Nelson Converse, and 
then by Smith Brothers. \\'hile in this em- 
plo}- he married, March 21, 1877. Mrs. Emma 
Kearney, a daughter of Albert and Rebecca 
(Chamberlain) Christy, to which marriage has 
been born one daughter. To her first hus- 
band, however, Mrs. Taylor had borne a 
daughter — Cora Kearney — who is married to 
Frederick L. Root, of Ravenna, but now a 
resident of New York cit}', in the employ of 
the American Cereal company. 

After a faithful service of eleven years with 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



555 



Smith Brothers, during which time he ma- 
terially promoted their interests, Mr. Taylor 
bought a half interest in the grocery house of 
Orlando Risdon, with whom he was associated 
until the latter's death, twelve years later, 
when he bought the interest of the Risdon 
heirs and has since been in business on his 
sole account, and has been very successful. 

Albert and Rebecca (Chamberlain) Christy, 
the patents of Mrs. Emma Taylor, were both 
natives of the Buckeye state and were the 
parents of five daughters, of whom two are 
still living — Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Jennie 
Davis, widow of A. R. Davis, of Cleveland. 
Albert Chamberlain was in early life a farmer, 
but later became connected with the coal- 
mining interests of Tennessee, in which state 
he died about the year 1869, a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, of which religi- 
ous body his widow, who is residing with her 
daughter in Cleveland, is still a faithful mem- 
ber. Capt. James Christy, the paternal grand- 
father of Mrs. Taylor, was a man of mark 
in his day, was a pioneer of Trumbull county, 
Ohio, was a farmer, and had a famil}- of five 
sons and two daughters; he was also a justice 
of the peace, held several minor offices, and 
died an aged man, respected by all who knew 
him. Joseph Chamberlain, the maternal 
grandfather of Mrs. Taylor, was a native of 
Trumbull county, was also a farmer and a 
substantial citizen. Mrs. Taylor was reared 
to womanhood in Brookfield, in the same 
county, and was there first married. She 
was reared in the faith of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, of which she is still a devout 
member, and in which she has always been 
an active worker. Mr. Taylor is a member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of 
the Royal Arcanum, and in politics is a re- 
publican, but has never been an office seeker. 
The business career of Mr. Taylor has been 
one of steady progress and withal remunera- 



tive, and to-day he stands before his fellow- 
citizens with a name for rectitude that is en- 
viable in itself and which will be forever 
prized by his descendants. 



,>^ EV. JOHN THEIN, pastor of St. Jo- 
I /^ seph's church, at Randolph, and of St. 
I^P Peter's mission at Rootstown, Port- 
age county, Ohio, was born in Lu.x- 
embourg, Germany, September 8, 1848, a son 
of Philip and Elizabeth (Lux) Thein. 

Philip Thein, father of Rev. John Thein, 
was a gentleman of some importance in his 
native province, having been mayor of Lux- 
embourg for a number of years, as well as be- 
ing a farmer and an extensive dealer in lum- 
ber. To his marriage with Miss Lux were 
born eleven children, of whom three are still 
living, viz: John B., in Germany; Rev. John, 
our' subject, and Margaret, wife of Michael 
Eilembecker, also residing in the old country. 
Six children were called away in infancy; 
Henry died in 1890, and Nicholas, who was in 
the furniture business in Oak Harbor, Ottawa 
county, Ohio, passed away in 1897. ^'he 
father of the family died in 1873 at the age of 
sixty-four years, but the mother still survives, 
and, at the venerable age of eighty-two years, 
resides at the old home in Luxembourg. 

Rev. John Thein was graduated from the 
college of Luxembourg, and on coming to 
America studied philology at Montreal, Can- 
ada, and in 1871 entered St. Mary's seminary, 
Cleveland, Ohio, and for three years was there 
a student of theology. He was ordained in 
holy orders July 4, 1875, and his first appoint- 
ment was to the church of the Immaculate 
Conception at Port Clinton, Ottawa county, 
Ohio, with St. Joseph's mission, at Marble- 
head, same county, attached to his charge; in 
1880 he was transferred to Toledo, as pastor 
of St. Louis congregation, where he remained 



556 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



until 1887, when he was appointed to the pas- 
torate of St. Martin's, Liverpool, Medina 
county, Ohio. In February, 1892, he was 
placed in charge at Randolph. His congrega- 
tion numbers about 1,200 souls. Here, as 
elsewhere, he has done an immense amount of 
arduous work in elevating the spirituality of 
his people and in improving their temporal 
condition — winning the affection and respect 
of his liock. Rev. Thein is a profound scholar, 
an eloquent orator, and a pious Catholic, ever 
alive to the good work set before him, and is, 
moreover, an author far above mediocrity, 
having published two works that have attracted 
much attention in church circles — Christian 
Anthropology and Answers to Difficulties of 
the Bible. 



(D 



RS. VIRGIL M. THOMPSON is 
one of the lady pioneers of Sum- 
mit county, and is the widow of the 
gentleman whose name she bears — 
Virgil M. Thompson, who was born in Hud- 
son township. Summit county, Ohio, March 
14, 1810, a son of Dr. Moses and Elizabeth 
(Mills) Thompson. 

Dr. Moses Thompson was born in Goshen, 
Conn., and in that state married Elizabeth 
Mills. He practiced medicine in Goshen, 
Conn., until 1800, when he came to Hudson, 
Summit county, Ohio, and became a well- 
known physician among the pioneers. His 
children were Susan, Louvira, Ruth, Emily, 
Mary, Sarah A., Martha, Elizabeth, Mills, 
Sylvester, Virgil M. and Guy, the last named 
dying young. Dr. Thompson was one of the 
early Masons of Hudson and a prominent 
and respected man. He owned and lived 
on his farm two miles south of Hudson 
for many years. This land he bought in 
1800 and cleared it from the wilderness, mak- 
ing a good farm of 200 acres, and here resided 



until his death, at the age of eighty years, in 
1859. The farm is still owned by his heirs. 

Virgil M. Thompson, deceased husband of 
our subject, received a good education, at- 
tending for a time the Western Reserve col- 
lege, and was reared a farmer. He married, 
the first time. May 11, 1836, in Hudson town- 
ship, Maria Smith, who was from Vermont. 
There were no children by this marriage. She 
died twenty-two months after marriage, and 
Mr. Thompson next married, in May, 1842, in 
Cuyahoga Falls, Marie Antoinette Turner, 
who was born May 2, 1821, in Trumbull 
county, Ohio, a daughter of William and Ro- 
sanna (Owen) Turner. William Turner was 
born in Orange county, N. Y., September 5, 
1782. He came to Trumbull county, Ohio, 
in 181 8, bringing his family and making the 
journey via Pennsylvania with wagons, and 
was six weeks on the way. He was a car- 
penter and followed that work in Cuyahoga 
Falls, where he settled in April, 1828. His 
children were Grant B., Edward B., Marie An- 
toinette, and Harriet O. Mr. Turner was in 
politics a whig and republican. He was an 
energetic, industrious and honorable citizen, 
acquired a comfortable property, and brought 
up an excellent family. He lived to be about 
sixty-five years of age and died at Sea Falls in 
the year 1847. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thompson 
settled on the farm where Mrs. Thompson now 
lives. Mr. Thompson bought this farm in 
1835, ^"d partly cleared it, especially the 
north half, which he purchased from the Con- 
necticut Land company. He prospered by 
his thrift and energy, and finally acquired a 
goodly property, consisting of 350 acres of val- 
uable land, which is now owned by Mrs. 
Thompson. Mr. Thompson was a member of 
the Presbyterian church of Hudson, Ohio, and 
Mrs. Thompson is a member of the Episcopal 
church of Cuyahoga Falls. In politics he 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



557 



was an old-line whig and afterward be- 
came a republican. He was an honored 
citizen, served as township trustee, and also 
held several other offices. He was a well- 
known and public-spirited gentleman, and 
highly respected for his sterling character, up- 
rightness and excellent morals, and died Janu- 
ary ti, 1894, aged about eighty-four years. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were born three 
children, viz: Celia M., Mary A. and Emma 
P. Of these, Celia M. married Henry H. 
Chamberlain, of Hudson, Ohio; she is now de- 
ceased, leaving no children. Mary A. married 
Mr. Chamberlain above mentioned; they have 
no children; he is now in the milling business 
in Hudson. Emma P. married Edward D. 
Ellsworth, a farmer of Stowe township, now 
deceased, leaving two children — Fred Thomp- 
son and Mary Antoinette. Mrs. Thompson is 
now a venerable lady with an excellent mem- 
ory and well preserved faculties, ha\'ing fur- 
nished the matter for this biography. 

Edward D. Ellsworth was born July 30, 
1847, in Hudson, Ohio, a son of Edgar B. and 
Mary (Daws) Ellsworth — was of New England 
ancestry, and Edgar B. was a merchant of 
Hudson, Ohio. Edward D. Ellsworth received 
a common-school education and became a 
farmer. He married Miss Thompson March 
27, 1867, and settled on a farm in Stowe 
township. He was an industrious man and 
good citizen, but is now deceased. 

Fred Thompson Ellsworth, son of above, 
was born October 8, 1 8 — , and married Novem- 
ber 4, 1893, Elizabeth B. Harrington, a widow, 
(nee Dillon), a daughter of Nathaniel and Lucy 
(Connor) Dillon. 



HLBERT B. TINKER, attorney at law, 
with his office in the Savings Bank 
building, Akron, was born in Mantua, 
Portage county, Ohio, January 28, 
1852, and is descended from one of the oldest 



families of Ohio as well as of America, as will 
be found from the following record. 

John Tinker, an attorney, came from Eng- 
land to America in 1637 and located in Bos- 
ton, Mass., where he practiced law many years 
and was a member of the general court at the 
time of his death. From him descended the 
Tinker family of America. He left three sons 
and three daughters, of whom Amos married 
Sarah Durant, who also bore six chileren — 
John, Sarah, Mary, Amos, Samuel and Jona- 
than. Amos, the fourth of this family, mar- 
ried Lucy Lee, and had twelve children — Jos- 
eph, Amos, Lydia, Lucy, Benjamin, Sylvanus, 
Parthenia, Phineas, Eunice, Martin, Jehiel 
and Belle. The second of these, Amos, mar- 
ried Hannah Minor, who bore four children — 
Joseph, Jane, Azubah and Silas. 

Silas Tinker, the youngest of the above- 
named four, was born in Lyme, Conn., No- 
vem-ber 25, 1748, and in September, 1776, 
enlisted in the patriot army in the war for in- 
dependence. He fought at White Plains, Ber- 
lin Heights, and at other points, and served 
until the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne, and was 
honorably discharged in November, 1777. He 
also participated, on three other occasions, 
in the defense of New London. He was a 
farmer and extensive land owner in the east, 
and in 1806 sold his property and came to 
Ohio by ox-team, and first located at Mantua, 
Portage county, when there were but eleven 
families in the township; in 1808 his son, 
Silas, Jr., was the only delegate from Mantua 
township to the convention held to nominate 
county officers. Silas Tinker eventually re- 
moved with his family to Kingsville, Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, where he died in 1840, in his 
ninety-second year. He had married Lois 
Wade, daughter of Joseph and Esther (Chad- 
wick) Wade. This lady was mentally, morally 
and physically strong, and died at the age of 
eighty-one years, in the faith of the Presby- 



558 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



terian church, and the mother of eleven chil- 
dren, one of whom died in infancy; Sylvester, 
a machinist, who invented a carding machine 
and operated it in Westfield, Mass. ; he mar- 
ried Sally Riley, and died at Conneaut, Ohio, 
whither he had moved in 1818; Cynthia mar- 
ried Edward Bancroft, in Massachusetts; 
Clarissa married William Skinner, Jr. ; Giles 
was a mechanic and later a manufacturer of 
cotton goods, was a captain in the state 
militia, and married Zilpha Knight; Patty was 
married to Jacob Pettybone, of Mantua, Ohio; 
Hosea died unmarried; Silas married Betsey 
Randall, and served in the war of 18 12, de- 
fending Cleveland under Col. Nathan King; 
Guy married Lucrctia Kellogg; James died un- 
married; Chauncey was born at Chester, Mass., 
February 28, 1793, served in the war of 1812 
as fourth sergeant in the Third Ohio militia un- 
der Capt. J. D. Jackson, was a farmer by vo- 
cation, was a well-informed man and of great 
muscular strength, was first married to Betsey 
Rice and next to Lydia Andrus, and died in 
Howardsville, Mich., October 25, 1873. 

Horace Tinker, second child of Chauncey 
Tinker, was born June 28, 1824, in Kingsville, 
Ohio, was reared on a farm and was educated 
in the Kingsville academy. In 1848 he went 
to California with a train of o.x-teams, and 
after two 3'ears of successful operations in the 
gold mines returned to Ohio and married Miss 
Sophronia Skinner, a daughter of John and 
Rachel (Clapp) Skinner. He then purchased ■ 
land in Mantua township. Portage county, 
Ohio, where he followed the pursuit of agri- 
culture until 18S4, when he retired from toil. 
His faithful wife died May 10, 1891, the 
mother of five children, of whom Albert B. , 
the gentleman whose name opens this notice, 
is the eldest; Frank P. was born November 5, 
1854, is a leading and prosperous farmer of 
Mantua township. Portage count}', and is the 
husband of Ida Plum, a daughter of Anson 



Plum, of the same township; Ella M., born in 
Jul}-, 1858, is the wife of W. L. Carlton, for- 
merly of Mantua but now of Akron, where he 
is bookkeeper for the Aultman, Miller Corn- 
pan}-, is a member of the city council, and ex- 
member of the board of health; John S. and 
Jefferson C. died in infancy. 

Albert B. Tinker, the subject proper of 
this memoir, was reared on the home farm in 
Portage county and received his early educa- 
tion in the district schools; he next attended 
Hiram college four terms, and in 1873 entered 
Buchtel college, from which he graduated in 
1876, having completed his literary and scien- 
tific education. He began his preparatory 
la\v studies under Green & Marvin and com- 
pleted them at the law school of Cincinnati, 
from which he graduated in 1883, and was the 
same year admitted to the bar. In 1879 he 
was elected financial secretary of Buchtel col- 
lege, which office he held twelve consecutive 
}-ears. also for seven years delivered lectures 
to the senior class on constitutional and in- 
ternational law. From 1885 to 1 891 he was 
a member of the city board of health. In the 
last-named year he resigned his offices, both in 
city and college, to devote his attention to the 
duties of his profession, although he is still a 
trustee and the treasurer of Buchtel college. 
For four years he was president of the Ohio 
Universalists convention, and at the same 
time a member of its board of trustees, and 
has been very active in benevolent work. He 
is a member of the American Bar association, 
as becomes an attorney of his extensive prac- 
tice, and in politics he has not been idle, 
although not an office seeker. 

The marriage of Mr. Tinker took place 
December 25, 1876, with Miss Georgie Olin, 
of Windsor, Ashtabula county, Ohio, a daugh- 
ter of George Olin, and this felicitous union 
has been blessed with seven children, born in 
the following order: Olin Dale, February 19, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



559 



1878; Gertrude Ellen, March 20, 1879; Frank 
Burk, August 20, 1880; Sophronia Mary, June 
29, 1882; Abbie, June 8, 1888; Donna Al- 
berta, June 6, 1890, and Albert, January 27, 
1892. The parents are members of the Uni- 
versalist church, and have their home at No. 
552 East Buchtel avenue. 



* w ^ ON. NEWELL D. TIBBALS, a lead- 

w^^ ine; lawyer of the city of Akron, Ohio, 

M. , P and a member of the prominent law 

firm of Tibbals & Frank since 1889, 

is a nati\e of Deerfield, Portage county, and 




was born September iS, 18:53, a son of .Alfred 
M. and Martha H. (Swemj Tibbals. The fa- 
ther, Alfred M. Tibbals, was born in Gran- 
ville, Mass. .August 4, 1797, was brought to 
Deerheld, Ohio, by his parents, in 1804, and 
here died in 185S. at the age of si.xty-one 
years; his wife, Martiia H. (Swem) Tibbals, 
to whom he was united in marriage in 1821, 



was a native of New Jersey, was born in 1800, 
and died in 1891. Both were strong in the 
faith of the Methodist church, and both were 
honored as pioneers of Summit county and for 
their sterling personal worth. 

Newell D. Tibbals received a liberal edu- 
cation and graduated from McLain academy, 
Salem, Ohio, in 1853; he then read law in the 
offices of Otis & Wolcott and Wolcott & Up- 
son, was admitted to the bar in 1855, at once 
opened an office for the practice of his profes- 
sion in Akron, and the details of his profes- 
sional and political career, as given in brief 
below, give ample proof of his capabilities for 
performing the duties he had selected for his 
life-work. An ardent republican, his party 
quickly recognized his legal, administrative 
and political merits, and elected him, in i860, 
prosecuting attorney and re-elected him in 
1862. In 1865 he was elected Akron's first 
city -solicitor, and was re-elected to the same 
office; he was next elected state senator to 
represent Summit and Portage counties, and 
in this capacity he served in the sessions of 
1866 and 1867. In 1870 he was a factor in 
the organization of Buchtel college, and has 
ever since been a member of its board of trus- 
tees. In 1875 he was elected judge of the 
court of common pleas, second subdivision of 
the Fourth judicial district of Ohio, and the 
duties of this office he filled so well that a re- 
election followed in 1880, but the demands in 
his practice as an attorney were so extensive 
that he felt it to be incumbent on him to re- 
sign his seat May i, 1883, and resume the 
handling of the cases of his rapidly increasing 
list of clients as an attorney at law, or, in 
simpler terms, as a lawyer. 

In the scenes of war Judge Tibbals has 
played his part, and in 1864 served in defense 
of the capital of his nation — Washington, 
D. C. — as fourth sergeant of company F, One 
Hundred and Sixty-fourth regiment, Ohio 



560 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



volunteer infantry. On his return to Akron 
he was elected major of the Fifty-fourth bat- 
talion, Ohio national guard, and was com- 
missioned by Gov. Brough; in 1886 he was 
appointed judge advocate for the department 
of Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic, by 
Commander A. L. Conger, and in 1S90 was 
appointed as aid-de-camp to Commander-in- 
Chief Russell A. Alger. In 1890 also he was 
again appointed judge advocate of the Grand 
Army by Department Commander P. H. Dowl- 
ing. In 1894 Mr. Tibbals was elected com- 
mander of Buckley post. No. 12, G. A. R. , 
and the same year was sent as a delegate to 
the national encampment of the order at 
Pittsburg, Pa. 

October 26, 1856, Judge Tibbals was united 
in marriage with Miss Lucy A. Morse, the 
fruit of the union being seven children, of 
whom five are still living, viz: Martha A. 
(Mrs. Wilson M. Day, of Cleveland), Jessie A. 
(Mrs. Dr. Albert Hoover, of Akron), Newell 
L. , Gertrude A. and Ralph Waldo. The 
amiable and accomplished mother of these 
children was called to rest October 27, 1894. 
She was born at Randolph, Portage county, 
July 9, 1835, being fifty-nine years, three 
months and eighteen days of age, at the time 
of her death. She was a daughter of Huron 
and Alethea Morse. In 1852, together with 
her parents, she came to Akron, Mr. Morse 
keeping what is now the Empire house. Mrs. 
Tibbals made a host of friends during the war, 
when she took an active part in securing food 
and clothing for Union soldiers. She was one 
of the organizers of the Dorcas society, out of 
which grew the Akron board of charities, and 
at one time was superintendent of the indus- 
trial branch of this board, and was an active 
member of the Woman's Relief corps as a 
trustee and a member of several committees. 
She was president of the Ladies' Cemetery 
association one term, and was always promi- 



nent in all its movements. Mrs. Tibbals took 
an active part in the formation of the Summit 
county children's home, the first meeting for 
the same being held at her residence. As a 
member of the First Methodist Episcopal 
church and Woman's Home Missionary society, 
she was recognized as a hard and faithful 
worker. Beside the numerous public charita- 
ble institutions to which Mrs. Tibbals belonged, 
she did a great deal of individual work that 
was never known outside of her home. 

When the death of Mrs. Tibbals was an- 
nounced at the Akron court house, a meeting 
of the bar was called, over which Judge A. C. 
Voris presided, and a resolution that its mem- 
bers attend the funeral in a body was unan- 
imously adopted. Buckley post. Grand Army 
of the Republic, and the Woman's Relief 
corps also attended the services. Judge Tib- 
bals, notwithstanding his severe bereavement, 
is still in the active practice of his profession 
and is one of the prominent attorneys of Ohio, 
honored alike by his fellow-lawyers and the 
citizens of Akron, whom he has so long and 
faithfully served in civil as well as official life. 



^"^MITH D. TIFFT, one of the promi- 
•^^^k? nent citizens of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 

K,„^_y and the head of a respected family, 
is a son of John D. Tifft, who was 
born April 2, 1807, in Vermont, was of old 
colonial ancestry and was a lumberman. 

John D. Tifft married, November 23, 1822, 
Louisa M. Abbott, who was born January 27, 
1 8 12, and died November 11, 1836. leaving 
no children. Mr. Tifft came to Ohio in the 
'thirties and cleared up part of the Case es- 
tate, on what is now Euclid avenue, Cleve- 
land. He married, the second time, Novem- 
ber 5, 1837, Anna Bang, of Waconda, 111., 
born in Vermont, July 21, 181 8, a daughter of 
Mark and Lydia Bang. John D. Tifft came 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



561 



to Cuyahoga Falls in the autumn of 1840, and 
engaged in buying cattle and in the butcher 
business and prospered. His children by this 
wife were Smith D., Louisa M., Horace, John 
and Johnson (twins), Alice and Hattie I. In 
politics Mr. Tifft was a republican and a 
strong Union man, and had one son in the 
Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Tifft were both 
members of the Methodist church, in which 
he was an officer in early life. He lived to be 
seventy-one years old and died in Cuyahoga 
Falls November 19, 1875. He wasalways an 
industrious and respected citizen, very tem- 
perate in his life and of excellent habits. 

Smith D. Tifft, the subject, was born 
March 16, 1840, at Western Star, Ohio, 
where his father spent a short time. He was 
brought to Cuyahoga Falls in November of 
the same year, where he received his education 
in the public schools, including the high 
school. A reunion of this school was held a 
short time since of the class of 1868-69, and 
many of the old pupils were present. Mr. 
Tifft was engaged in the stock and butcher 
business for twenty-iive years. He was after- 
ward in the carriage business and later with 
the Howe & Company Flour mills four years; 
then in the implement business four years, and 
has generally been successful in his undertak- 
ings. He married, January 29, 1863, in Cuy- 
ahoga Falls, Julia E. Allen, born December 
21, 1839, at Cuyahoga Falls, a daughter of 
George and Elizabeth (Harper) Allen. Mr. 
and Mrs. Tifft have no children, but have 
reared two — Harry E. Allen and Julia T. Allen. 
Mrs. Tifft is a member of the Episcopalian 
church, and in politics Mr. Tifft is a repub- 
lican and has held the office of town clerk and 
other minor positions. Mr. Tifft was one of 
the early members of Starr lodge, F. & A. M., 
and has held the office of treasurer. He is 
vice-president and director of the Falls Saving 
& Loan association, is greatly honored for his 



integrity of character, and is acknowledged to 
be one of the best and foremost business men 
of Cuyahoga Falls. 



f^^ EV. LAMBERT TWITCHELL, a 

I /^ native of Brimfield township, Portage 
J y county, Ohio, was born August 12, 
1827, a son of Arba and Sallie (Bar- 
ber) Twitchell, the former of whom was a 
native of Massachusetts and the latter of Con- 
necticut. 

Jonas Twitchell, paternal grandfather of 
the Rev. Lambert Twitchell, was born in 
Scotland, and came to America prior to the 
Revolution, in which war he took an active 
part. He was the father of two children — 
John and Arba — was an early pioneer of Ohio, 
and he and wife ended their days on the farm 
where Rev. Lambert was born and where he 
still resides. Joseph and Susan (Coe) Barber, 
the maternal grandparents of subject, were 
natives of Connecticut, also were among the 
pioneers of Ohio, and, beside Mrs. Sallie 
Twitchell, had born to them ten children, viz: 
Dorcas, Minor, Turner, Lyman, Edwin, Polly, 
Lucy, Maria, Jemima and an infant that died 
unnamed. 

Arba Twitchell, father of Rev. Lambert 
Twitchell, came to Ohio in 18 16 and settled 
on the farm on which subject now resides, 
and to his marriage with Miss Sallie Barber, 
daughter of Joseph and Susan (Coe) Barber, 
there was born one child only — the subject of 
this memoir. Arba Twitchell was a man of 
great influence in his time, and for a number 
of years was a justice of the peace in Brimfield 
township; he held all the secular offices in 
what was then known as the Brimfield Baptist 
church, of Brimfield, and died in its faith 
April 7, 1849, when fifty-five years old — his 
widow surviving until March 28, 1866, when 
she expired at the age of seventy-si.x years. 



562 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Rev. Lambert Twitchell attended the dis- 
trict school of Brimfield until sixteen years of 
age during the winter seasons, and assisted on 
the home farm during the summers. Later 
he devoted all his spare time to private study, 
and at eighteen years of age began teaching 
school, a vocation he followed for several 
years when not otherwise employed. For 
some time he traveled for Garguer & Co. , of 
Philadelphia, as agent for a Sunday-suhool 
journal, but, on account of ill-health, returned 
to his home and began studying theology. In 
1874 he was ordained a minister of the Baptist 
church, was assigned to Kent, Ohio, and for 
six years acceptably filled the pulpit and then 
retired to his farm. 

The marriage of Mr. Twitchell was solemn- 
ized October 30, 185 i, with Miss Julia M. Sill, 
daughter of Sedley and Maria (Barber) Sill, of 
New York, and this union has been blessed 
with three children, of whom only one sur- 
vives — May, who still has her home with her 
parents. Of the two departed, Josephine 
died April 13, 1868, aged eight years, and 
Russell died in Detroit, Mich., June 12, 1885, 
at the age of thirty-three years. 

Mrs. Julia M. Twitchell was born in New 
York, April 11, 1822. Her father was a ma- 
chinist by trade, and was one of the first to 
suggest the idea of a cylindrical printing-press. 
In 1820 he married Miss Abigail Barber, 
daughter of Joseph and Abigail (Coe) Barber, 
and of the eight children born to this union 
four are still living, viz: Mrs. Twitchell; 
Allen, of Hot Springs, Ark. ; Elizabeth, wife 
of S. H. Phinney, of New York, and Jose- 
phine, wife of Enos Graham, of Detroit, 
Mich. Those who passed away were named 
Henry C. , Frank, Cyrus and Ann. The last 
named died August 17, 1894, at the age of 
seventy-three, and was the widow of A. R. 
Knox. The mother of Mrs. Twitchell was 
called away February 9, 1843, at the age of 



forty-three "years — her husband surviving until 
1864 — and both died in the faith of the Epis- 
copal church. 

Since his retirement from the pulpit, Rev. 
Mr. Twitchell has lived on his farm, which, 
under his skillful supervision, has been made 
quite profitable. He and family are greatly 
respected by their neighbors, and the pious 
and useful life of Mr. Twitchell has won for 
him imperishable honor. 



aORNELIUS E. TRASTER, justice of 
the peace of Green township, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, was born in Spring- 
field township, in the same county, 
April 3, 1853, a son of Daniel and Margaret 
(Krieghbaum) Traster, of whom further men- 
tion will be made. He attended the district 
school until seventeen years old and was 
reared to that age on his father's farm. For 
three years afterward he worked out as a farm 
hand, earning sufficient money to enable him 
to pay his expenses during the winter months 
at school and his tuition fees for four terms at 
the Greensburg seminary, and in the fall of 
1873 began his career as a school-teacher, a 
vocation he followed twenty-two terms in all, 
at different places, in subsequent years. In 
1875 he took a course of study in the North- 
western Ohio Normal school, at Fostoria, to 
better qualify himself for his profession, the 
practice of which included one term in Dis- 
trict No. 9, one in No. 7, one in No. 10, five 
in Springfield and Green townships, five in 
District No. 11, five in No. 2, three in No. 4. 
and four in No. 3. 

In politics Mr. Traster is a democrat, and 
in 1 88 1 was elected township clerk for one 
year, and then moved to Clinton, engaged in 
agricultural pursuits for three 3'ears, and then 
removed to Coventry township, where he fol- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



563 



lowed the same calling for five years, then re- 
turned to Green township, where he has since 
followed the same vocation. In 1892 he was 
elected justice of the peace, and re-elected in 
1895, although his township is strongly repub- 
lican. Fraternally, Mr. Traster is a member 
of Hadassah lodge, No. 405, I. O. O. F., 
Greentown, Ohio, of which he is a past grand, 
and is also a member of encampment No. 18, 
at Akron. 

Mr. Traster married, September 13, 1877, 
Miss Lovina A. Raber, daughter of Henry and 
Sarah E. (Benner) Raber, and this union has 
been blessed with one son, William Earl, who 
is now attending school. Mr. Traster and 
wife are consistent members of the Reformed 
church, of which he has for some years been a 
deacon as well as a teacher of the Bible class. 

Daniel Traster, father of Cornelius E., 
was a son of Martin and Catharine (Shout) 
Traster, was born in East Buffalo township, 
Union county, Pa., January i, 1820. His 
father, Martin Traster, was born in Tulpe- 
hocken, Berks county. Pa., in 1773; died April 
4, 1848. His wife, Catharine, was born near 
Youngstown, Westmoreland county, Pa. , 
March 5, 1781, and died March i, 1858. The 
parents of Martin Traster came from Germany. 
Margaret (Krieghbaum) Traster was born in 
Lenkers township, Dauphin county, Pa., June 
22, 1822, and died February 12, 1897. Her 
father and mother, Peter and Margaret 
(Trout) Krieghbaum, were also born in the 
Keystone state. 

Daniel Traster was about twelve years of 
age when brought to Ohio by his parents, who 
settled in Springfield township. Summit coun- 
ty, on a farm, on which he was reared to man- 
hood. February 17, 1840, he was married to 
Miss Krieghbaum, the result of the union be- 
ing eight children, viz: Hester Ann, born 
April 16, 1841 ; Sarah J., July 27, 1842, the 
widow of Samuel M. Ritzman; Jacob W. , 



February 15, 1844, married to Maggie Bi.xler, 
and a farmer of Whitley county, Ind. ; Re- 
becca M., April 13, 1845, married to James 
Housel and living on the old homestead in 
Springfield township; John, November 21, 
1846, married Sarah A. Young, and resides 
in Lake township. Stark county; Hiram, 
July 20, 1846, married to Savilla Swinehart, 
and lives in Springfield township; Cornelius E., 
our subject, and Mary, born April 10,1855, and 
now wife of Henry Sauseman, also of Spring- 
field township. The father of this family died 
November 4, 1896, at the age of seventy-six 
years, ten months and three days, and the 
mother February 12, 1897, aged seventy-four 
years, eight months and twenty days — both 
devoted members of the Lutheran church. 

Mrs. Lovina A. (Raber) Traster was born 
April 4, 1859, in Green township. Her fa- 
ther, Henry Raber, was born in the same 
township June 14, 1831, on the farm he still 
owns, but from which he retired in 1890, 
having his present residence in Myersville. 
He was three times married — first, Septem- 
ber 13, 1856, to Sarah E. Benner, who was 
born May 20, 1840, a daughter of Henry and 
Eliza (Kintz) Benner, the union resulting in 
the birth of six children, of whom five are 
still living, viz: Lovina A.; William M., mar- 
ried to Ida Shaffer; Anna E,, wife of M. G. 
Buchman; Minnie L. . wife of William H. 
Swinehart, and Norman D.; the deceased 
child was named Mary Alice. The mother of 
this family died May 10, 1882, at the age of 
forty-two years and ten days, a member of 
the Reformed church, and in May, 1886, Mr. 
Raber married Miss Catherine Swinehart, who 
bore him no children and died June 20, 1896, 
a member of the Lutheran church. The third 
marriage of Mr. Raber took place April 8, 
1897, to Miss Amanda Rhodes, who with her 
husband is a member of the Reformed church. 
Cornelius E. Traster and wife are among the 



564 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



most respected residents of Green township, 
and personally Mr. Traster is one of the most 
popular. 



HARON B. STUTZMAN, A. M., Ph. 
D. , superintendent of the public 
schools of Kent, Portage county, was 
born iu Wayne county, Ohio, March 
23, 1842, a son of Henry and Catherine (Mil- 
ler) Stutzman, who were of German descent. 
His great-grandfather, on the paternal side, 
came from Germany to America about the 
time of the Revolutionary war, and settled in 
Easton, Lancaster county, Pa., where the 
grandfather of Prof. Aaron B. Stutzman was 
born, but in manhood removed to Somerset 
county, where he followed farming as his 
vocation. 

Henry Stutzman, the father of Aaron B. , 
was born in Somerset county. Pa., and there 
married Catherine Miller, a native of the same 
county, whose father. Christian Miller, a 
farmer, was accidently killed, at an advanced 
age. Henry Stutzman, soon after marriage, 
came to Ohio (in 1826) and settled in Wayne 
county, being accompanied by his wife and his 
brothers, John and David, making the journey 
by ox-teams, and each pre-empting a quarter 
section of heavily-timbered land. Here Mrs. 
Stutzman died in 1848, the mother of nine 
children, all of whom attained their majority, 
and were named, in order of birth; Jeremiah 
M., who was a teacher and farmer, served as 
sergeant in the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth 
Ohio volunteer infantry through the Civil war, 
and died in Wayne county, Ohio, the father of 
two daughters and one son; Susan is married 
to J. P. Fouch and resides in Canaan, Wayne 
county; Daniel died at the age of twenty-two 
years; Elizabeth was married to Rev. Elias 
Schrock, but lost her husband by death in June, 
1896, and she is now a resident of Wayne 



county; Christian C. resides in Akron; Ezra 
was a volunteer in the One Hundred and 
Twentieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and died 
at Memphis, Tenn., while in the service; 
Aaron B. is the subject of this review; Anna 
is the wife of David M. Yoder, a farmer of 
Wayne county, and Henry lives in Johnstown, 
Pa. The father of this family succeeded in 
clearing up his farm from the wilderness and 
developed it into one of the best fruit farms in 
the country. He was one who cared more for 
the comfort and training of his family than he 
did for wealth, and died a greatly honored 
man in 1876. 

Aaron B. Stutzman, the subject proper of 
this biography, was reared on his father's farm 
and received his elementary education in the 
country schools, and later attended the Smith- 
ville high school, and, still later, the Mount 
Union college at Alliance — attending during the 
summer and teaching during the winter, thus 
earning the means to defray his expenses. He 
graduated from Mount Union college in 1871 
with the degree of A. M., and for the follow- 
ing two years was the principal of the schools 
at Dalton, Ohio, then for two years at Doyles- 
town, Ohio, and then for three years at Wads- 
worth, Ohio, where he was also a member of 
the board of examiners of Medina county. 
He resigned the superintendency of the Wads- 
worth schools to accept a like position in Kent 
in 1878, at which place he has been superin- 
tendent of the public schools since, and is now 
serving his third term as member of the board 
of school examiners of Portage county. When 
Prof Stutzman took charge of the Kent schools 
there was but one central school-building and 
a one-room primary school; there are now 
three large school-buildings, in which there are 
employed eighteen regular and two special 
teachers. 

In order to strengthen his professional ef- 
ficiency. Prof. Stutzman took a full post-grad- 




;fa/^^^^B5L^^-^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



567 



uate course at Wooster university, and in 1888 
this institution conferred upon him the degree 
of Ph. D., since which time he has still more 
assiduously endeavored to advance the schools 
in their usefulness — revising and extending the 
courses of study and placing them on a higher 
plane of educational excellence; he has also 
contributed many valuable articles to the edu- 
cational journals of the day. In 1878, Prof. 
Stutzman was granted a life certificate of high 
qualifications by the Ohio board of school ex- 
aminers, which is valid in any public school in 
the commonwealth. 

During the Civil war Mr. Stutzman served 
in the Union army as a member of company 
A, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry, as a faithful soldier. He is 
now a member of A. H. Day post, No. 185, 
G. A. R., of which he is past commander, 
and has also represented his post in the grand 
encampment. Of other fraternal societies, he 
is a member of Rockton lodge, No. 316, F. & 
A. M., and of Brady lodge, No. 183, I. O. O. 
F. , in which he has passed all the chairs; he 
is also a member of the encampment at Akron. 
In politics Mr. Stutzman is a republican and 
cast his first presidential vote for Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Mr. Stutzman was united in marriage Au- 
gust 15, 1872, with Miss Jennie Clippinger, 
daughter of Israel Clippinger, a dry-goods mer- 
chant of Dalton, Ohio, and an ex-soldier of 
the Civil war, in which his son, Edwin, and his 
son-in-law. Dr. F. F. H. Pope, also served. 
To this happy union have been born four chil- 
dren, viz: Edwin, who died at seven years of 
age; Grace E., William G. and Charles A., 
and of these Grace E. and William G. are 
graduates of the Kent high scnool. Mr. Stutz- 
man built his commodious residence at the 
corner of Park and Woodard avenues, and has 
a delightful home, where he enjoys the asso- 
ciation of hosts of admiring and ardent friends. 

2S 



>j*UDGE CHARLES R. GRANT, a dis- 
J tinguished lawyer of Akron, Ohio, and 
(%J senior member of the firm of Grant & 
Sieber, with offices at Nos. 40 and 42 
Akron Savings Bank building, is a native of 
Connecticut and was born in New Haven 
county October 23, 1846. At the early age of 
fifteen years, inspired with patriotic ardor at 
the firing on Fort Sumter, he enlisted in the 
Twelfth regiment, Connecticut volunteer in- 
fantry, and was assigned to the perilous posi- 
tion of bearer of dispatches on the staff of 
Gen. B. F. Butler, in the department of the 
Gulf, and was later transferred to the staff of 
Gen. Banks, under whom he served until 
October, 1863, when he was honorably dis- 
charged, having done good and faithful service. 
After his return from the army he paid a 
brief visit to his native state, and then, in 
April, 1864, came to Ohio and located at 
Cuyahoga Falls, where he engaged in farming 
and private study until prepared for college. 
In September, 1868, he entered the fresh- 
man class at the Western Reserve college of 
Cleveland, where he passed through the entire 
curriculum, and graduated in 1872 as valedic- 
torian of his class of eighteen students, and 
soon afterward entered the office of Judge 
N. D. Tibbals, at Akron, as a law student. 
After a course of study extending through a 
period of a little over two years, he was ad- 
mitted to the bar of Akron, in September, 
1874, but, on account of impaired health, re- 
engaged in farming for two years, and then, in 
1876. formed a partnership with H. B. Foster, 
of Hudson, and in November of the same 
year located in Akron as member of the firm 
of Foster, Marvin & Grant, which firm con- 
ducted a prosperous business until September 
16, 1883, when Mr. Grant was appointed 
probate judge of Summit county by Gov. 
Foster, to fill a vacancy caused by the death 
of Judge Goodhue. In 1884, Judge Grant 



568 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was elected to succeed himself in this office, 
and in 1887 was re-elected, a flattering tribute 
rendered by the people to his ability, faithful- 
ness and integrity. 

The first marriage of Judge Grant took 
place October 9, 1873, to Miss Frances J. 
Wadhams, who was called from earth Sep- 
tember 14, 1874. November 9, 1876, Judge 
Grant chose, for his second bride. Miss Lucy 
J. Alexander, of whom he was also bereft, she 
dying June 8, 1880, leaving one child, Frances 
Virginia, who was born September 24, 1877. 
The third marriage of Judge Grant was con- 
summated August 19, 1891, with Miss Ida 
Shick. 

Judge Grant is the senior member of the 
law firm of Grant & Sieber. 



>y»ULIUS A. UPSON, a venerable and 
M respected citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, 
A 1 was born in Tallmadge township, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, October 11, 18 18, 
and springs from sterling English Puritan 
stock. 

John Upson, founder of this family in 
America, came from England about 1635, 
with the Puritan emigrants, accompanied by 
two brothers. The great-grandfather, Ste- 
phen, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. 
John Upson, grandfather of subject, lived in 
Connecticut and was the founder of Litchfield, 
and his children were Stephen, Daniel, Hora- 
tio, John, Thurman, (the latter a sailor who 
followed the sea all his life), Reuben, Hulda, 
Sylvia and Lucinda. In his old age, in 1810, 
John Upson came to Tallmadge township and 
lived with his son Reuben until his death, a 
member of the Congregational church. 

Reuben, son of above, and father of sub- 
ject, was born in Waterbury, Conn., August 
14, 1 77 1, received a good common-school ed- 



ucation for his time, and taught school in his 
younger days. He married, December 25, 
1798, in Waterbury, Hannah, born October 
18, 1780, a daughter of Ebenezer Richardson. 
Mr. Upson learned the trade of carpenter and 
joiner in New Haven, and worked at both 
trades when young. In 1808 he came to Ohio, 
with his family, and his brother Stephen and 
his family, making the journey with a five- 
horse team and covered wagon. They were 
six weeks on the way, cutting through the for- 
est much of their road. They settled in Port- 
age county, Suflield township, where the 
brothers had bought land of the Connecticut 
Land company before they came out, and 
were among the first settlers. The brothers 
had a large tract of virgin land, covered with 
heavy timber, which they bought at seventy- 
five cents per acre. The children born to 
Reuben and wife in Connecticut were Phebe, 
Emma, Reuben and Polly. Mr. Upson cut 
logs with which to build his log house, and 
had to clear a place from the forest to erect 
same. The Indians were numerous but 
friendly, and used to stop at his cabin to ob- 
tain food. Mr. Upson cleared up sixty acres, 
sold out and went to Tallmadge, Summit 
county, and bought a farm of Priest Leonard 
Bacon, a celebrated character who lived at 
Tallmadge, 100 acres of which he also cleared. 
Mr. and Mrs. Upson lived here until 18 18, 
and then moved to the northeast part of Tall- 
madge township, and bought 300 acres of land, 
but, not obtaining a clear title, he received, 
in lieu of it, 100 acres in Tallmadge township, 
100 acres on the Cuyahoga river, and 100 
acres near by. He cleared up a good farm, 
or hired much of it done, as he worked at his 
trade. He improved his farm with good 
buildings, and here died, aged seventy-seven 
years, in 1844. He was a strict member of the 
Congregational church and in politics a whig 
and a strong anti-slavery man; was also one 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



569 



of the earliest Masons on the Western Reserve, 
belonging to lodges at Canfield, Mahoning and 
Columbus. He was much respected and a 
man of high character. The following chil- 
dren were born to him in Ohio: Chloe, Han- 
nah, Julius A. and George. Mr. Upson was 
deputy county clerk for many years, was a 
skillful penman, and one of the school-teachers 
in Springfield, Summit county, for several 
winters in early pioneer times, and taught in a 
log school-house. He was very strict, and had 
an unruly school of rough pioneer boys and 
young men, who had carried out a former 
school-teacher and ducked him in the brook, 
but Mr. Upson ruled them with a rod of iron. 
Julius A. Upson, whose name opens this 
memoir, was reared among the pioneers, and 
during his long life has witnessed the entire 
improvement of the county. When he was 
seven years old he went with his father on a 
load of wheat, probably forty bushels, drawn 
by three horses, to Cleveland, and received 
for it one barrel of salt, calico enough for a 
dress for his mother, and one pound of tea, all 
of which could now be bought for about $2. 50. 
The father stated that if he had stopped over 
night at the tavern, the cash value of his sale 
would not have amounted to enough to pay 
his tavern and feed bills. On this occasion he 
and Julus A. slept in the wagon two nights in 
October, it being twenty-eight miles oyer 
rough roads, and carried their food with them. 
Julius A. received a good common-school 
education for his day, and was reared a 
farmer. He married, at the age of twenty- 
two years, Lucy A. Lowrey, who was born 
February 3, 1820, in Tallmadge, a daughter of 
Shubell H. and Anna Peck (Norton) Lowrey. 
Shubell H. Lowrey was born May 7, 1788, in 
Canaan, Conn., and was of Scotch-Irish de- 
scent. The Nortons were of French descent 
and also early settlers in Connecticut. The 
Pecks were of English stock. Mr. Lowrey 



married, October 3, 181 i, Annie P. Norton — 
born April 6, 1794. They came to Tallmadge 
in 1808, and there Mr. Lowrey cleared up 198 
acres. He was a blacksmith and a great 
worker, and noted for his industry. He lived 
to be eighty-two years of age and died April 
14, 1871, in Cuyahoga Falls, a member of the 
Methodist church and highly respected. His 
children were Henry, Leonard, Elthina, Lucy 
A., Susan, Deming, Philo and Hiram. After 
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Upson settled in 
Huron county, Ohio, in a Quaker settlement, 
on a farm of 260 acres, and there cleared up 
160 acres, and nine years afterward moved to 
Cuyahoga Falls and engaged in paperhanging 
for nine years, and was fairly successful. Then 
he engaged in the livery business, also con- 
ducted a flouring-mill thirteen years and has 
generally been successful. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Upson were born Lucy M., Leonard, Norton 
L.. Charlie N., Sarah and Helen. In politics 
he is a republican and has held the offices of 
constable and marshal fourteen years. Mr. 
Upson is one of the highly respected citizens 
of his county and has always been an upright 
and honorable man. His wife died in 1893, 
aged seventy-three years. 

Norton L. Upson, son of Julius A., en- 
listed at Cuyahoga Falls, when but sixteen 
years of age, under Capt. Dudley Sward, to 
serve 100 days, in company F, One Hundred 
and Sixty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry. He 
served out his time and re-enlisted as a vet- 
eran in 1864, in the Second Ohio cavalry, for 
three years, or during the war, and served 
about one year, when he was honorably dis- 
charged on account of the cessation of hostili- 
ties. Julius A. Upson himself enlisted, when 
aged about fifty-eight years, at the time of 
Morgan's raid, in the organization known as 
the Squirrel Hunters. Lucy M. Upson, eld- 
est daughter, married Benison Babcock, who 
at the age of eighteen years enlisted in the 



570 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



One Hundred and Fourth regiment, company 
H, Ohio volunteer infantry, under Capt. Hope 
Ford, and served through the war. 



eLAM UNDERWOOD, a well-known 
and very prominent farmer of Brim- 
field township, Portage county, Ohio, 
is a native of this county, was born 
March 6, 1833, and is a son of Lybia and 
Julia (Minard) Underwood, both now deceased 
— the former a native of Massachusetts and 
the latter of Connecticut. 

Lybia Underwood, the father of Elam, 
came to Ohio about the year 1812, located at 
Brimfield, and for a number of years dealt 
heavily in live stock, as well as farmed on a 
large scale. He here married Miss Minard, 
and to this union were born nine children, of 
whom four still survive, viz; A. H., Elam, 
Bruce, and Millie, the wife of Charles McLoye. 
The deceased were Juliet (Mrs. Charles Os- 
burn), Mary Ann (Mrs. Harry Hunt), Parmelia 
(Mrs. C. H. Chapman), William and Candis 
E. Mr. Underwood was a greatly respected 
citizen, and served about twenty years as a 
justice of the peace, and for a number of 
years was a township trustee; he died in 1878, 
at the age of seventy-six years, a member of 
the Universalist church, but his wife had pre- 
ceded him to the grave in 1849, when but 
forty-seven years old, and the remains of both 
were interred in Brimfield. 

Elam Underwood attended the district 
school until twenty years old, and passed his 
life on the home farm until attaining his ma- 
jority, when he engaged in the lumber busi- 
ness, which he followed twenty or more years, 
traveling a great deal through the pine dis- 
tricts. November 20, 1855, he married Miss 
Emeline Minora, a native of Ohio, and a 
daughter of Tallman and Elizabeth (Rawson) 



Minard, and this union has been crowned by 
the birth of one child — Emerson A. The pa- 
rents of Mrs. Underwood were natives of Con- 
necticut. The father was a farmer and filled 
various offices in Brimfield township after set- 
tling here, being a straightforward and re- 
spected citizen. To him and wife were born 
five children, of whom three still survive, viz: 
Luther, Mrs. Underwood, and Amanda, now 
wife of Servilleus Hoskins; the deceased were 
named Mary and Albert. Both parents, now 
also deceased, were members of the Disciples' 
church. 

Mr. Underwood has been a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the 
past thirty years, has also been actively con- 
nected with the Rootstown Protective associa- 
tion for a long time, and for the last five years 
has adjusted all its losses. He is still en- 
gaged in farming, and his premises show that 
he well understands this prime industry. His 
name stands without reproach,. and few fam- 
ilies in the township stand higher in the pub- 
lic esteem than his. In politics, he is a dem- 
ocrat, though, in most cases, he votes for the 
man, rather than the party. 



>-j'OSEPH WAGGONER, M. D., • de- 
■ ceased, who was one of the oldest and 
A 1 most experienced physicians of Ra- 
venna, was born near Richmond, Jef- 
ferson county, Ohio, December 30, 1821. His 
father, William Waggoner, was a native of 
northeastern Maryland, was of German-Irish 
parentage, and married Miss Sarah Jackson, 
who was born in the northwestern part of 
Delaware, and was of Scotch-English descent. 
Immediately after their marriage they came to 
Ohio, and in 1804 settled on a quarter-section 
of land near Richmond, Jefferson county, built 
a log cabin, there passed their honorable and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



571 



useful lives, and reared a family of eight sons 
and four daughters. 

Dr. Joseph Waggoner, the tenth child of 
this family, was reared on the home farm, re- 
ceiving his education in the district schools 
during the winter months. At the age of 
eighteen he began teaching, devoting the sum- 
mers to study in a select school, and at his 
majority entered the academy at Steubenvilie, 
preparatory to a collegiate course, but failing 
health debarred him from classical study, and 
rest for nearly a year became requisite. In 
the spring of 1843 he commenced the study of 
medicine under Drs. Johnson & Henning, of 
Steubenvilie, finishing in the fall of 1846. 
The winter of 1846-47 was passed in attending 
lectures at the Cleveland Medical college, 
which subsequently conferred on him the de- 
gree of M. D., and in the spring of 1847 he 
located for practice in Deerfield, Portage coun- 
ty, and for sixteen years steadily gained in 
reputation and remuneration. In the spring 
of 1863 he sought the broader field of practice 
in Ravenna, where he found a wider scope for 
the exercise of his consummate skill, which 
immediately met with an appreciative recog- 
nition. Feeling, however, that the disasters 
of war were demanding all the experienced 
medical talent available — although it could be 
ill-spared at home — he went to Washington, 
D. C, and tendered his services to the gov- 
ernment, which eagerly accepted them, and 
he was appointed at once assistant surgeon in 
the army and placed on duty at Lincoln hos- 
pital. But in a short time thereafter the 
health of the doctor's wife became precarious, 
which fact induced him to resign and return to 
Ravenna, where he was long assiduously and 
actively engaged in attending to the require- 
ments of his constantly increasing list of 
patients. 

In June, 1862, Dr. Waggoner was most 
happily united in matrimony with Miss Mary 



M. Regal, of Deerfield, who, through her many 
domestic virtues, proved to be a true helpmate, 
indeed. But still affliction found a foothold 
within the doctor's otherwise happy home, 
and was the only shadow that lowered over 
his domestic felicity. Of the four children 
born to this marriage but one survives — 
George Joseph, the eldest, of whom further 
mention will be made. Arthur and William, 
two manly and promising boys, aged eleven 
and eight years, respectively, succumbed to 
that dread disease, diphtheria, and were buried 
on the same day, January 18, 1880, and, to 
add to the grief of the doctor and wife, their 
only daughter, Mary Josephine, was called 
away July 18, 1888, at the age of eleven 
years. Bearing up against these afflictions, 
however, the doctor still continued on the 
even tenor of his way, and never neglected 
one case that required his attention in the 
prosecution of his responsible life-work. The 
doctor not only stood high in the esteem of 
the general public, but was equally respected 
by his fellow-practitioners, with whom he 
heartily affiliated. He was a member of the 
American Medical association, the Ohio State 
Medical society, the Northeastern Ohio Med- 
ical society and the Portage county Medical 
society, and his contributions to these, whether 
of a professional, literary, social or even polit- 
ical tendency, were eagerly and carefully 
perused. The doctor was very liberal in his 
professional views, and fraternized freely, at 
the call of humane interests, with gentlemen 
of other schools. A Freemason in good stand- 
ing, he was tolerant in matters theological, 
and would have gladly welcomed the day when 
religious differences might disappear. He was 
generous in his contributions to the various 
churches, as he believed in Christianity and in 
its ennobling influence over mankind. In 
politics the doctor in early life was a whig, 
and was a great admirer of Henry Clay, for 



572 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



whom he cast his first presidential vote, but 
became a republican after the organization of 
that party and voted for all its presidential 
nominees — Fremont, Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, 
Garfield, Blaine, Harrison and McKinley. The 
doctor was a genial, yet austere, straightfor- 
ward, honest man, and it has been well said 
of him that " He is courteous and gentlemanly 
in manner, genial in disposition, and liberal in 
spirit and action. He enjoys the esteem of 
all those with whom he is acquainted profes- 
sionally or socially. As general practitioner 
and family physician he has few equals — 
always endeavoring to keep his patients well 
as much as to cure them." No higher com- 
pliment than that conveyed in the last sentence 
could be paid a physician. 

Dr. George Joseph Waggoner, subject's 
eldest and only living child, was born May lo, 
1865, graduated from the Ravenna high school, 
and later graduated from the literary depart- 
ment of the university of Michigan at Ann Ar- 
bor, in 1887, with the degree of A. B. In 
1890 he graduated in medicine and surgery 
from the university of the city of New York, and 
since then has been in active practice with his fa- 
ther. He is a member of the Portage county 
Medical society, and of the Ohio state Medical 
society, and the American Medical association, 
and also of the Zeta Psi fraternity of his alma 
mater. He was united in marriage October 
14, 1 891, with Miss Mary A. Clewell, daugh- 
ter of D. M. and Mary ( Beebe) Clewell. Two 
children have come to bless this union — Marj' 
C. and Joseph D. He is a master Mason, and 
his moral character is irreproachable. He 
has lived all his life in Ravenna, his college 
days excepted, and has won the respect of all 
the citizens who have ever known him. Mod- 
est and retiring in manner, he is yet firm in 
the prosecution of his responsible profession, 
with which he is greatly in love, and in which 
he has made a decided success. He and wife 



stand high socially, and, with his present bright 
professional prospects, it is doubtful that he 
will ever wish to abandon his native city. 

Dr. Joseph Waggoner died June 6, 1897, 
of neuralgia of the heart. Sickenss had never 
confined him to his bed an entire day during 
his lifetime. 

HARON WAGONER, cashier of the 
Akron Savings bank, was born in 
Franklin township, Summit county, 
Ohio, September 19, 1844, a son of 
George and Rebecca (Sours) Wagoner, both 
natives of the Keystone state. 

George Wagoner was reared to manhood 
in his native county of Cumberland, Pa., and 
there learned the cooper's trade, which he be- 
gan at the age of fourteen years. In 1812 he 
married Sarah Rhodes, and shortly afterward 
came to Ohio and settled near Canal Fulton, 
Stark county, and engaged in farming and 
teaching school at their proper seasons. There 
his wife died, after having given birth to four 
children, and after a due season of mourning 
Mr. Wagoner married Rebecca Sours, a native 
of Lancaster county, Pa., and a daughter of 
Henry and Catherine (Harter) Sours, also of 
Pennsylvania birth and of German descent. 
Shortly after this marriage Mr. Wagoner came 
to Summit county and settled near Manches- 
ter, in Franklin township, where his remaining 
days and those of his wife were passed away. 
To this second marriage were born ten chil- 
dren, viz: Catherine and Sarah, both de- 
ceased; Harriet, wife of Michael Herpster; 
Ann R. , wife of David Keller; Amanda, wife 
of John Spangler; Henry L. , Philip, John J., 
a deceased infant, and Aaron, the subject. 
In politics Mr. Wagoner was first a whig and 
afterward a republican, and held the office of 
township treasurer many years. He was very 
popular and influential in Franklin township, 
although of a quiet, unassuming disposition, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



573 



and won his prominence through his personal 
merits. He earned a competence through his 
industry, gave all his children a good educa- 
tion and left them the means to start well in 
the career of life. 

Aaron Wagoner, the subject, was reared on 
his father's farm and also had the advantages 
of a good education both in public and private 
schools. At the age of seventeen years he 
took charge of a school in Steuben county, 
Ind., where he taught one term, and then re- 
turned to his native county, where he enlisted, 
October lo, 1862, for three years, in company 
B, Sixth Ohio cavalry, and was mustered into 
service at Cleveland, being then eighteen years 
of age, was assigned to the army of the Poto- 
mac, under Gen. Phil Sheridan, and served 
until receiving an honorable discharge at Wash- 
ington, D. C, July I, 1865, as first heutenant. 
The brilliant career of the Sixth Ohio cavalry, 
under Sheridan, in the Shenandoah valley and 
elsewhere, is so renowned as a matter of his- 
tory, that no repetition thereof is here neces- 
sary, and of his own heroic acts Mr. Wagoner 
is too modest to permit a recountal. Suffice 
to say that he performed his duties bravely 
and well, as the terms of his discharge from 
the service amply prove. 

On returning from the war, Mr. Wagoner 
was employed by Oberholser, Keller & Co., of 
Akron, with whom he remained five years, and 
then entered the City bank as teller, and held 
this position eight years. In 1880 he was 
elected county auditor by the republican party, 
served one term, and was re-elected to a sec- 
ond term, but, six months before the expira- 
tion of the latter, resigned, to become cashier 
of the City National bank, which position he 
resigned at the close of the year, when he as- 
sisted to organize the Akron Savings bank, 
with William Buchtel as president, Hon. C. 
R. Grant as vice-president, and himself as 
cashier, and with a capital stock of $200,000. 



Mr. Wagoner was united in marriage April 
30, 1868, with Miss Amanda S. Smith, who 
was born in Franklin township, June 30, 1843, 
a daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Diehl) Smith, 
natives of Pennsylvania and of German ex- 
traction. This happy union has been blessed 
with two children, viz: Mabel B., who is the 
wife of J. V. Cleaver, M. D., of Akron, and is 
the mother of one child — Josephine; George 
Edward, the second child, is receiving teller in 
the Akron Savings bank. Fraternally, Mr. 
Wagoner is a member of Akron lodge. No. 547, 
I. O. O. F. , of which he is past grand; also of 
encampment No. 18, and Canton No. 2, pa- 
triarchs militant, of which he is past chief pa- 
triach, and also past colonel of the Third regi- 
ment, patriarchs militant of Ohio; he is also a 
member of Buckley post, G. A. R. , and of 
Ohio commandery. Loyal Legion. In politics 
he is a republican and as such has served in 
the city council of Akron, and in 1892 was 
chairman of the republican executive county 
committee, of which he is still a member- 
Outside of his banking business, Mr. Wagoner 
has an interest in the Diamond Pottery com- 
pany, and is also assistant treasurer of the 
Akron Street Railway & Illuminating com- 
pany. The accomplished wife of Mr. Wag- 
oner is a member of the board of lady vipitors 
of the Girls' Industrial home at Delaware, , 
Ohio, under appointment of Gov. Bushnell. 



^^^^ILLIAM WAGGONER, one of the 
■ ■ I ol'Jest and most successful agricul- 
mJ^J turists of Copley township. Summit 
county, Ohio, is a native of New 
York state, and was born in Schoharie county, 
November 13, 1829. 

The father of our subject was also named 
William, was likewise born in the state of 
New York, and there married, in 18 16. Cath- 
erine Spohr, also a native of the Empire state, 



574 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



born in October, 1800. To this union were 
born eight children, viz: Matthew, who died 
in infancy; John, who was a mason by occu- 
pation, married Miss Lora Wali<er, and died 
in Akron, Ohio; Christina, who was married to 
Delos Bosworth, she second white child born 
in Copley township, both now deceased; Anna, 
who was married to Dr. P. G. Somers, of 
Cleveland, but, with her husband, also de- 
ceased; William, the subject of this biography; 
Peter, who died at the age of sixteen 3'ears; 
Almira, wife of Oran Henry, a cooper and 
boatbuilder of Astoria, Ore.; Amanda; and 
Matilda, who died in infancy. 

William Waggoner, the father, was a cooper 
and stonemason by trade, but began his busi- 
ness career with only a small capital. In 
1835 he brought his family to Ohio and lo- 
cated on Pigeon creek, in Copley township. 
Summit county, where he remained about one 
year, working as a stonemason. He then re- 
moved to a farm about a mile south of the 
center and engaged in coopering and farming 
until his death. • He and his wife were de- 
voted members of the Universalist church, 
and in politics he was a republican. 

William Waggoner, the subject of this bi- 
ography, while assisting to clear his father's 
land, attended the district and high schools, 
and at the age of twenty years began teaching. 
At the same age, also, he went to Akron and 
commenced learning the bricklayer's trade 
with his brother, John, serving an apprentice- 
ship of three years, after which he worked at 
the trade to a considerable extent in the sum- 
mer season and taught school in the winter 
months. 

In April, 1857, Mr. Waggoner was united 
in marriage with Miss Ann B. Stearns, who 
was born in Copley township in 1837, a 
daughter of John C. and Orpha (Clark) Stearns, 
who were then residents of the township, but 
later moved to Kansas, where they passed the 



remainder of their lives. Immediately after mar- 
riage, Mr. Waggoner and wife went to Iowa, 
where he worked at his trade for about six years. 
On returning to Ohio, Mrs. Waggoner died 
November 15, 1863, and in December of the 
same year Mr. Waggoner enlisted, at Cleve- 
land, in the Sixth Ohio battery. He partici- 
pated in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, 
and in those of Franklin and Nashville, as well 
as in many others of less note, and was honor- 
ably discharged September i, 1865. He then 
came to Akron, Ohio, and worked at his trade 
until March 4, 1869, when he married Miss 
Lydia Randolph, and at once bought and 
moved upon his present farm of ninety-six 
acres in Copley township. 

The second Mrs. Waggoner was born in 
Columbiana county. Ohio, January 16, 1832, 
a daughter of William B. and Deborah (Car- 
roll) Randolph, by the second marriage of Mrs. 
Randolph. Her father, of English descent, 
was born in Virginia March 16, 1778, and died 
October 15, 1863. He was a son of Thomp- 
son Randolph, who was born May 30, 1746. 
Deborah (Carroll) Randolph, mother of Mrs. 
Waggoner, was born September 15, 1791, in 
county Antrim, Ireland, and became the 
mother of two children, viz: Thompson, a 
farmer of Columbiana county, and Lydia. 
Mrs. Lydia Waggoner was educated in the high 
school and at Salem seminary, taught school 
a number of years, and is at present a member 
of the school board of Copley township — being 
the first lady to be elected to this position in 
the township. The parents of this accom- 
plished lady were pioneers of Columbiana 
county, Ohio, and were married April 10, 
1 83 1. They were of ante-Revolutionary 
descent, and the grandmother of Mrs. Wag- 
goner met a tragic end at the hands of savages. 

Mr. Waggoner is a strong republican and has 
been called to several positions of trust and 
honor by his party. His first presidential vote 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



575 



was cast for Winfield Scott, but at the birth 
of the republican party he espoused its prin- 
ciples. He is at present a justice of the peace, 
an office he has filled for three terms. He was 
also a member of the school board and has 
been connected with the schools in an official 
service for almost fifteen years; he has been a 
township trustee for a number of years, and is, 
indeed, one of the most prominent citizens of 
Copley township. 

In 1 78 1 Thompson Randolph, grandfather 
of Mrs. Waggoner, with some of his neigh- 
bors and their families of Prince William 
county, Va., concluded to try pioneer life and 
removed to Kentucky, lured b}' the glowing 
descriptions of Daniel Boone and other pio- 
neers. They embarked at what is now Pitts- 
burg, and descended the Ohio river in flat- 
boats till they reached Kentucky, where they 
ascended one of the small rivers, and finding 
a location that suited them they built log 
cabins for homes and a fort for defense against 
the Indians and named it Kinslow station. 
They cleared out ground on which to raise 
corn and flax, having to depend on their own 
efforts for food and clothing. For a couple of 
years they were unmolested by the Indians, 
though other settlements occasionally had 
trouble with them. Some whites had been 
taken prisoners and carried into Ohio, and 
after being kept there a while the Indians 
called a council of war, at which they planned 
an attack on a fort some little distance from 
Kinslow. Permitting two of the prisoners to 
learn their plans, they allowed them to escape 
and return to their homes, where they gave 
the alarm. All the available help from neigh- 
boring stations was collected at the place to 
be attacked. When the summons for help 
reached Kinslow station all the men at home 
repaired at once to the threatened fort. Mrs. 
Waggoner's grandfather and three other men 
were out hunting when the alarm came and 



were the only men left to defend the station. 
But as the Indians were not supposed to be 
near, no fear was felt. When the darkness 
of night had settled down on the little band 
and the women and children wrapped in 
peaceful sleep, they were suddenly aroused 
and appalled by the war-whoops of the re- 
lentless savages. They fully realized the fate 
awaiting them if they fell into their hands, 
and bravely and untiringly they loaded the 
guns with which the four men were trying to 
defend them. The defenders succeeded in 
keeping the Indians at bay until the latter 
gathered flax and other combustibles and fired 
the roofs of the buildings, after which resist- 
ance was useless and the only thing they could 
do was to try to escape. Mrs. Waggoner's 
grandmother took her infant son in her arms, 
and going to a small door that opened on the 
outside of the fort, unfastened it to pass out. 
Two Indians were lying in wait, and as she 
appeared, shot her and her child. Maddened 
at the deed, her husband shot the larger 
Indian, and in a hand to hand encounter sent 
the smaller one to join his companion. The 
burning buildings made everything about the 
fort as light as day, so that the escaping in- 
mates were nearly all captured or killed. 
After Mrs. Waggoner's grandfather had 
avenged his wife's death, he took her father, 
a boy of five years old, and succeeded in 
reaching a high brush fence inclosing a corral, 
in which the cattle were confined at night, 
and hid him under it, telling him to remain 
there till he came for him. The shadows of 
the fence enabled him to escape into the dark- 
ness of the woods, and, concealing himself in 
some logs, he eluded the savages. At one time 
he was tempted to seek a tinkling bell, think- 
ing it was attached to a horse, but fearing it 
was an Indian decoy, he waited, and another 
man, hearing it and going to it, was killed. 
He remained concealed until the next day, 



576 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and when he was sure the Indians had left, 
he took his little boy, and, with nothing to 
eat except a piece of dried venison he hap- 
pened to have in his pocket and that he had 
taken with him on his hunting excursion the 
previous day, he started afoot on his trip of 
several hundred miles across the wilderness 
back to Prince William county, Va. They 
subsisted on wild fruits and roots, excepting 
once, when they came across a deserted mis- 
sion founded by some Jesuits, where some 
turnips were growing. He kept his gun with 
him, but, as he had no ammunition, it was of 
no benefit to him. The gun is now in the 
possession of Mrs. Waggoner's brother, an 
heir-loom in the family. After many hard- 
ships they at length reached their old home in 
safety. 

Two of the maternal uncles of Mrs. Wag- 
goner's father were officers under Gen. 
Lafayette during the war of the Revolution. 



>Y*OHN WAITE, one of the early settlers 
■ of Ravenna, and a continuous resident 
ml from 1830 to 1867, was born at Oaks 
Corners, Ontario county, N. Y. , May 
24, 1 8 10, and is a son of John and Abigail 
(Cranston) Waite, also natives of the Empire 
state. 

John Waite received his education in his 
native county, and there followed various oc- 
cupations until eighteen years of age, when he 
learned the cooper's trade, which vocation he 
followed for about thirty years. About the 
year 1830, he removed to Ravenna and carried 
on the coopers' trade for many years, subse- 
quently conducting a marble shop and also 
contracting for the construction of railway 
water tanks. 

In Ravenna he was married to Miss Mar- 
tha A. Clark, daughter of Ephraim and Ala 



Amelia (Sperry) Clark, and was born in Tall- 
madge township, Summit county, Ohio, Feb- 
ruary I, 1 8 19. Her father was a native of 
Massachusetts; her mother of Connecticut. 
Her parents emigrated to Ohio in 1796, at a 
time when the state was very sparsely settled, 
following a trail which was marked by the 
blazing of trees. 

Mr. and Mrs. Waite have had three chil- 
dren, born in Ravenna: Amelia, who died 
when three years old; John L., now manager 
and editor of the Burlington (Iowa) Daily 
Hawk-Eye; and Mary Ella, who became the 
wife of John M. Eads, of Burlington, and 
after his death married Randall M. Hartzell, 
a farmer of Peru, Chautauqua county, Kan. 

In 1867, John \\'aite removed to Burling- 
ton, Iowa, where he embarked in the retail 
grocery trade and subsequently in the commis- 
sion business, finally retiring to a farm near 
the city. He died at the age of eighty-four 
3'ears while visiting his daughter at Peru, 
Kan., and where his widow still resides. 

Mr. and Mrs. Waite were lifelong and 
consistent members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, devoted to every moral reform 
movement and enjoyed the esteem and friend- 
ship of their neighbors and acquaintances In 
politics Mr. Waite was an anti-slavery whig 
and a republican, and, as a citizen, progressive 
and public spirited. 



eDWIN A. WALDO, of West Rich- 
field, Ohio, one of the old soldiers of 
the Civil war and a respected dtizen, 
springs from old England ancestry, 
who came to America in the Puritan times. 
He was born September 11, 1844, at Hinck- 
ley, Medina county, Ohio, and was reared a 
farmer, receiving a common-school education, 
and enlisted in the Civil war when but eight- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



577 



een years old, running away from home for 
that purpose, as his parents objected. At 
Cleveland, Ohio, September 19, 1862, he en- 
tered the Twentieth Ohio light artillery, for 
three years or during the war, and served until 
honorably discharged at Cleveland, July 13, 
1865. He was in the battles of Liberty Gap, 
Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, Franklin, 
Tenn., on the Atlanta campaign, and in the 
fight at Peach Tree Creek, and in the battle 
of Dalton was taken prisoner, was kept four 
days, was then paroled, and kept right along 
with the regiment without being exchanged, 
and was in many skirmishes. He was sick in 
camp with bloody flu.x in 1864, but would not 
go to hospital, and held out, although unable 
to do duty for about one month. 

Mr. Waldo was in all the battles, skir- 
mishes, campaigns and marches in which his 
regiment took part, but was never wounded, 
although under fire in many battles. He had 
never had a furlough, as he never asked for 
one. After the war Mr. Waldo returned home, 
resumed farming and married, July 4, 1866, at 
Hinckley, Ohio, Alice A. Porter, who was 
born October 3, 1847, ^^ Hinckley, a daugh- 
ter of Charles and Mary (Newman) Porter, 
both families coming originally from England. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Waldo one son was born — 
Phillip, November 23, 1876. Mr. Waldo 
bought fifty acres of land at Hinckley, im- 
proved it, and erected a good house and barn. 
He then came to Richfield, bought property 
and retired from active life. He is much dis- 
abled from his sufferings as a soldier and is 
unable to work. He is a member of Goldvvood 
post, G. A. R. , No. 104, at Richfield, Ohio, 
and has held offices of adjutant and sergeant- 
major. In politics he is a republican, cast his 
first presidential vote for Lincoln, and is a 
man of well known integrity of character. 

His great-grandfather, Thomas Waldo, 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; Jado- 



than Waldo, grandfather of our subject, was 
from near Boston and well-to-do. He came 
to Hinckley, Ohio, as a pioneer, cleared up a 
good farm of 100 acres, and here passed his 
remaining days, a respected citizen, and died 
at about seventy years of age. His children 
were Edward and Seth, who lived to reach 
maturity. Edward, father of Edwin A., was 
born March 20, 181 i, in New Hampshire, and 
married, in Ohio, Elizabeth Damon, who was 
born at Chesterfield, Mass., October 14, 1820, 
Mr. Waldo having come with his parents to 
Ohio when about twenty-one years old in 
about 1832. Edward Waldo and wife were 
the parents of Lucy A., Anson, Edwin A., 
Justice, Esther, Prentice, Silvia, Elida H. and 
Ira. Mr. Waldo was a republican in politics 
and held the office of constable. He was a 
substantial farmer, owning 300 acres at one 
time, was prominent in his church, holding 
the office of deacon, was a well-known citizen, 
and died on his farm at the age of eighty years, 
a member of the Free Will Baptist church. 
He had three sons in the Civil war — Anson, 
Edwin A. and Justice T. Anson was in the 
One Hundred and Seventy-seventh regiment, 
Ohio volunteer infantry, in the one-year serv- 
ice; Justice T. was in the One Hundred and 
Third regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, in 
the ninety-day service, and after the close of 
the war was three years in the United States 
service. Mrs. Waldo's father — Charles Porter, 
was born in England, married there Mary 
Newman, came from Cambridgeshire to Amer- 
ica, and brought his family with him, in 1837, 
and located in Richfield. He later moved to 
Hinckley and bought a farm of 1 10 acres, sold 
it, and bought a small farm in Hinckley town^- 
ship and there passed his remaining days, dy- 
ing at nearly eighty years of age, a member of 
the Free Will Baptist church. His children 
were Charles, Martha, Mary, John, Henry, 
Robert, Alice and Hattie. 



578 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



^y'^V ETER L. ALLEN, an enterprising 
1 ■ and prosperous saddlery and harness 
£ merchant at Richfield, Ohio, was born 

in New York cit}' September 8, 1826. 
He is a son of Peter and Naomi (Morrell) 
Allen, both natives of New York state. In 
1836 they moved from New York to Hinckley 
township, Medina county, Ohio, where they 
resided for several years, afterward moving to 
Cleveland, where our subject's father died. 
To Peter Allen and wife were born the follow- 
ing children: John F. ; James; William: Mary, 
wife of J. Darrow, of Kent, Ohio; Charles; 
Peter L., our subject; Ann, wife of L. Bur- 
diet, of Kent, Ohio; Isaac and Hamilton. 
Peter Allen was a soldier in the war of 181 2, 
and his wife was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. 

At the age of seventeen years our subject 
came to Richfield, entering in the employ of 
Jonathan Page, under whom he acquired a 
mastery of the harness and saddlery trade. 
After serving a competent apprenticeship in 
this line he opened a store and factor}' of his 
own and has continued in business at that place 
until at present he has a very large and grow- 
ing trade in this line, the excellence of his 
manufactured goods commanding for them a 
large sale, his harness being shipped to all 
parts of the country, and his name is widely 
known as a manufacturer. 

On the 4th of October, 1848, our subject 
was united in marriage to Miss Marrietta 
Seeley, daughter of Amasa and Mary (Baldwin) 
Seeley. A word concerning Mrs. Allen's an- 
cestry: Her father was born December 19, 
1792, a son of Eli Seeley, who came of stern 
and hardy old Puritan stock, his parents, David 
and Mary Seeley, being decendants of historic 
pioneers; Eli married Sally Lewis and had the 
following children: Julia, born January 16, 
1786; Eli L. , born July 27, 1790; Amasa, De- 
cember 19, 1792; Nabbie, April 8, 1796, and 



Walter, March 10, 1798. The maternal grand- 
parents of Mrs. Allen were David and Cath- 
erine (Tod) Baldwin, who had the following 
children: David B., Rubie, Lucy, Stephen, 
Esther, Catherine, Daniel, Joseph and Mary, 
(Mrs. Allen's mother). Her parents were 
among the early settlers of Bath township, 
coming here before the "twenties." Her 
mother taught the first school in the township, 
receiving the munificent wages of fifty cents 
per week. In those days the only products 
which could be converted into cash equivalents 
were tallow and hides. Her parents were 
married in 1825, and upon an acre of ground 
which her father bought for $10 their home 
was erected. Amasa Seeley also built a black- 
smith shop and manufactured all the hardware 
for his house He also erected the first frame 
barn in Richfield. The lives of these pioneers 
were lives of constant usefulness. They raised 
the following children: Edward, born in 1816 
— died in 1840; William, born in 18 18; Abi- 
gail, born November 26, 1821; William H., 
died in infancy; Lucy Ann, born February 4, 
1826; Marietta (Mrs. Allen), born March 8, 
1830; Julietta K., died in infancy. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Allen have been born the following 
children: Francis, August 14, 1849; Virgil, 
October 28, 1852; Ervin, October 9, 1854; 
Lucy M., August 30, 1856, wife of William 
Whitney; Elmer E., February 13, 1864; 
Emma G., May 31, 1866. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Allen are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and are fervent 
in their faith and earnest in the work of the 
church. He has several times been the super- 
intendent of the Sunday-school, and is now 
one of the stewards of the church. Politically 
he is a strong republican, but has never been 
tempted by a desire for office. He is a mem- 
ber of Richfield lodge. No. 266, F. & A. M., 
with which he has been connected since 1855, 
and through which he has passed all the chairs. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



579 



eDWARD S. BLACKMAN, one of the 
soldiers of the Civil war and a re- 
spectable citizen of Hudson town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, is the 
capable and careful superintendent and man- 
ager of Evamere Hall, the country home of 
James W. Ellsworth, of Chicago. Mr. Black- 
man was born April 28, 1842, in Mount Ver- 
non, Knox county, Ohio, and is a son of 
Joseph and Ann (Phillips) Blackman. He 
was brought by his parents to Hudson when 
about three years old, and when a young lad 
clerked in Hudson for D. D. Beebe for seven 
years; next worked at the carpenter's trade for 
three years, and was then clerk for R. P. 
Williams for fifteen years. He then enlisted 
at Hudson, Ohio, in company B, Eighty-fifth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for ninety days, and 
served until honorably discharged on account 
of disability at Camp Chase, Ohio, having 
nearly served out his time, chiefly at Camp 
Chase, on guard duty. He was sick, but not 
in hospital, and attended to his duties promptly 
and cheerfully. In 1890 he became superin- 
tendent for Mr. Ellsworth, and has entire 
charge of his beautiful country home, and of 
all the improvements of the grounds, which 
he maintains in a high state of cultivation and 
tasteful ornamentation. Mr. Blackman is very 
industrious in the performance of his duties, 
and possesses great skill and ability. 

Mr. Blackman married, August 18, 1869, 
in Hudson, Ohio, Martha J. DeGraw, born 
in New York state, and daughter of John and 
Hannah (Burgess) DeGraw. Mr. and Mrs. 
Blackman are the parents of Frederick, Grace 
Maud, Charles E. and Heber. Mr. Blackman 
is a Freemason, is a member of the G. A. R., 
Gen. W. T. Sherman post. No. 68, at Hud- 
son, and in politics is a republican. He has 
served as a member of the town council, has 
been city marshal and has also been a member 
of the board of education. Both Mr. and 



Mrs. Blackman are members of the Episcopal 
church and are highly respected throughout 
Hudson township. 



HMOS BARR, of Northfield township. 
Summit county, Ohio, was born May 
16, 1845, in Lancaster county. Pa., 
son of John and Martha (Groft) Barr, 
of German descent. He received a common 
district-school education and was reared to 
farming. He enlisted, June 29, 1863, in Lan- 
caster county, Pa., in Lieut. Samuel Bojd's 
company G, First battalion, Pennsylvania 
volunteer infantry, and was honorably dis- 
charged January 9, 1864, at Harrisburg, Pa., 
by reason of expiration of service. He then 
re-enlisted at Lancaster, Pa., in Lieut. Frank 
B. Groff's company C, Ninety-ninth Pennsyl- 
vania veteran volunteer infantry, February 27, 
1864, fo serve three years or during the war, 
and was honorably discharged at Philadelphia, 
Pa., June i, 1865, the war having closed. 
He was in the battles of the Wilderness, Cold 
Harbor, Spottsylvania, Appottomax, Peters- 
burg, and in many skirmishes. He was 
wounded at the battle of Petersburg March 
25, 1865, being shot near the joint of the left 
hip, and still carries the ball. He was taken 
to the hospital at City Point, Va., near Wash- 
ington, D. C. , and remained six weeks, re- 
ceived a furlough of thirty days and was dis- 
charged before it expired. Mr. Barr discharged 
all his duties faithfully, promptly and cheer- 
fully, and was in all the battles, skirmishes, 
campaigns and marches in which his regiment 
took part. After the war Mr. Barr worked in 
Lancaster county, Pa., in the iron-ore mines, 
and at farming. He married, August 18, 
1868, in West Hempfield township, Lancaster 
county, Susan C. Varnes, who was born No- 
vember 15, 185 I, a daughter of Albert N. and 
Leah (Wade) Varnes. Albert N. Varnes was 



580 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



also born in Lancaster county, Pa., and was 
a private during the Civil war in a Pennsyl- 
vania volunteer infantry, in which he was 
taken sick and from which he was discharged 
on account of disability. He married Leah 
Wade and their children were John W. , David, 
Henry, Lilly, Sarah, Albert, Nellie and Susan 
C. Mr. Varnes, on coming to Cleveland, 
Ohio, engaged in teaming for the paint works 
and drove for that company seventeen years. 
His death was caused by a runaway team in 
1887. He was a republican in politics and a 
hard-working, industrious man, respected by all. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Barr remained 
in Lancaster county until 1878 and then came 
to Cleveland, Ohio, where Mr. Barr worked in 
the steel works until 1894, when he came to 
Northfield township, and engaged in farming. 
Mr. and Mrs. Barr have had born to them the 
following children: Harry, Jennie, Ella, 
Charles and Harvey, and five deceased. Mrs. 
Barr attends the Presbyterian church at North- 
field. In politics he is a republican and is an 
ex-member of the G. A. R., Commodore 
Perry post, Newburg, Ohio. 

John Barr and wife, parents of Amos, 
were also the parents of David, Landus, John, 
Elam and Mary. Mr. Barr had two sons in 
the Civil war — David having the same military 
record as that of Amos. He escaped without 
wounds and served five years in the regular 
army after the war. John Barr father of sub- 
ject, was a hard-working, industrious man 
and died in Pennsylvania about 1857. Mrs. 
Barr's second marriage was to George Kiss- 
caden, and their children are James and Wdl- 
iam. Amos Barr and wife are among the 
most respected people of their township, and 
have reared an excellent family. They have 
three children, viz: Henry, who married Nora 
Jones, of Newbury; they live in Macedonia, 
and have one child — Ella, married to George 
Nutt, they live in Northfield township, and 



have two children. Jennie is married to Frank 
Flick, a painter and paper hanger, of Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and has one child. 



@EORGE L. BISHOP, the well-known 
merchant and present postmaster of 
Northfield, Ohio, and one of the vet- 
erans of the late Civil war, was born 
in Northfield, January 23, 1842, a son of Orrin 
A. and Celina L. (Lillie) Bishop. He received 
a common education and enlisted in August, 
i86r, at Northfield, at the early age of nine- 
teen years, in company K, Nineteenth regi- 
ment, Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve three 
years or during the war, and re-enlisted as a 
veteran in the same organization at Flat Creek, 
Tenn. , in 1864, for a similar term, and served 
until honorably discharged at San Antonio, 
Tex., in November, 1865. He was in the 
great battle of Shiloh April 6 and 7, 1862; 
the siege of Corinth, battles of Perryville, Ky. , 
October 8, 1862;. Stone River, Tenn., Decem- 
ber 30-31, 1862, and January i, 2, and 3, 
1863; Chickamauga, December 19-20, 1863; 
Chattanooga, Tenn., November23, 1863; Mis- 
sionary Ridge, November 25, 1863; Pickett's 
Mills, Ga., May 27. 1864; Kenesaw Mountain, 
June 22, 1864; Pine Top, in 1864; Peach 
Tree Creek, July 19, 1864; Atlanta, Ga. , July 
22, 1864; Jonesboro, September i, 1864; 
Lovejoy Station, September 2, 1864; Colum- 
bia, Tenn.; Franklin, September 30, 1864; 
Nashville, December 15 and 16, 1864, and 
skirmishes too numerous to mention. He was 
promoted for meritorious services to corporal, 
was shot through the right thigh at the battle 
of Stone River and was in hospital, five 
months, at Nashville, Tenn., and Louisville, 
Ky. He was never a prisoner, and was in all 
the battles, skirmishes, campaigns and marches 
in which his regiment took part, and was al- 
ways prompt and cheerful in the discharge of 




Ml- ^ A^ /d- y^^^^y^^n. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



581 



his duties. When wounded at Stone River, 
the rebels charged over the field where he was 
lying, and for a few moments he was within 
the rebel lines, but the Union troops soon re- 
took and held the position. 

After the war Mr. Bishop returned to 
Northfield and engaged in traveling for a New 
York drug house, in which employment he 
continued eight years and then bought a farm 
in Northfield township, on which he lived four- 
teen years. In the spring of 1888 he engaged 
in business in Northfield, in which he still con- 
tinues. Fraternally he is a non-affiliating Ma- 
son, and is a member of Royal Dunham post, 
G. A. R., No. — , at Bedford, Ohio. In poli- 
tics he is a republican. Mr. Bishop married, 
December 3 1, 1879, at Northfield, Miss Martha 
W. Way, who was born in England May 14, 
1849, a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth 
Way. Martha W. Way came from England 
with her parents to Northfield when eight 
years old. She was a devout member of the 
Methodist church and died very suddenly in 
1897, a woman of many virtues. 

Orrin A. Bishop was born at Burlington, 
Vt., and his grandfather was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war. Orrin A. Bishop married 
in Vermont and came as a pioneer to North- 
field. His children were Clark B. , Orrin A. 
and George L. In politics he was a democrat, 
was a well-known pioneer, and cleared his 
farm at Northfield from the woods, and here 
he died. Orrin A. , the younger, volunteered 
in the three months' service at the first call 
for troops for the Civil war, and in 1863 en- 
listed for three years, or during the war, and 
served until the close, in the One Hundred and 
Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infantry. 

George L. Bishop has been very success- 
ful through life, and his career as a farmer, 
merchant and soldier gives indication of more 
than ordinary mental and physical power, and 
his name to-day is honored wherever it is 



known. In politics he is a republican, and 
received his present appointment under Presi- 
dent McKinley. 



BRANCIS W. BLISS, an ex-soldier of 
the Civil war, springs from sterling 
Vermont colonial stock from Eng- 
land, and was born in Northfield, 
Ohio, March 20, 1834, a son of Lucian and 
Laura (Wicks) Bliss. He received a common 
education, became a farmer, and enlisted in 
January, 1864, at Cleveland, Ohio, for one 
year, in the One Hundred and Fifteenth regi- 
ment Ohio volunteer infantry, but was trans- 
ferred to the One Hundred and Eighty-eighth 
regiment, company C, at Murfreesboro, Tenn., 
and was honorably discharged in August, 1865, 
the war having closed. At Murfreesboro, 
Tenn., he was detailed with a surveying party, 
and most of his service was passed in this duty. 
He was taken sick with fever at Nashville, 
Tenn., was confined in hospital there about 
four weeks, and in hospital at Louisville, Ky., 
two weeks, and was thence transferred to Camp 
Dennison, Ohio, from which he was honorably 
discharged a few weeks later. While in Ten- 
nessee with a surveying party, which consisted 
of but sixteen gnards and the surveyor, the 
party narrowly escaped capture by old Champ 
Ferguson, a noted guerrilla, who was after- 
wards captured and hanged in Nashville. 

After the war Mr. Bliss returned to Ohio 
and married, in Independence township, Cuy- 
ahoga county, January 23, 1873, Miss Harriet 
E. Eldridge, who was born February 28, 1844, 
a daughter of Erastus and Julia (Hosmer) El- 
dridge, and to this marriage have been born 
George (who died aged three years and nine 
months), Julia, Timothy and William. Mr. 
and Mrs. Bliss are both members of the Meth- 
odist church in Northfield; in politics Mr. Bliss 
is a republican, cast his first presidential vote 



582 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



for Lincoln, and is a member of Royal Dun- 
ham post, G. A. R., at Bedford, Ohio. He 
has always been an industrious and respected 
citizen, and is fully worthy of the high esteem 
in which he is held by his companions in arms 
and by all his fellow-citizens. 

Lucian Bliss, father of Francis W., was 
born in September, 1804, at Burlington. Vt., 
married there, and came to Ohio as a pioneer, 
and settled in Northfield township. Summit 
county, and cleared up several farms, becom- 
ing a substantial citizen. He was a practical, 
energetic business man, had a contract on the 
Miami & Erie canal, and also a contract on 
the Valley railroad, but died before the com- 
pletion of the latter, September 28, 1873, aged 
sixty-eight years. Of his children, George, 
Francis W., Lucian, Fannie and Laura are 
those who lived. Francis and Lucian were sol- 
diers in the Civil war. Lucian was in the One 
Hundred and Fifteenth regiment Ohio volun- 
teer infantry in the three years' service and 
was in several battles. Lucian Bliss, the 
father, was one of the founders and mainstays 
of the Methodist church in Northfield town- 
ship, contributed liberally from his means, and 
practically kept up its integrity. 

Erastus Eldridge, father of Mrs. Harriet 
E. Bliss, was born in Springfield, Mass., July 
25, 1802, and married Julia Hosmer, a daugh- 
tar of Eleazer and Clara (Needham) Hosmer, 
and their children were Eleazer, Clara, Will- 
iam, Finette, Mary, Harriet E. and Jane. Mr. 
Eldridge, on coming to Ohio, settled at Inde- 
pendence, Cuyahoga county, where he carried 
on a stone quarry many years. He lived to 
be seventy-five years old and died in 1876. He 
was a democrat in politics, was an honest, 
hard-working, industrious man, and much re- 
spected. He had one son, William, who was a 
member of company A, One Hundred and Third 
Ohio volunteer infantry. At the battle of 
Armstrong Hill, he was struck by a piece of 



shell and died in hospital at Knoxville, Tenn. 
Eleazer Hosmer, grandfather of Mrs. Bliss, 
was of English descent, and was among the 
very early settlers in America. Grandfather 
Hosmer was a soldier in the war of 1812, but 
never was a pensioner. 



HLBERT ALLEN (deceased) was 
ranked among the leading and most 
enterprising business men of Akron. 
He was born in Coventry township, 
Summit county, Ohio, March 12, 1827, a son 
of Levi and Phebe (Spicer) Allen, of whom 
full mention is made in the biography of Miner 
J. Allen, which is published in proximit}' with 
this notice, and to which the attention of the 
reader is respectfully called. 

Albert Allen was reared on the farm, with 
a common-school education; on attaining his 
majority learned the millwrighting trade, at 
which he worked about nine years, in 1856 
converting the Perkins woolen-mill, on Canal 
street, into a flouring-mill for J. & J. Allen & 
Co., and on its completion assuming the man- 
agement of the mill, and ably filling the posi- 
tion for about ten years. In 1867, in connec- 
tion with Alexander H. Commins, he purchased 
the Stone mill, the firm of Commins & Allen 
doing a phenomenally successful business until 
the death of Mr. Commins in 1880, the firm 
name continuing, with Mr. Allen as executor 
of Mr. Commins' large estate, until it was 
merged in the F. Schumacher Milling company, 
April 5, 1886, of which company Mr. Allen 
was a director and the vice-president until the 
time of his death, September 25, 1888, at the 
age of sixty-one years, six months and thirteen 
days. Mr. Allen, though never married, en- 
joyed the comforts of a fine home on Bowery 
street, with his sister. Miss Cynthia Allen, as 
his housekeeper, rearing and educating his 
niece. Miss Minnie E. Allen, now wife of 




(^2/^C<u^ ^^21^!!^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



585 



Henry M. Stone, of Denver, Colo. Mr. Allen 
was an ardent republican and a zealous mem- 
ber of the Disciples' church. In his will, after 
devising twenty per cent of his large estate to 
his sister, Cynthia, bequeathing ten per cent 
of the residue (about $10,000) to Hiram col- 
lege; ten per cent to the Christian Foreign 
Missionary society, he bequeathed ten per cent 
jointly to the general Christian Home Mission- 
ary society and the First Disciples' church of 
Akron, beside having pledged the payment of 
$1,000 to Buchtel college. 



(D 



INER JESSE ALLEN, one of the 
very prominent business men of 
Akron, was born in Coventry town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 1 1 , 1829, a son of Levi and Piiebe (Spici r) 
Allen, and paternally is of ante-Revolutionary 
descent, his grandfather, NathHniel Allen, 
having sacrificed his life in the war for Ameri- 
can independence. 

Jesse Allen, grandfather of subject, was 
born in Cornwall, Litchfii Id county. Conn., 
in 1770, and there learned the trade of shoe- 
making. While still a ytjung man he went to 
Tompkins county, N. Y. , where in 1 797 he 
married Catherine Fiethrick. who v\as born in 
Trenton, N. J., in 1776, of HoUand-Dntcii 
ancestry. He soon after relinquished his irade 
of shoemaking and bought a farm near Ithaca, 
Tompkins county, N. Y. , but lost nearly all 
his property by "bailing" an acquaintance. 
With the few hundred dollars left in his pos- 
session he came to Ohio, anived in Midd e- 
bury July 4, i8i i, with his fami y — a wife ;ind 
seven children — in company with a brother 
and family, and bought l.md in Coventry 
township. Summit county. During' the war 
of 1812 he was a soldier undir M;ij. Miner 
Spicer, and while aw;iy on duty an Indian spy 
crept to the house, but his little children, 

23 



working in the clearing, espying their mother's 
danger, rushed to the cabin with their axes 
with the intention of annihilating the savage, 
but the latter made good his escape, and it is 
thongiit that he was afterward killed near 
Summit lake. Mr. Allen was a member of 
the Baptist church and an excellent reader and 
elocutionist, and it was his custom, before 
ministers of his denomination made their ad- 
vent in his neighborhood, to read sermons in 
the pioneer meetings. He succeeded in clear- 
ing up his farm and in developing a comfort- 
able home, where he died in the Baptist faith 
September 12, 1837, the father of ten chil- 
dren, viz: Jonah, who married Cynthia 
Spicer; Levi; David, who married Beulah 
Jones; Jacob, married to Catherine 'Van 
Sickle; John; Jesse; Catherine, married to 
Mills Thompson; Sarah, wife of James M. 
Hale; Hiram; and Christiana, now Mrs. 
Charles Ca'dwell. 

Levi Allen, second son of Jesse and Cath- 
erine Allen, and father of subject, was born in 
Tompkins county, N. Y. , February 10, 1799, 
and was in his twelfth year when the family 
came to Ohio. He walked all the way, driv- 
ing cattle and sheep, while the younger chil- 
dren, with their mother, goods, etc., were 
conveyed by ox-teams, arriving in Middlebury 
July 4, 181 I. He assisted his father in clear- 
ing up his farm and remained with him until 
reacliing his majority, when he purchased a 
farm in Coventry township, which he cleared 
;uid improved until 1868, when he retired to 
Akron. He was married December 10, 1823, 
to Miss Phebe Spicer, daughter of Maj. Miner 
and Cynthi I (Allyn) Spicer, of Port;ige town- 
ship. Summit county, and this union resulted 
ill the birth of six children, viz: Levi, Miner 
S., Albert, Miner J., Walter S. and Cynthia. 
Mr. Allen was always prominent in local 
affairs, and took an active interest in politics, 
both local and general. For sixty years he 



586 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was an ardent worker in the Disciples' church, 
in the faith of which his wife died January lo, 
1879, and his own death took place May 11, 
1887. He was an extraordinarily enterprising 
and industrious man, and enjoyed the personal 
regard of all who came within the circle of 
his acquaintance. 

Maj. Miner Spicer, maternal grandfather 
of subject, was born in Groton, Litchfield 
county, Conn., May 29, 1776, married Cyn- 
thia AUyn in 1798, and in 1810 came to Ohio 
on horseback and purchased 260 acres of land 
in what is now Portage township. Summit 
county. He then returned for his family and 
came back by ox-team, the family arriving on 
the new farm in June, 181 1. During the war 
of 18 1 2 he served as major of militia, and on 
the organization of Portage township was made 
a trustee, and later served as justice of the 
peace many years. He lost his wife Septem- 
ber 10, 1828, and in 1829 he married Mrs. 
Hannah (Allyn) Williams, widow of Barnabas 
Williams, and sister of his first wife, Cynthia 
Allyn. Maj. Spicer was ever popular and 
influential in the affairs of Portage township, 
and died September 11, 1855. Mrs. Cynthia 
(Allyn) Spicer, maternal grandmother of sub- 
ject, was a daughter of Ephraim and Temper- 
ance (Morgan) Allyn, and Temperance Morgan 
was a daughter of Capt. William and Temper- 
ance (Avery) Morgan. Capt. William Morgan 
was a son of William and Mary (Avery) Mor- 
gan, and W^illiam was a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Jones) Morgan — the latter a daugh- 
ter of Lieut. -Gov. Jones, first governor of the 
New Haven colony — while John, her husband, 
was a son of James and Margery (Hill) Mor- 
gan, Puritans of New England and of the 
same family as the late Gov. Edward D. Mor- 
gan, of the state of New York. Temperance 
Avery, wife of Capt. William Morgan, was a 
daughter of Col. Christopher and Prudence 
(Payson) Avery, granddaughter of James and 



Deborah (Stellyon) Avery, and great-grand- 
daughter of James and Joanna (Greenslade) 
Avery. Capt. William Morgan served under 
Col. Parsons during the Revolutionary war, 
having enlisted September 9, 1776; he was 
honorably discharged for disability November 
9, 1776, and died April 11, 1777. 

Miner J. Allen, the subject of this memoir, 
was reared and educated in Coventry township, 
Summit county, and was there engaged in 
farming until 1867, when he came to Akron 
and was employed as local and traveling grain 
buyer for Commins & Allen. In 1884 he took 
a fifth interest in the Akron Milling com- 
pany, which, in 1886, was merged into the 
F. Schumacher Milling company, in which 
Mr. Allen was a stockholder and director, and 
which was merged into the American Cereal 
company, with which he is now connected. In 
1 89 1 he purchased an interest in the Akron 
Silver Plating company, and since July, 1896, 
has been treasurer of this thriving corporation. 

June I, 1876, Mr. Allen was united in 
marriage with Miss Frances C. De Wolf, daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Margaret (King) De Wolf, of 
Vernon, Trumbull county, Ohio, and grand- 
daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Gibbons) De 
Wolf, of Granby, Conn., and pioneers of Ver- 
non, Ohio. Joseph De W^olf, a Revolutionary 
soldier, was a son of Matthew and Esther 
(Higby) De Wolf — the former a son of Matthew 
and Elizabeth (Burchard) De Wolf. The last- 
named Matthew was a son of Matthew De 
Wolf, of Bolton, Conn., and he is a son of 
Charles and Prudence De Wolf. Charles was 
a son of Edward and Rebecca De Wolf, and 
Edward was a son of Balthasar De Wolf, who 
was first known in Wethersfield, Conn., in 
1664, and in 1668 at Lyme, Conn., where sev- 
eral of his descendants still reside. The ma- 
ternal grandparents of Mrs. Allen were Robert 
and Isabel (Dunbar) King, of whom the former 
was a son of James and Jean (Knox) King, and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



587 



is said to have been a descendant of the cele- 
brated reformer, John Knox. Robert King 
was born near Londonderry, Ireland, and set- 
tled in Kinsman, Trumbull county, Ohio, in 
1808. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Allen 
have been born five children in the following 
order: Albert Mark, Miner W., Margaret P., 
Christine C. and Frances De Wolf. Mr. and 
Mrs. Allen are consistent members of the First 
Disciples' church of Akron, their social stand- 
ing is of the highest, and Mrs. Allen was one 
of the first two ladies to be elected to member- 
ship of the Akron school board after the pas- 
sage of the law granting women that privilege. 
Mr. Allen has always been a republican in pol- 
itics, and while a resident of Coventry town- 
ship was for several years a member of the 
local school board, of which he also filled the 
position of clerk. Since his residence in Akron 
his multifarious business interests have pre- 
cluded him from taking an active part in local 
politics, and he finds himself content with do- 
ing his duty as a good citizen, and as such he 
is justly esteemed by the entire community. 



>^OHN THOMAS BRITTAIN, one of 
■ the oldest and most respected farmers 
/•I of Tallmadge township, Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, descends from ante-Revolu- 
tionary ancestors, being on the paternal side 
of English origin and on the maternal side of 
German extraction. 

Of six Brittain brothers born in England, 
three came to America and fought through 
the war for the independence of the colonies; 
the other three were drafted, or impressed, 
into the British army in England, and came to 
America to aid in suppressing what was then 
termed, by the English, the rebellion. Of the 
latter three, one remained in Canada after the 
war, and two returned to England. Of the 
former three all remained in the United States, 



the existence of which they aided in estab- 
lishing. 

Zeboth Brittain, one of the three brothers 
who risked their lives for American independ- 
ence, and the grandfather of John T. Brittain, 
of Tallmadge township, was born in England, 
January 9, 1746, and his wife, Mary Eliza- 
beth, September 2, 1748. To their union 
were born Mary, July 7, 1767; William, April 
4. 1769; Joseph, March i, 1771, David, April 
2, 1773; Elizabeth, June 28, 1775; Rnchel, 
January 17, 1777; John, June 20, 1779; Ellen, 
February 24, 1783, and Sarah, February 24, 
1788. Zeboth was a farmer of Maryland, but 
died in Sandusky, Ohio, at the home of a mar- 
ried daughter. 

John Brittain, mentioned above as the son 
of Zeboth, was born in Maryland, but when a 
young man went to Pennsylvania, where, April 
17, 1806, he married Margaret Albertson, in 
Colurhbia county, where she was born August 
27, 1786. To this marriage was born Henry, 
February 27, 1807; Allen, September 17, 
1809; Zeboth, February 18, i8[2;Jane, May 
13, 1814; Elizabeth, March 12, 1817; Cath- 
erine, April 22, 1821; John Thomas (subject), 
August 6, 1823, and Matilda M., June 19, 
1826 — all born on their father's farm in 
Columbia county. Pa., where the mother died 
November 4, 1831, aged forty- five years. 

In April, 1832, John Brittain and his family 
came to Ohio and settled in Springfield town- 
ship, Summit county, on the farm which his 
son, John Thomas, now owns. In coming 
here the family made the journey across the 
Alleghany mountains with a three-horse team 
and were fourteen days on the way. Here 
Mr. Brittain hewed the forest away from 206 
acres which he purchased, and, in cour.se of 
time, by hard work, developed as good a 
farm as ever existed in the county. He here 
married his second wife, Gainor Mettlin, but 
to this union no children were born. Mr. 



588 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Brittain was a whig ia politics and held several 
offices. His death took place April 5, 1857, 
in the faith of the Methodist church, and no 
man in the township was more respected than 
this upright pioneer. 

John Thomas Brittain was born in Colum- 
bia county, Pa. , and was nine years old when 
he came to Ohio with his father. He received 
the usual education granted pioneer lads and 
was reared to farming on his father's home- 
stead. He was first married to Hannah 
Rogers, who was born in Geauga county, 
Ohio, a daughter of Gordon and Sarah Rogers, 
and to this union were born Amanda, John, 
Sarah and Hannah, of whom John served in 
the Fourth Ohio artillery and was with Sher- 
man in his famous march to the sea. He now 
lives in Springfield township. Summit count}'. 

Gordon Rogers was born in Connecticut, 
was a pioneer of Geauga county, Ohio, where 
he cleared up a farm, and had born to him six 
children, viz: Hannah, Sarah, Ann, Monroe, 
Hiram and James. He later moved to a farm 
near Corry, Pa., where he passed the re- 
mainder of his life. 

Mrs. Hannah Brittian died March 20, 1853, 
and September i, 1853, Mr. Brittain married, 
at Tallmadge Center, Miss Catherine Potts, 
who was born January i, 1S31, in Suffield 
township. Portage county, Ohio, a daughter 
of Israel and Mary (Cook) Potts, and to this 
marriage have been born eight children, viz: 
Olive, Lemuel, Alice, Martha C, Cora, Grace, 
Edith and Millie C, and he now has thirty- 
five grandchildren and five great-grandchil- 
dren, among whom there has never occurred 
a death. 

Israel Potts was a son of Joshua Potts, a 
native of Scotland and who was a pioneer of 
Suffield township. Portage county, where he 
cleared up a farm of 140 acres from the woods, 
but, prior to 1859, came to Summit county, 
then a wilderness. He served in the war of 



1812 and had born to him eleven children, viz: 
Israel, Jonathan, Elizabeth, Lewis, Jonas, 
Ann, Betsey, Joshua, Christina, Catherine, 
and one who died in infancy. The eldest of 
these, Israel, was born in Suffield township. 
Portage county, Ohio, October 3, 1809 He 
was reared a farmer and was married, at Ran- 
dolph Center, by 'Squire Merriman, December 
25, 1830, to Miss Mary Cook, who was born 
in Suffield township, Portage county. May 13, 
1812. a daughter of David and Chloe (Moore) 
Cook. 

David Cook was born in Connecticut, was 
married in that state, and prior to 1812 set' led 
in Suffield township, where he cleared up a 
farm from the forest. He was a soldier in 
the war of 1812 and was a typical pioneer. 
He had born to him a famdy of nine children, 
viz: Mary, Nathan, John, Lee, Calvin, 
Orange, Rachel, and two who died in infancy. 
He lived to be about sixty years of age, and 
died on his farm in April, 1854. 

Nathan Moore was one of the early p'o- 
neers and surveyors of Ohio and surveyed the 
site of the present cit}' of Cleveland, in com- 
pany with its founder, and afterward "seti led 
in Springfield township. Summit county, with 
his farnih', but his bod\' lies interied in Suf- 
field township. Portage county. 

Israel Potts, after marriage, settled in Suf- 
field township, cleared up a good farm of 
about 100 acres. His children were Cather- 
ine, Levi, Eli, Nathan, Mary, Louisa, Jonas, 
Israel, Mendel, and Elizabeth Of these, 
Israel served three months in company D, 
Seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, and was 
in several battles, including Cedar Mountain, 
and Nathan served in the Fortieth Ohio bat- 
tery of artillery. Mr. Potts was a democrat 
in politics; was an upright citizen, and died in 
Kent January i, 1877. Chloe Cook, maieinal 
grandmother of Mrs. Catherine Briitain. liv<d 
to the advanced age of ninety-four }ears, and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



589 



died in Suffield township, Portage county, in 
April, 1880. 

John Thomas Brittain, after marriage, 
remained on the old homestead until 1888, 
when he settled on his present farm, which 
then consisted of fifty-six acres, but which, by 
good management, he has increased to about 
200 acres, and is now one of the most sub- 
stantial farmers of Tallmadge township. In 
politics he is a republican, has held the office 
of township trustee, and been a member of 
the school board thirty years. He has always 
been an industrious, public-spirited citizen, and 
no man in the township is held in higher 
esteem than he. 



^^^EORGE M. BUEL, an old soldier of 
■ ^\ the Civil war and a respected citizen 
\^^f of Akron, springs from old colonial 
Connecticut stock. 
George M. Buel was born February 7, 
,1828, at Riga, Monroe county, N. Y., a son 
of Samuel and Lavina (King) Buel. He came 
to Summit county, Ohio, in January, 1837, 
with his parents, and at the age of twenty- 
three years engaged in running stationary 
engines in Hudson, Richfield and Copley 
townships, and in Iowa, where he went about 
1855 or 1856 and resided a few months, and 
then returned to Summit county. He was in 
this business about thirteen years. He mar- 
ried, November 2, 1863, in Richfield town- 
ship, Julia A. Poor, who was born November 
I, 1845, a daughter of Elijah and Harriet 
(Humphrey) Poor. Mr. Buel enlisted Septem- 
ber I, 1862, at Piqua, Ohio, in the Ohio 
volunteer infantry, to serve three years unless 
sooner discharged, and was honorably mus- 
tered out at Winchester, Va., March, 1863, 
on account of disability. His services were in 
West Virginia, where he contracted lung fever 
from sleeping on the frozen ground. He was 



for a time in field hospital and then in 
Taylor hospital at Winchester, Va. , two 
months, and was discharged as incurable. It 
was a year before he was sufficiently recov- 
ered to do any regular work; he then ran a 
stationary engine two years and then went to 
Akron, Ohio, where he was employed in the 
Moffit & McNiel boiler foundry, and remained 
with them seven years; he then worked in the 
Bucke3e shops thirteen years, and retired from 
business in 1885. He is disabled by rheuma- 
tism and lung trouble, and obliged to spend 
his winters in Kentucky. In politics he is a 
republican and is a member of A. N. Gold- 
wood post, No. 104, G. A. R., at west Richfield, 
Ohio; he is also a member of Meridian Sun 
lodge, F. & A. M., West Richfield, in which 
he has held the oiBces of senior deacon, and 
senior and junior warden. Mr. Buel is a re- 
spected citizen and has always been an in- 
dustrious and upright man. 

Samuel Buel, father of George M., mar- 
ried Lavina King at Riga, Monroe county, 
N. Y., and their children were Sidney K. , 
Leman C, Samuel M., George M., Eliza A., 
Elizabeth M. and Elsie M. Mr. Buel was a 
farmer, moved to Ohio in 1836 or 1837, 
bought land in Royalton, Cuyahoga ccunty, 
yet never settled on it, but sold it and settled 
in Richfield township, on thirty-five acres, 
and added to this by his thrift and industry 
until he owned 105 acres, and became a sub- 
stantial farmer. He was a soldier in the war 
of I 812 and a respected citizen. He died in 
this township, aged sixty-three years, in 18156. 
He was a very industrious and honest man. 
Ichabod Buel, father of Samuel, was a soldier 
in the American Revolution, was of Welsh 
ancestry, was a blacksmith in Connecticut, 
married there, and his children were Ichabod, 
Samuel, George and Anna. Samuel Buel 
had one son in the Mexican war — Samuel M. 
— who enlisted in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was 



590 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in all the battles. He died of brain fever in 
the city of Mexico. Another son, Leman C. , 
enlisted in the regular United States army 
after the war with Mexico, and died at Tampa, 
Fla. , during his service. 

Elijah Poor was born in New York state 
and was a cabinetmaker by trade. He mar- 
ried in Hinckley, Ohio, Maria Oviatt, and they 
had one daughter, Maria. Mrs. Poor died 
soon after the birth of the daughter, and Mr. 
Poor next married, in Richfield, Harriet 
Humphrey, daughter of Julius and Rhoda 
(Oviatt) Humphrey, and their children were 
Julius, Julia A., Lucy A., Carrie, Benjamin, 
May and Mark. Mr. Poor moved to Cali- 
fornia about 1851 and engaged in gold min- 
ing. His children, Lucy and Mark, are the 
only members of the family now living, and 
they reside in California. 



*-r* EVI BURROUGHS, at Northfield, 

I J Ohio, an old soldier and ex-prisoner 
1 ^ of the Civil war, and a respected cit- 
izen, comes of New England ances- 
try, and was born June 15, 1843, on his par- 
ents' farm, a son of Allen and Betsey (Honey) 
Burroughs. He received a common education 
in the district school, and was reared to farm- 
ing when young. He enlisted, at the age of 
twenty years, July 30, 1862, at Northfield, 
Ohio, in company G, One Hundred and Fif- 
teenth Ohio volunteer infantry, Capt. H. 
Fitch, to serve three years or during the war, 
and was honorably discharged June 17, 1865, 
at Camp Chase, Columbus. He was on guard 
duty at Covington, Ky., Chattanooga railroad, 
Tenn., was captured nine miles south of Nash- 
ville by Hood's men, and taken to Meridian, 
Miss., being three weeks on the march. The 
weather was rainy and the rations raw corn 
meal. He was held a prisoner at Meridfan a 



month, and there, also, the rations were corn 
meal and a very little beef. From there he 
was taken to Andersonville, Ga. , arriving at 
this infamous prison stockade February 3, 
1865, remaining about three months. The 
rations were very poor beef, corn meal and 
beans, which, when cooked, made one meal, 
and the remainder of the day they went hun- 
gry and many died. Mr. Burroughs had no 
shelter except to bunk with some comrades, 
who made a tent of two blankets and retained 
two blankets to cover over them; they lived 
on the ground and suffered greatly from the 
cold and wet. Mr. Burroughs was strong and 
hardy and managed to keep well while many 
of his comrades became sick. About the mid- 
dle of April, 1865, the prisoners were released 
and Mr. Burroughs was sent to Jacksonville, 
Fla., with others, or to within fifteen miles of 
Jacksonville, and released on April 29. At 
Jacksonville he received clothes and food. 
After the war Mr. Burroughs returned home 
to Ohio and resumed farming. 

In 1867, November 20, Mr. Burroughs 
married Sarah F. Nichols, who was born in 
West Virginia, near Wellsville, on the Ohio 
river, September 17, 1839, ^ daughter of 
Harbin and Lorena (Viers) Nichols. Harbin 
Nichols was born in 1799 in Maryland, and 
his father was a slave owner. The Viers fam- 
ily were of English ancestry and early resi- 
dents of the Isle of Jamaica, but finally set- 
tled in Steubenville, Ohio. Harbin Nichols 
was a shoemaker by trade and moved to Sum- 
mit county, Northfield township, during the 
early 'fifties, followed his trade here and at 
Little York many years, and here died, aged 
sixty-five years, in 1864. His children were 
Harriet M., Margaret V., Matilda N., Mc- 
Courtney B., Beersheba L. , Sarah F. and 
Thomas Benton. During the Civil war Mc- 
Courtney B. was a soldier in company I, 
Twenty-fourth Iowa volunteer infantry, and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



591 



died in hospital at Winchester, Va. , from 
wounds received in the battle of Cedar Creek, 
Va. Thomas Benton was in the Seventh 
Ohio regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and 
re-enlisted in the Twelfth United States in- 
fantry, regular service, and after the war re- 
enlisted and served five years longer. He 
was in seventeen battles during the Civil war, 
and was wounded at Gettysburg, and after the 
war was out on the frontier. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Burroughs 
settled on their present farm. The children 
are Eva M., Harry A., Thomas B. and Shep- 
ard H. Both Mr. and Mrs. Burroughs are 
members of the Methodist church at North- 
field, and in politics Mr. Burroughs is a repub- 
lican, and while in the army cast his first 
presidential vote for Lincoln. He is also a 
member of Royal Dunham post, No. 177, 
G. A. R., at Bedford, Ohio. 

Allen Burroughs, father of subject, was 
born in 1799 in Vermont, and was a son of 
David and Polly Burroughs. David Bur- 
roughs was a blacksmith by trade, and came 
to Ohio and settled at Cleveland in 181 1, and 
died there an old man. Allen came with his 
father to Cleveland, a boy of twelve years, 
and became a farmer. He married Miss 
Betsy Honey, of Northfield township. Summit 
coiinty, located, after marriage, on a farm in 
this township, but the same year moved to 
their present homestead, of which he cleared 
up forty acres from the woods, and on which 
he made all the necessary improvements. 
His children were Tryphenia, Dorsey W., Sa- 
brina (who died a married woman), Marinda, 
Wealthy, Mary and Levi. Mr. and Mrs. Bur- 
roughs became members of the Methodist 
church at an early day. In politics he was a 
republican. He was always a hard-working 
man, respected by all, and lived to be about 
eighty-two years old. He had two sons in the 
Civil war — one of whom, Dorsey M., was in 



the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh regi- 
ment, Ohio volunteer infantry, three years. 

Levi Burroughs, the subject, has always 
been an industrious hard-working man and is 
much respected. His daughter, Eva May, 
married Frederick E. Plank May i, 1894. 
Mr. Plank was born in Michigan, near Detroit, 
graduated at the Ithaca (Mich.) high school, 
attended Adelbert college, Cleveland, the med- 
ical department of the Western Reserve col- 
lege, and was principal of schools several 
terms in Michigan. Their children are Gladys 
M. and Winifred. Mr. Plank died June 29, 
1896. Shepard H. Burroughs is a student in 
the high school at Northfield, and will gradu- 
ate in the class of il 



* y - ^ OMER S. CARTER, one of the re- 

1''^^ spected citizens of Tallmadge, Sum- 
1-^ mit county, Ohio, and a retired 
merchant, has done business in this 
town for over a third of a century. 

Adonijah Carter, the grandfather of Homer 
S., was born in Vermont. He was a farmer, 
and married, in his native state, Lucena Mun- 
son, and their children were Guy, Bushnell, 
Adoniram and Lucy. 

Adoniram Carter, father of Homer S., was 
born in Warren, Litchfield county. Conn., 
March 2, 1792, on a large farm, and there 
lived the remainder of his days. He was a 
member of the Congregational church and a 
man of goodly property and sterling worth. 
He married Arrilla Sackett, who was born in 
1792, also in Warren, Conn., a daughter of 
Homer and Sarah (Carter) Sackett. Of the 
children born to this union. Flora M., Homer 
S., Patty L., are those who lived. Adoniram 
Carter owned a homestead of 300 acres; was 
township trustee, and held other offices and 
was one of the pioneers who were looked up 
to by all. He was a member of the Congre- 



592 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



gational church, and lived to be fifty years 
old, dying in Illinois of typhoid fever when on 
a visit, in 1842, to his daughter, Flora M., in 
Morgan county. 

Homer S. Carter was born on the home- 
stead, in Litchfield county. Conn., April 6, 
18 1 7, and received a thorough education, fit- 
ting him for college. He taught school one 
winter, in 1837-8, in Litchfield county, and 
then, in May of 1838, came to Tallmadge, 
Ohio, and bought a stock of goods of E. C. 
Sackett. This stock was brought from New 
York and Philadelphia by canal. Mr. Carter's 
father had bought a third interest in what was 
known as the Chuckery company of New 
York, or Portage Canal Manufacturing com- 
pany, which was founded for building a canal 
from Cuyahoga river, at the falls, to Akron. 
Not being satisfied with the solidity of the 
enterprise, Mr. Carter withdrew and bought 
the stock of goods as above stated. In this 
Mr. Carter sold an interest, after one year, to 
William A. Hanford, of Cleveland, Ohio, who 
remained with him two years. After that he 
was in company with E. V. Carter, C. Wright, 
B. D. Wright, George M. Wright, Cyrus 
Treat and D. E. Wright for one-third of a 
century. By his attention to business and 
strict integrity he always conducted a safe and 
successful business, and his credit was im- 
peached by no one. His children are Homer 
W., Mary A., Howard H., Alpha Wright, 
Starr V. V. and Charles E. Mr. and Mrs. 
Carter are both members of the Congrega- 
tional church of Tallmadge. In politics he 
was a republican, was postmaster at Tall- 
madge for about twenty-five years and town- 
ship trustee many years and treasurer of the 
Congregational church. 

Mrs. Homer S. Carter is a daughter of Al- 
pha and Lucy (Foster) Wright. Alpha Wright 
was the son of Capt. John and Sarah (Case) 
Wright, and was born near Boston, Mass. 



Capt. John was a farmer and pioneer. His 
children were John, Amos, David, Alpha, 
Lydia and Sarah. Capt. John was an officer 
in the Revolutionary war. He came with his 
family to Ohio about 1806 and located in 
Morgan township, Ashtabula county; about 
1810-11 he moved to Tallmadge township and 
settled in the woods south of Tallmadge 
Center, on the 120-acre farm now owned by 
Cornelius Johnson, and here he passed the re- 
mainder of his days, dying a member of the 
Congregational church at Tallmadge. Alpha 
Wright was born at Winstead, Conn., Decem- 
ber 3, 1788, and came with the family to 
Ohio in 1806. He was possessed with a great 
desire to acquire a collegiate education, but 
his father removing early to a pioneer country 
he was denied the privilege; nevertheless, 
being a great reader, he acquired an excellent 
education and was very well informed on most 
subjects. He had a good knowledge of music, 
and was a fine bass singer, lead the church 
choir at Tallmadge for forty years, and at the 
time of his death was still a member of the 
choir. He married, in Suffield, Ohio, Lucy 
Foster, who was born in 1790, a daughter of 
William Foster. Her parents were citizens of 
Hanover, N. H., but both died when she was 
young and she was reared by Martin Kent, of 
Suffield, Ohio. Her father, William Foster, 
was a lawyer, a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war, and received a bullet in his hat at the 
battle of Acton Bridge. 

Alpha Wright and wife settled on the old 
Wright homestead and here passed all their 
active life and in their last days made their 
home with Mrs. H. S. Carter. Mr. Wright 
lived to be sixty-seven years old and died 
March i, 1855. His wife reached the age of 
eighty-six years and died in 1875. Their chil- 
dren were Philo, William W., Lucy A., Clem- 
ent (deceased), Abigail, Clement, second, 
Amelia, Martha and Mary (twins), Benjamin 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



593 



D. , Handel and Charles S. Mr. Wright was 
a strong anti-slavery man and his house was a 
station on the underground railroad, and he 
assisted several slaves on their way to Canada. 
He voted for James G. Birney, first and only 
abolition candidate for president of the United 
States. Mr. Wright was a man of excellent 
character and a substantial farmer. His wife 
was the first school-teacher in Tallmadge, 
teaching in 1809. Dr. Leonard Bacon, LL. 
D., son of David Bacon, the home missionary, 
who was one of the original proprietors of 
Tallmadge, Ohio, attended this school, and he 
afterward became famous as a professor in 
Yale college. Elizur Wright was also a pupil. 
He was the son of Deacon Elizur Wright and 
became famous as an actuary in Boston. Mrs. 
Wright also taught a pioneer school at Hud- 
son, Ohio, and among her pupils was the 
famous John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame. 
These, and others, almost equally famous, 
were accustomed to visit her in after years. 
When seventeen years old she came with Mr. 
Kent's family, in 1807, through Tallmadge. 
The roads had not been cut through and she 
sat on a log in Tallmadge Center while a way 
was cut. She taught but the two terms above 
referred to and then married Mr. Wright. 
Alpha Wright was a soldier in the war of 
18 1 2, was called out to protect the frontier 
and was stationed near Sandusky for a few 
months; a son, Philo, was born while he was 
away. His house was a rendezvous for the 
home guard during part of that tiine. This 
branch of the Wright family has always been 
educated — Philo and William, brothers of 
Mrs. Carter, were both graduates of Western 
Reserve college; a sister, Mary, married Sidney 
Edgerton, who later became governor of 
Montana; two sisters married clergymen. Two 
of Mr. and Mrs. Carter's sons are graduates of 
Oberlin college — Rev. Homer W. and Charles 
E. — and Howard is professor of music at Ober- 



lin, having spent three years in Europe in 
studying this art. Charles E. is studying 
medicine in the New York university. Rev. 
Homer W. Carter, of Beloit, Wis., is home 
secretary of the Home Missionary society. 
The first school for the deaf and dumb was 
held at the residence of Alpha Wright in 1828- 
29, and was taught by Col. Smith, who died in 
the Sixth ward in Akron. He was the founder 
of the institution for deaf and dumb at Colum- 
bus, and was formerly from Hartford, Conn. 
Mary A. Carter, the daughter, was educated 
at Oberlin, and taught a missionary school at 
Selma, Ala., one year. She went to Montana 
in 1 884 and in 1 886 took up a ranch — pre-empt- 
ing a claim of 160 acres, situated near where 
the city of Great Falls now is — then a hamlet 
and now a city of 12,000 persons. She is a 
lady of literary culture and assisted in editing 
the Pioneer Women of Tallmadge under the 
auspices of the Western Reserve Historical 
society. 



(D 



RS. HENRY CASE.— This lady is 
the widow of one of the prominent 
and substantial citizens of Hudson 
township, now deceased — Henry 
Case — who was born on the Case homestead 
October 30, 18 17, son of Chauncy and Cleo- 
patra (Hayes) Case. Henry Case received the 
common education of his day, became a 
farmer, a pursuit which he always followed. 
He married Mary L. Goodman, October 27, 
1847. She was born in Connecticut Septem- 
ber 7, 1828. at Hartford. 

Henry Case and wife settled on the Case 
homestead after marriage, and she now lives 
on part of the estate with her daughter, Mrs. 
Hood. Mr. and Mrs. Case were both mem- 
bers of the Congregational church. Politic- 
ally he was a republican. His children were 
Nelson, born September 13, 1848, now living 



594 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in Hudson township, where he is a prominent 
farmer; Eugene was born June 27, 1850, Hves 
in Mentor, where he is a merchant; Ehza E. 
was born February 13, 1854, and died July 
22, 1875; Frank was born January 17, 1852, 
and died June 14, 1858; John Goodman, born 
August II, 1856, graduated from the Western 
Reserve college in 1881, and is now a farmer 
in Hudson township, near the homestead; 
Edmund W., born November i, 1858, is a 
carpenter and builder at Earlville; Hattie S., 
born January 13, 1861; Frederick C, was 
born July 19, 1863, and died October 24, 
1890; Mary L. was born October 26, 1865, and 
Clara C. , born March 25, 1868. Mary L. was 
married, August 24, 1892, to John B. Hobart, 
a native of Ohio, a descendant of ante-Revo- 
lutionary ancestors, a graduate of Adelbert 
college, Cleveland, and also of a theological 
institute in the east, and now a minister in the 
Presbyterian church. 

Politically Henry Case was a republican. 
He inherited and purchased the Chauncy Case 
homestead, consisting of about 275 acres, and 
by his thrift and industry he added to it until 
he owned a handsome property of 375 acres. 
He greatly improved the buildings and erected, 
just prior to his death, a very substantial 
modern barn. He was a prosperous farmer, 
well known for his sterling worth, and had 
justly earned a reputation as a straightfor- 
ward and honest man. 

The genealogy of Mrs. Henry Case is as 
follows: She descends from Deacon Richard 
Goodman, who came to Cambridge, Mass., in 
1632; to Hartford, Conn., in 1639, and was 
one of the original proprietors of that town. 
His house-lot was on Main street, directly 
north of the "meeting house" yard. He was 
"townsman," "surveyor of common lands 
and fences," " fence viewer ," "juror," "ser- 
geant of the train band," "constable." He 
married Mary, daughter of Stephen Terry, 



who was one of the settlers of Hadley, and was 
slain by the Indians in 1676, aged about sixty- 
seven years. The above facts about Deacon 
Richard Goodman entitle the ladies of this 
family to be members of the "Society of Colo- 
nial Dames." His son, Richard Goodman, 
was born 1663 and died 1730. His son, Tim- 
othy Goodman, was born September, 1706, in 
West Hartford, and died I786;married in 1735, 
Joana, daughter of Joseph and Jane Wads- 
worth and granddaughter of Capt. Joseph 
Wadsworth, of Hartford, who in 1687 saved 
the charter of Connecticut from seizure by 
Gov. Andros, and hid it in the Charter Oak of 
that city. His son, Richard Goodman, born 
April 10, 1748, and died May, 1834, married 
Nancy Seymour, of West Hartford, in 1771, 
and had thirteen children; Richard Goodman 
served from April 2 i to June 6, 1 TJT, in Lieut. 
Seymour's company of Col. Belden's regiment 
of Connecticut militia. 

His son, the twelfth child, Sylvester Good- 
man, born April 18, 1789, married January i, 
1 8 10, Rebecca, daughter of Deacon Thomas 
and Rebecca (Ives) Hough ; she was born August 
29, 1789, and resided in West Hartford many 
years. He died in Wolcottville, Conn., No- 
vember 8, 1834. She moved to Atwater, 
Ohio, in 1835, and died in Hudson, Ohio, in 
1853. They had seven children, viz: Nancy 
Seymour; Emeline; Henry; Eliza A., who 
married John Buss and died May 21, 1S89; 
Thomas Richard; Susan Gaylord; Mary Lucia, 
married Henry Case October 27, 1847. There 
was a John Goodman who came to this coun- 
try in 1620. He was, however, a single man, 
and died in 162 1; nothing further is known 
about him. The ancestry of the Goodman 
family is taken from the records in the state 
library of Albany, N. Y. , by Mrs. Ella Buss 
Seymour. 

Of Chauncy Case's children, Laura died 
November 30, 1825, in Hudson, a single lady 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



595 



aged about twenty-three years; Chauncy mar- 
ried, first, Dollie Blair, and then Sarah Wil- 
cox. He moved to McComb, 111., and there 
died. Clarinda married Alvin Loomis; Per- 
intha married Amos Woods; Lucian married 
JuHa Pitkin and for his second wife he married 
Lucia Lyman. He moved to McComb, 111. 
Amelia married Charles Hunt, now deceased, 
and lived in Cuyahoga Falls; Maria married 
John W. Gross. 

Frank F. Barlow, of Hudson, Ohio, is a 
substantial farmer and respected citizen. He 
was born on April 25, 1858, at Mariaville, 
Schenectady county, N. Y. He married 
Hattie S. Case December 12, 1883. She 
was born on the old Case homestead January 
13, 1 86 1, daughter of Henry and Mary (Good- 
man) Case. To Mr. and Mrs. Barlow have 
been born three children, viz: Henry C, 
born December 22, 1885; Harley E., born 
February 14, 1887, and died February 16, 
1894; Clara M., born June 22, 1891. Mr. 
and Mrs. Barlow are both members of the 
Congregational church at Hudson. Politically 
he is a republican. Mr. Barlow is one of the 
represeniative and practical farmers of Hud- 
son township. James M. Hood was born in 
Tennessee at Flat Creek, August i, 1863, son 
of Hezekiah and Emily (Jones) Hood. It is 
believed that William Hood, the grandfather, 
was born in Connecticut, fifty-four miles east 
of Hartford, of English descent. He married 
and settled in Tennessee, near Flat Creek, 
where he bought a large plantation and was a 
slaveholder. He was a brother of Gen. Hood, 
of the Confederate army. He freed his slaves 
a few years before the Civil war and after the 
war he removed to West Virginia, where he 
bought a farm and passed his remaining days. 
He lived to the venerable age of eighty-eight 
years and died in 1890 or 1891. Hezekiah 
Hood, father of James M.,was born about 1831, 
in Connecticut, and was a small boy when he 



went with his father to Tennessee. He was a 
blacksmith by trade and married in Allegheny, 
Pa. He settled in Tennessee and moved to 
Virginia during the Civil war, passing through 
the Confederate lines to the northern army. 
He died near Marietta, Ohio, aged about forty- 
five years, the father of six children and a 
member of the Presbyterian church. 

James M. Hood received a common-school 
education in Noble county, Ohio, and early 
began to work on the farm — was fireman for 
a time on a railroad, came to Summit county 
in 1887, and was clerk for a time in Ravenna 
in the hardware and agricultural implement 
business. He married, November 13, 1895, 
in Hudson, Ohio, Clara C. Case, born March 
25, 1868, daughter of Henry and Mary (Good- 
man) Case. After marriage Mr. Hood settled 
on part of the old homestead, and has a good 
farm of 100 acres. 



* y * ORA CASE, one of the most vener- 
I r able and honored citizens of Summit 
1 A county, a pioneer and a man who was 
always identified with the best inter- 
ests of humanity, sprang from sterling English 
descent on the Case side, who came from Eng- 
land in the old colonial Puritan times. 

Richard Case, great-grandfather of subject, 
was the father of Richard Case, the grand- 
father of subject, who was a farmer of Hartford 
count)'. Conn., and to his marriage were born 
Richard, Sterling, George, Chauncy, Gideon, 
Ruth, and others not remembered. Richard, 
the grandfather of subject, lived to be an aged 
man and died in Connecticut. He had a 
brother who was a soldier in the war of the 
Revolution and was killed by a spent cannon 
ball. A premium was offered for British can- 
non balls found in battle, and he and another 
soldier attempted to stop an apparently slow- 
moving ball and was instantly killed. 



596 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Chauncy Case, son of Richard, was the 
father of Lora Case, was born in Hartford 
county, Conn., November 20, 1775, and be- 
came a farmer. He married, in 1801, Cleo- 
patra Hayes, born September 4, 1779, and 
the children were Laura, born August 30, 
1802; Chauncy, born October 26, 1803; Clar- 
inda, born January 27, 1808; Parintha, born 
April 10, 1 8 10; Lora, born November 17, 
181 I ; Edward, born August 15, 1814; Lucian, 
born July 3, 1816; Henry, born October 30, 
1817; Amelia, born November 6, 1819; Maria, 
born May 8, 1822. Chauncy Case owned a 
good farm in the town of Granby, Hartford 
county. Conn. He moved with his family to 
Summit county, Ohio, arriving at Hudson July 
4, 1 8 14, having made the journey with a two- 
horse team, and had a milk cow tied on behind 
for milk for the children. They were six weeks 
on the way. His brother-in-law, Gideon Mills 
(who had married his wife's sister, Dorothy 
Hayes), and his family came with the party. 
Chauncy Case settled in Hudson, in the east 
part of town, on a farm of 160 acres, about 
twenty acres having been cleared and a hewed 
log house having been built, but not finished, 
having neither door, chimney nor window nor 
floor. Mr. Case put in a puncheon floor, and 
improved his house, and built, the second year, 
a frame barn. He cleared up his farm and be- 
came a substantial farmer and made a good 
pioneer home, and here the last five children 
were born. Mrs. Case was a member of the 
Congregational church and Mr. Case was an 
old-line whig in politics and an abolitionist. 
He was a sturdy pioneer and lived to be about 
eighty-four years old, and died in May, 1865. 
He was a very industrious and hard-working 
man, much respected as a substantial farmer 
and good citizen. 

Lora Case, son of above and the subject of 
this sketch, was born November 17, 181 1, in 
Granby township, Hartford county. Conn., 



and was about two and a half years old when 
brought by his parents to Ohio; was brought 
up among the pioneers and received a pioneer 
common-school education in a log house at 
Darrowvi!le, but always took a great interest 
in reading good books and a wide interest in 
all political matters, and improved his mind. 
He worked hard at clearing land and on the 
farm when young. He married, at the age of 
about twenty-five years. May 10, 1837, in 
Hudson, Ohio, Sarah A. Wright, born May 8, 
1814, in Sharon, Conn., a daughter of Thomas 
and Clarissa (Hollenbeck) Wright. Thomas 
Wright was a farmer born in Connecticut and 
married there, and was of English ancestry. 
Their children were William, Samuel, Sarah 
A., Mary, George, Jeremiah, Henry and Fred- 
rick. Thomas Wright moved to Summit 
county, Ohio, in 181 5, and settled in Hudson 
township, cleared up a farm from the woods, 
and there passed the remainder of his days. 
He was a member of the Congregational church 
and highly respected by all. He died at the 
age of seventy-five years. Lora Case and wife 
settled on a farm of 160 acres in the woods in 
Streetsboro township. Portage county, near 
the line. He cleared up this farm and had 
paid $5 per acre, his father giving him the 
first payment of $5, and by diligence and hard 
work, aided by his helpful wife, he made a 
good farm and home, and in 1864 sold this 
farm and moved to another, which consisted 
of 164 acres when he bought it, but he sold all 
but si.xty acres. He built good buildings and 
made a good home. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Case were born Chauncy, 
Ellen, Julian and Wilbert. Mrs. Case died 
December 8, 1888, a member of the Congre- 
gational church at Hudson, and a woman of 
many virtues. In politics Mr. Case was a 
whig and an abolitionist, and was one of the 
founders of the republican party in Portage 
county, and voted for John C. Fremont. He 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



597 



was a stanch lover of freedom and was con- 
nected with the under ground railroad, and 
his house was a station on this famous secret 
route, and he, a number of times, afforded 
shelter to the down-trodden slaves on their 
way north. At one time in the 'fifties, in the 
fall of the year, a colored man from Ravenna 
(a hackman for Samuel Taylor, who was a 
Quaker tavern-keeper of that place), drove 
out in the uight and called upon Mr. Case and 
told him that Samuel Taylor had sent him 
seven fugitive slaves, and that men were on 
their track at Ravenna. Mr. Case's house 
was selected because it was a little off the 
usual route, which was via David Lane's, who 
lived at Streetsboro, and thus the pursuers 
were thrown off the track. Mr. Case kept 
them from Friday night until Sunday night, 
and then drove them to Hudson to John 
Markley, who immediately drove them to a 
Mr. Johnson's, at Northfield, who drove them 
to Cleveland, where they were placed on a 
steamboat and taken safely to Canada. This 
party consisted of four men and two women — 
all young — and a child. They kept very quiet 
and seemed depressed and fearful, and said 
but little and kept close to the barns, and could 
not at first be induced to come to the house 
for food. This kind of work in the cause of 
liberty was dangerous, for many would have 
gladly given information and caused the arrest 
of those who aided the slaves to escape, as 
they were liable to a fine and imprisonment 
and the price of the slaves. Thus these fear- 
less men risked their property and even liberty 
to help the down-trodden to freedom — who 
were strangers to them and whom they never 
saw again. They were simply instruments for 
the great cause of liberty, and many a slave 
was thus taken to Canada and freedom. Mr. 
Case was always industrious and has all his life 
been an active temperance worker, and voted 
for prohibition during its advocacy by Green 



Clay Smith, and was a faithful laborer in the 
good cause. He was a much respected and 
well-known pioneer, was a man of intelli- 
gence and ability, and died July 14, 1897, 
deeply mourned by the entire community. His 
reminiscences are just now appearing in the 
Hudson Independent. 



^y^ILLIAM E. CHAMBERLAIN, M. 
MM I D. , of Akron, Ohio, is of sterling 
'Ij^^l English descent, and is the son of a 
physician, who reared four sons to 
the profession of medicine, to which compli- 
cated science nature seems to have peculiarly 
adapted the male members of this honored 
family. 

The ancestors of the doctor, on coming to 
America, settled near Charleston, S. C, and 
from these descended Jacob F. Chamberlain, 
the grandfather of Dr. William E., and the 
father of Dr. Charles W. Chamberlain. The 
last-named is a renowned practitioner and has 
had an extended experience in Cumberland, 
Md., Wheeling, W. Va. . and in Ohio, and is 
still in active practice. He married, in Alle- 
gheny county. Pa., Miss Lovinah LaCock, 
daughter of David LaCock, and to this union 
have been born Dr. William E., Dr. G. W. E., 
Dr. Jacob F. , Dr. Norman W. (deceased), 
Louisa, Adelaide (deceased) and Lovinah P. 
Of the sons, three served in the Civil war — 
Doctors William E., G. W. E. and Jacob F. 
— Dr. G. W. E. serving as chief of saddlery 
in the Sixth Ohio cavalry, and Dr. Jacob F. 
in the Second Ohio, same branch of service. 

Dr. William E. Chamberlain was born in 
Allegheny City, Pa., November 29, 1840, and 
received his preparatory education at Marietta, 
Ohio. He then studied medicine under his 
father. Dr. Charles W. Chamberlain, and also 
pursued a course of study in chemistry and 
pharmaceutics; in 1863 and 1864 he attended 



598 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the medical department of the university of 
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and later graduated 
from the Charity Medical college, at Cleve- 
land, Ohio (in the spring of 1879), recf'iving 
his degree of M. D., and still later received an 
ad eundem degree from the medical department 
of the Wooster university, Cleveland, and is 
now, also, an alumnus of the Western Reserve 
college of Cleveland, a member of the North- 
eastern Ohio Medical society and of the Cleve- 
land (Ohio) Medical society; he possesses a 
valuable library of well-selected works pertain- 
ing to his science, and keeps well abreast of 
every advance made in its progress. 

Dr. Chamberlain began the actual practice 
of his profession at the age of seventeen years, 
at Peninsula, Ohio, in conjimction with his 
father, with whom he remnined until the out- 
break of the Civil war, when he enlisted in 
company D, First Ohio light artillery, and was 
soon afterward detailed as surgeon. He 
served at Ivy Mountain, Green River, Preston- 
burg, East Liberty, Louisa, Ky. , and was also 
in many skirmishes, but was iitialiy t.iken si. k 
from exposure during a severe snow-storm, 
which led to his confinement in hospital at 
Louisville, Ky. , and at Columbus, Ohio, and 
also received other injuries, from which lie 
never fully recovered, being still deprived of 
hearing in one of his ears. His term of service 
continued through thirteen months, when he 
was honorably discharged on accoimt of disa- 
bility, although he was a man of very robust 
constitution prior to his enlistment. 

The first marriage of Dr. Chamberlain took 
place March 31, 1862, at Liverpool, Medina 
county, Ohio, to Miss Mary Prichard. a native 
of the place, and a daughter of Sheldon and 
Marietta Prichard, and to this union was born 
one child — Myrtle M., February 3, 186S. 
Having been deprived by death of his first 
companion, the doctor ne.xt married Miss 
Elizabeth R. Greer. 



January 10, 1875, Dr. Chamberlain came 
to Akron, and here has made a reputation that 
might be envied by any physician, being indis- 
putably recognized as the most skillful prac- 
titioner in the city, to which recognition he is 
well entitled, having now been in active prac- 
tice in Summit county for over thirty-two 
consecutive j'ears. Here his social relations 
are of the most pleasant character, and fra- 
ternally he is an honored Mason, a member of 
the Knights of Pythias, and of Buckley post, 
No. 12, Grand .^rmy of the Republic. 

The doctor's maternal ancestors, the La- 
Cook family, were of sterling Scotch-Irish 
origin. The founder of the family in America 
settled in Westmoreland county. Pa., in 1727, 
where he purchased several hundred acres of 
land, and reached the patriarchal age of 107 
years, and then met his death by violence, 
being shot with arrows by Indians in the war 
of 1812. 

David LaCook, the maternal grandfather 
of the doctor, married a Miss Pattent, the union 
resulting in the birth of five children, viz: 
Sarah, David, Joseph, Mary and Lovinah P. 
The father of this family also lived to a great 
age — 100 years — and at his death his hair had 
not turned gray and ■ his teeth were still per- 
fectly sound. His wife also reached the age 
of 100 }ears, and the demise of both took 
place in Pennsylvania, where they were among 
the most honored of the pioneers. 



aHARLES C. CONAGHAN, one of the 
old soldiers of the Civil war, and a 
respected citizen and merchant of 
Tallmadge, Ohio, was born in Carey, 
Wyandot county, Ohio, October 16, 1842, a 
son of Charles C. and Mary A. (Bardoon) Cona- 
ghnn. The Conaghans were of Irish, and the 
Bardoons of French ancestr}'. 

Dennis Conaghan, the grandfather of C. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



599 



C. Conaghan, the subject of this memoir, was 
born in Ireland, first settled in Adams county, 
Pa., and was a pioneer farmer of Stark coun- 
ty, Ohio, where he settled about 1825, but 
moved to Wyandot county. Charles C. Cona- 
ghan, the father of subject, was a farmer of 
Wyandot county, Ohio, and his children were 
Charles C, our subject, and A. F. Mr. Cona- 
ghan died a young man, aged thirty-two years, 
and his widow then marrried William Best, to 
which union four children were born, viz: 
Mary E., Agatha, Louisa and Matilda. 

Charles C. Canaghan, the subject of this 
memoir, was reared on a farm in Wyandot 
county, and enlisted in Tiffin, Ohio, August 
12, 1861, in company B, Forty-ninth regiment 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years or 
during the war, under Col. W. H. Gibson and 
Capt. B. S. Porter, served out his time and 
was honorably discharged at Chatanooga, 
Tenn., September 5, 1864. He was in the 
battles of Shiloh, Liberty Gap, and Chicka- 
mauga, where he was wounded September 19, 
1863. He was also in the Atlanta campaign 
and in the battles of Buzzard's Roost, Resaca. 
Adairsville, Cassvilie, Pickett's Mills, Pine 
Mountain. Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree 
Creek, and the siege and general assault of 
Atlanta. The Forty-ninth Ohio has 1 13 men 
buried at Marietta. Ga., in the National ceme- 
tery. Mr. Conaghan was taken prisoner at 
Lawrenceburg, K)'., October 8, 1862, by Kirby 
Smith's command and paroled on the spot and 
sent home. 

The wound Mr. Conaghan received at 
Chickamaugi was by a shot through the right 
leg just above the knee, from which he was 
confined in hosaital No, 5. at Nashville, for 
four weeks and th^n received a furlough home 
for sixty days; after partial recovery he served 
with the Sixty-eighth Indiana volunteer infan- 
try two months, not being able to join his regi- 
ment, but finally rejoined it at Cleveland, 



Tenn. Mr. Conaghan considers his hardest 
march to have been from Battle Creek, Tenn., 
to Louisville, Ky., a distance of about 300 
miles, leaving Battle Creek, Tenn., August 
16, 1862, and arriving at Louisville, about 
September 29-30, 1862, suffering severely 
from heat and dust, lack of salt and food, liv- 
ing on green corn and bread which the soldiers 
baked at the camp fires themselves. Mr. 
Conaghan crossed, with his regiment, the state 
of Iventucky three times and five times across 
the state of Tennessee. His regiment traveled 
about 12,000 miles on foot, by water and by 
rail. Pickett's Mill he considers to have been 
his hardest-fought battle. Mr. Conaghan was 
alwaj's an active soldier, and with the excep- 
tion of the battles fought while he was wounded 
and a paroled prisoner, was in all the battles 
of his regiment, its skirmishes, marches and 
campaigns. 

Alter the war Mr. Conaghan returned to 
Carey, Wyandot county, Otiio, and in the 
spring of 1865 went to Cleveland, Ohio, where 
he took a commercial course at Bryant & Strat- 
ton's college and immediately thereafter en- 
gaged in bookkeeping in Cleveland, where he 
remained si.x months. In February, 1866, he 
came to Akron, Ohio, and engaged in the coal 
trade, at which he continued one year. He 
married, while living in Akron, Miss Olive R. 
Ellis, who was born December 15, 1847, in 
Akron, a daughter of Joseph D. and Mary A. 
(Brown) Ellis, and to this union were born 
two children — Nellie L. and Mary B. 

After marriage Mr. Conaghan located in 
New Portage, where he was engaged for one 
and a half years in the grocery business, and 
came to Tallmadge in 1870. Here he was em- 
ployed as clerk for W. E. Hinman until 1885; 
in 1886 Mr. Conaghan engaged in business at 
Tallmadge with Frank E. Bine, but Mr. Hine 
died in 1892, and since that time Mr. Cona- 
ghan has conducted'the business alone. Mr. 



600 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Conaghan is a member of the G. A. R., Buckley 
post of Akron, Ohio, and has been delegate to 
the dtpartment encampment. He is also a 
membt-r of the K. of P. at Tallmadge. In 
politics Mr Conaghan is a stanch republican, 
has been clerk of Tallmadge ten years, and 
has been a member of the school board. Mrs. 
Connghan died October 27, 1885, a woman of 
many virtues. Mr. Conaghan next married, 
March 25, 1897, Margaret E. Hine, nee Hall, 
widow of Frank E. Hine. 

Mr. Conaghan was a brave soldier, and of 
his ngiinent, the Forth-ninth Ohio volunteer 
infantry, 202 men were killed in battle. This 
was the heaviest loss of any regiment from 
Ohio. Out of every 1,000 men in the army 
forty-seven died of disease and thirty-seven 
were killed, making eighty-four who perished 
out of evtry 1,000, and never saw their homes 
again. Mr. Conaghan 's brother Frank enlisted 
for the war when only seventeen years old in 
company B, Forty-ninth Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, and was killed at the battle of Kenesaw 
monntiiin. Mr. Conaghan was not yet nine- 
teen years old when he enlisted from purely 
patriotic motives, and first offered his services 
to his country in the first call for 75,000 men, 
but this call being most promptly filled, his 
offer w;is declined, but he seized the next op- 
portunity and was accepted, as narrated above. 




•HOMAS BLACKBURN of Hudson, 
Summit county, Ohio, and a veteran 
of the Civil war, was born October 9, 
1833, in Lincolnshire, England, a 
son of William and Jane (Emerson) Black- 
burn. 

William Blackburn was a son of James 
and Mary (Fowler) Blackburn; James was a 
s Idier seven years in the British army and 
had a brother in the battl- of Waterloo. 
James Blackburn was the father of two chil- 



dren — James and William. He died in Eng- 
land, a venerable man of eighty-two years. 
William Blackburn was born October 9, 1799, 
in Yorkshire, England, was married there, 
and his children were John, Mary, George, 
James, Thomas and Henry. After marriage 
William Blackburn lived in Lincolnshire, and 
died there. His wife came to America with 
her youngest son Henry, in 1878, and died at 
the home of her son Thomas — having at- 
tained the unusual age of ninety-three years — 
in 1883. 

Thomas Blackburn was entirely self-edu- 
cated. He left home at the early age of 
eleven years and worked for a farmer in Lin- 
colnshire — William Slight — for two years; 
with another farmer two years, and for Will- 
iam Davis one year, and others in Yorkshire 
until he was twenty-three years old. During 
that time he gained what education he could 
from books and at Sunday-schools. At the 
age of twenty-three years, in 1859, he came 
to America, sailing from Liverpool to New 
York in the steamer City of Washington, ar- 
riving in New York May 26, after a passage of 
eleven days. He came immediately to Ohio 
and worked on the farm of his brother, John 
Blackburn, in Boston township. Summit 
county, eighteen months, and then worked 
for George Haskell, in Boston township, until 
he enlisted, September i, 1861, in Capt. 
A. J. Konkle's battery D, First Ohio light 
artillery, for three years or during the war, 
and served until honorably discharged Jan- 
uary I, 1864, at Nashville, Tenn., when he 
re-enlisted in the same organization, to serve 
three years more, or during the war, and was 
again honorably discharged July 15, 1865, at 
Cleveland, Ohio, the war having come to a 
close. 

He was in the battles of Ivy Mountain (at 
Piketown), Ky., November 9, 1861; Shiloh, 
April 6-7, 1862; Corinth, and Green River 




}L Q.^iAyv. Oc^ Uy^ec a'fi^-^ 




/?lAy) oU-L^i^C^ CO. /7^^1z:-^^<>^</l-'^5f, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



606 



Bridge (or Mumfordville, Ky. ), in September, 
1862. He was then transferred to the Sixth 
regiment battery, Capt. Parsons, and was in 
the battles of Chaplain Hill; Perry ville, Oc- 
tober 8, 1862, where the Sixth lost this 
battery with the exception of one gun, which 
was drawn off by four men and three horses, 
and Mr. Blackburn was one of these men; at 
least one-third of the command was also lost, 
and the remainder of the men were trans- 
ferred to a new battery, D, of four guns, un- 
der Lieut. Nathan Newell, and was in the first 
battle of Franklin and then in the first battle 
of Nashville; also in that at Murfreesboro, 
December 27, 1862, to January 3, 1863 — his 
battery opening the fight — and then was en- 
gaged in scouting and skirmishing about two 
months. He was next in the battle of Brady- 
ville, Tenn., March 2, 1863; the fight at Co- 
lumbia, Tenn., March 14; Liberty, Tenn., 
April 4, with Forrest and Wheeler; LaVergne, 
Tenn. ; at McMinnville, they captured a train 
of cars and burned seven large cotton facto- 
ries and great quantities of government stores. 
April 23, they charged Shelbyville Pike, Tenn., 
and captured it, with a battery of four guns 
and 600 infantry. Mr. Blackburn was also in 
the battle of Chattanooga, Tenn. ; Middleton, 
Tenn., January 25, 1863; at Murfreesboro, 
fighting Forrest and Wheeler's cavalry, and 
in many skirmishes; was on Dutch Road, and 
on skirmishes in Sequatchie Valley, Tenn., 
and captured 400 prisoners; was at Chick- 
amauga; fought all day in front of Chatta- 
nooga; October 2, had a fight with Forrest 
and Wheeler, and marched to Green river, 
and November 23, 1863, was in the battle at 
Baldwin Ridge, and in the second battte of 
Chattanooga, November 26, 1863; was at 
Missionary Ridge, and other points; at the bat- 
tle of Knoxville, Tenn., and then was on the 
great Atlanta campaign and in the battle of 
Rocky Face Ridge, Pumpkinvine Creek, Ken- 

24 



esaw Mountain, the battles of Atlanta, Jones- 
boro — and went with "Pap" Thomas to 
Nashville, Tenn., and was at Athens and Co- 
lumbia, Tenn., and at the great battle of 
Franklin, Tenn., and then in the first battle 
at Nashville and in Franklin and Columbia. 
He was then transferred to Washington, and 
then to North Carolina, and did some service 
at Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson, and was in 
the battle of Smithville Creek, and captured 
200 prisoners, and marched to Wilmington, 
N. C. , then to Jonesboro, N. C. , and joined 
Sherman's army, lying at Greensboro, and 
served under him until discharged. Beside 
this long list of battles, Mr. Blackburn was in 
many skirmishes, too numerous to mention. 
During his services as a soldier, he traversed 
over 26,000 miles, including passage by vehi- 
cles and steamboats, and marches. He had 
two horses killed under him in battle — one at 
Shelbyville and one on the Atlanta campaign, 
and at dififerent times three horses were 
wounded under him, and a bullet at one time 
struck his knapsack on his saddle. Mr. Black- 
burn was not sick in hospital worth mention- 
ing, and was not wounded nor prisoner, and 
was always prompt and cheerful in the dis- 
charge of his duty. 

After the war Mr. Blackburn returned to 
Ohio and married, April 10, 1866, in Hudson, 
Anna L. Cowley, who was born December i, 
1846, in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England, a 
daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Hunt) Cow- 
ley. Joseph Cowley was born in Molten, Sea's 
End, Lincolnshire, England, April 15, 18 r 5, 
a son of William and Mary (James) Cowley. 
William Cowley was a farmer and lived on 
the farm owned by James Cowley, that had 
been in the family (from Lord Cowley) since 
1610. William Cowley and wife were the 
parents of William, Mary and Joseph. Will- 
iam Cowley, Sr. , lived to be an aged man and 
died in England. Joseph Cowley was a black- 



606 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



smith by trade, having been apprenticed at 
twelve years of age. He married in England, 
and came to America in 1852. sailing from 
Liverpool in March, and six weeks later land- 
ing in New York. He at once came to Ohio, 
and arrived in the last of May, 1852. Here 
he worked at his trade one year, when his wife 
joined him, bringing their children, the eldest 
being twelve years old, and the youngest four 
years. In 1854 Mr. Cowley bought a fertile 
farm, consisting of eighty acres, and improved 
it with substantial farm buildings and a pleas- 
ant residence, but nevertheless worked at his 
trade for several years in Akron. His children 
were Maria D., Abraham J., William R. ; 
Joseph, died eight years old on lake Erie and 
is buried at Hudson, Ohio; Anna L. and Lottie 
R. Mr. and Mrs. Cowley were both members 
of the Methodist church, in which, in his 
younger days, Mr. Cowley was a class leader. 
In politics he was a republican and was an in- 
dustrious and respected citizen. The death of 
Joseph Cowley took place September 25, 1897, 
and his remains were interred beside those of 
his wife in the cemetery of East Akron, where 
a beautiful marble shaft marks their last rest- 
ing place. 

After marriage, Thomas Blackburn settled 
on the Cowley homestead. He has bought ad- 
ditional land and now has a fine farm of 128 
acres. He and wife are the parents of Flor- 
ence J., Harry J., Lotta A., and Mary Edna. 
Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn are members of the 
Congregational church at Hudson and politi- 
cally he is a republican, casting his first presi- 
dential vote for "Honest" Abe Lincoln, and for 
twelve years has served as township trustee. 
He is a member of Gen. William T. Sherman 
post. No. 68, G. A. R. , at Hudson, in which 
he has held the office of commander and other 
positions, and is also a member of the K. of 
P., Gen. Sheridan lodge. No. 323, at Hudson. 

Miss Florence Blackburn was educated in 



the Union schools at Hudson and one year at 
the academy at Hudson, and was one of Sum- 
mit county's honored teachers for three years. 
She is secretary of the Young Ladies' Aid so- 
ciety at Hudson and a member of the Congre- 
gational church. She has also been training 
in music, both vocal and instrumental. Harry 
J., was a recipient of a high-school course, 
graduated in 1889 from the academy, and is 
now teller in the First National bank at Akron. 
Lotta A. is a graduate of the class of 1891, 
and also a graduate in the class of 1893 at the 
Western Reserve academy, and was at first a 
teacher in the common schools; was in one 
district for three years, and now has charge of 
the A. & B. primary in the Union schools in 
Hudson. Mary Edna is a student in the D 
grammar grade in the Union schools. It will 
be seen that Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn have 
given their children good practical educations. 



HRTHUR L. CONGER, whose identi- 
fication with the business interests of 
Ohio and the west has made him one 
of the distinguished citizens not only 
of Akron but of the Buckeye state,' with a 
reputation in business circles which extends 
far beyond the confines of Ohio, was born in 
Boston, Summit county, in which place his 
parents had located in 1831, removing from 
St. Albans, Vt. He is descended from one 
of the early families of New England. The 
advantages of wealth or influence did not sur- 
round him in his boyhood; in fact, at a very 
early age he started out to make his own way 
in the world, working at first for the meager 
sum of ten cents per day. As his business 
ability was developed with the passing years 
his wages were proportionately increased, and 
he received fair wages as a farm hand and as 
an employee in a brick-yard. Even when a 
boy he manifested the progressive spirit which 



OK. PORTAGE AND SUJVIMLT- COUNTIES. 



mH) 



hqg been. one (J>i his pronounced characteristics, 
by poibarking iij business qn his own account. 
With a neighbor boy he purchased a canal 
boat,; which they operated some years. Later 
be engaged in school-teaching and at the 
same time he was learning valuable lessons in 
the school of experience and developing a self- 
reliance and force of character which have 
prov.ed of incalculable benefit to him in his 
contact with the world. 

Mr. Conger's service in the Civil war in- 
terrupted his pedagogic labors. Prompted by 
patriotic impulses he enlisted among the boys 
in blue of company G, One Hundred and 
Fifteenth Ohio infantry, and upon the organi- 
zation of the company was elected second 
lieutenant. Meritorious conduct won him pro- 
motion to the rank of first lieutenant, and ere 
the war closed he was made captain, thus serv- 
ing until July, 1865, when hostilities having 
ended he was honorably discharged. On the 
field of battle he was ever brave and fearless, 
and his caution and unusual foresight often 
called him to be selected for some special 
service. He was for some time acting adju- 
tant of the regiment, served as acting assist- 
ant adjutant-general on the staff of Brig-Gen. 
Jacob Ammon; was provost marshal under 
Gen. J. D. Cox, and was assistant inspector of 
railroad defenses of the department of the 
Cumberland, under Gen. George H. Thomas, 
a position requiring marked executive ability 
and mental grasp. The details of this impor- 
tant and responsible position were administered 
with such skill, intelligence and promptitude 
as to commend him to the personal attention 
of Gen. Thomas, whose congratulatory letters, 
as well as those of many other distinguished 
officers, he has now in his possession. He 
thus for some time had charge of the railroad 
defenses of the department of the Cumberland, 
located at Nashville, under the immediate 
charge of Maj. James R. Willett, of the First 



United States veteran. vol unteer-engineere-n.tS 
whom commissioned officers df that brapch .pt 
service of the department made ;th?ir,r.i^p((>;fts.l 
At the close of the. war he returned hoxr^et-.ivio 

Civic as well as military honors have cortifef 
to Col. Conger,, by reason? of. his superioc 
ability and worth. He was twice elected trpas-i 
urer of Summit county, was city .treasurer, Ofc 
Akron, secretary of the board of educatiottji 
was president of the Business Men's club. 0f 
that place, and a recognized leader in Sgcia},: 
political and commercial life. He might have 
secured any political office he. desired, but he 
seeks not reward for his active and efficient 
public service. For more than twenty years 
he has been an influential member of the re- 
publican committees of the state, served three 
times as chairman of the state republican 
committee of Ohio and for eight years was a 
member of the national executive committee. 
He has made a profound study of economic 
questions of national importance and is con- 
sidered a just and discriminating critic of 
many of the most subtle and perplexing 
branches of the tariff and financial questions^ 
being to-day recognized as one of the ablest 
and most practical of financiers and politicians 
belonging to the class of manufacturers of the 
United States. 

In 1870 Col. Conger became a traveling 
salesman for the Whitman & Miles Manu- 
facturing company, which had plants at Fitch- 
burg,: Mass., and Akron, Ohio, and was the 
first company in the world to make a specialty 
of the manufacture of mower knives, reaper 
sickles and sections, beginning operations in 
1850 and since maintaining the lead in the 
trade. The colonel was soon made a director 
of the company, a little later its vice-presi^ 
dent, and later president of the new or con- 
solidated company, which position he so ably 
filled until the fall of 1897. In 1877 the com- 
pany perfected a consolidation with George 



608 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Barnes & Company, of Syracuse, N. Y., and 
for some years the business was handled only 
from the Akron and Syracuse factories, but 
owing to its great increase a plant was estab- 
lished at St. Catherines, Ontario, and later at 
Canton, Ohio. Other specialties for the agri- 
cultural trade in this country and abroad were 
also added to their list of manufactures, and 
branch houses have been established in New 
York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, Kan- 
sas City, San Francisco, London and Paris, 
thus providing more direct communication 
with consumers. The trade so rapidly grew 
that the capacity had to be greatly enlarged, 
and for this purpose twenty acres of land 
were purchased at West Pullman, 111., on 
which to erect their fifth plant. In all the 
goods which are manufactured, the com- 
pany have a reputation for their excellence, 
the products of their factories being of ac- 
knowledged superiority. 

Col. Conger married Miss Emily Bronson, 
a lady of high intellectual attainment and cult- 
ure, and a daughter of H. V. Bronson, of 
Peninsula, Ohio, whose father, Hiram Bron- 
son, was one of the partners who purchased 
the Western Reserve. The colonel and his 
wife have four sons: Kenyon B., Arthur L. , 
Erastus Irving, deceased, and Latham H. 
Their beautiful and palatial home, called 
Irving Lawn, in memory of their deceased 
son, is the center of a cultured society circle. 

In 1882 Mr. Conger was elected to the 
command of the Eighth regiment, Ohio na- 
tional guards, and thus won the title by which 
he is generally known. He served in that 
capacity for eight years, during which time he 
held the position of honor at the public square 
during the funeral obsequies of President Gar- 
field. In 1885, in Ashland, Ohio, he held in 
check an excited mob of nearly ten thousand 
at the time of the execution of Horn and 
Griffin, and, without firing a shot, thus pre- 



vented a scene of bloodshed and horror. He 
has always taken an active part in the work of 
the Grand Army of the Republic, was depart- 
ment commander of Ohio in 1886, and is a 
member of the Ohio commandery of the Loyal 
Legion. He belongs to the Protestant Epis- 
copal church and has long been president of 
the Union Charity association of Akron. His 
benevolence and charity have made happy 
many a home, and the extent of his munifi- 
cence is known only to himself. The life of 
such a man as Col. Conger needs no eulogistic 
comment from the biographer. It speaks for 
itself. Splendid success has crowned his busi- 
ness efforts, honors have awaited him in civil 
and military life, but above all he has won the 
love and respect of the poor by his recognition 
of the brotherhood of mankind, and his readi- 
ness to acknowledge worth and merit in the 
humblest representative of the race. 



at 



ILLIAM H. DEISMAN. a highly 
respected horticulturist of North- 
field township, Summit county, 
Ohio, and a veteran soldier of the 
Civil war, springs from sterling Pennsylvania- 
Dutch stock, Henry Lewis Deisman, his grand- 
father, having come from Germany at the age 
of seventeen years, about the time of the 
American Revolution, and settled in Wells- 
ville, York county, Pa. 

William H. Deisman was born February 6, 
1 84 1, on the farm where he now lives, a son 
of Henry L. and Letitia (Coulson) Deisman, 
was here educated and reared to farming. He 
enlisted, in Cleveland, Ohio, when twenty 
years old, October 11, 1861, in company D, 
Forty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve 
three years or during the war; re-enlisted as a 
veteran at Chattanooga, Tenn. , January i, 
1864, and served until honorably discharged. 




■,/4/. IVt i 



t.>y-7^ C Ct-^t^^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



609 



August 12, 1865, after the war had closed. 
He was in the battles of Shiloh, siege of Cor- 
inth, Perrysville, Stone River and Chicka- 
mauga, where he was shot in the right knee 
and was in hospital until December, 1863, 
when he rejoined his regiment and was in the 
battles of Dalton, Resaca, and Pickett's Mills, 
May 27, 1864, where he was shot through the 
right side by a minie ball and was taken to 
field hospital and then to the hospital at Ac- 
worth, where he remained until June 14, and 
was then transferred consecutively to Chatta- 
nooga, Nashville, Jefifersonville, Ind., and 
Camp Dennison, Ohio. He rejoined his regi- 
ment in March, 1865, at Huntsville, Ala., and 
remained until June 16, when he was dis- 
charged. He has never recovered from the 
wound in his side, and it is still open about 
one-half of the time. 

After the war Mr. Deisman returned to the 
home farm, of which he has cleared sixty 
acres. This farm he purchased in 1870, but 
at that time it contained none of its present 
improvements, which have all been made by 
himself. He now has a beautiful dwelling, 
substantial out-buildings, lawns, and twenty 
acres set in fruit, including apples, pears, 
plums, peaches and cherries, and many vari- 
eties of small fruits. In 1895-96 he produced 
about 3,000 bushels of apples, each year, and 
in 1897 sold over 350 bushels of plums and 
about fifty bushels of strawberries, and in fruit 
culture he is considered to be the most suc- 
cessful of any person in the county, beside 
which, he has been more than usually success- 
ful in dairying. He married, in 1866, Miss 
Mary J. Johnson, who died in March, 1872; 
he next married Miss Carolina E. Nesbit, 
daughter of William and Lucinda (Johnson) 
Nesbit. William Nesbit was a pioneer of 
Northfield township, and a soldier in the war 
of 1 81 2, and his son, David G. Nesbit, was a 
soldier in the Civil war in company G, One 



Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio infantry, in the 
three years' service. 

William H. Deisman is in politics a re- 
publican, having cast his first presidential vote 
for Lincoln, and is a member of the Methodist 
church at Bedford, Ohio. He has held the 
office of township trustee two years, is one of 
the most respected citizens of Northfield town- 
ship and stands high for integrity of character. 
He has a fine military record and served his 
country faithfully for more than four years. 

Henry L. Deisman, father of subject, was 
born in 1807 and married, in Pennsylvania, 
Letitia Coulson, of York county. The chil- 
dren born to this union were James C, Eliza- 
beth, Isabel, Margaret, Ann, Mary and Will- 
iam H. Henry L. Deisman settled on the 
homestead where our subject was born, about 
1832, and cleared up a farm from the woods 
and made good improvements. He was first 
a whig and then a republican in politics, lived 
to be sixty years of age, and died in 1867. 
He was a hard-working, industrious man, 
respected by all. William H. Deisman is a 
member of R. L. Dunham post, No. 177, G. 
A. R., at Bedford, Ohio, and served as com- 
mander one year. He is also a member of 
lodge No. 375, F. & A. M., at Bedford, and 
is one of the most respected residents of North- 
field township. 



(D 



ILTON C. DANFORTH, a promi- 
nent farmer and one of the most 
respected citizens of Darrowville, 
Summit county, Ohio, descends from 
an English family who two centuries ago set- 
tled in New Hampshire. 

William Danforth, the founder of the fam- 
ily in America, came from England and landed 
at Boston, Mass., about 1670, but settled in 
Newbury, in the same state. A brother came 
with him and settled in Maine. Rev. Nicholas 



m^ 



PORtRAlT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



©anforthv also from England, wa§ thfetbunder 
of another branch of the Danforth family-. 
William Danforth, with others, received a 
g'raftt of land from the Massachusetts Bay 
•feioldfly in the town of Boscawen (now Web- 
•'Sterj, N. H., and there he settled and lived 
widrty years. 

-'I'' William Danforth, the great-grandfather of 

siobject, was a farmer of Boscawen, N. H., 

^arid w^s a soldier in the Revolutionary war. 

Enoch Danforth, son of William, was born in 

-New Hampshire, was a farmer, and married 

i/ii 'Vermont, near Saint Albans, Hannah Hains, 

i-^native of Vermont, of German ancestry. Of 

"their children, . Sabra, Hial, Mary, Louisa, 

t^arrisoB, Judith and William reached mature 

'y<ears. Enoch Danforth, grandfather of sub- 

'jfect, came to Marion county, Ohio, in 1823, 

■and Settled on a farm. He was attacked by 

Hlalaria and died one year later, aged about 

Iforty-five. His family then came to Darrow- 

ville and his children were mostly reared in 

.Summit' county. 

Hial Danforth, son of Enoch, was born 

June 8, 1808, at Boscawen, N. H. He came 

to Ohio with his father in 1823, and married, 

■May 4, r83i, Sophia Darrow (born at Darrow- 

-ville, March 31, 1810), a daughter of Joseph 

and Sallie (Prior) Darrow. After marriage 

Mr. and Mrs. Hial Danforth settled on the 

farm, then consisting of forty acres, where 

Milton C. , our subject, now lives, improved 

the property and added to it until he owned 

-115 acres, and erected good buildings. He 

,was a member of the Methodist church 

'when yoting, but imbibed liberal views in later 

life. In politics he was a whig, but became a 

republican on the organization of this party. 

He was an honored citizen, held the office of 

Uownship trustee, and lived to be eighty-one 

^years, and died May 29, 1889. His children 

were Mary (who died at the age of thirteen 

•years), -Milton C, Helen S. and two others 



Who died in infancy, viz: Charles E.'.ageH 
six months, and EdmondE.,- aged two years 
and six months. ' < ' . ' ' ' . ;''i! 

' Milton C. Danforth was born June 13, 1836; 
on the home farm, received a common-school 
education and was reared a farmer. Hfe 
married, August 21, 1858, near Darrowville, 
Miss Chloe B. Marvin, who was born Sep- 
tember 8, 1837, in Aurora, Portage county, 
Ohio, a daughter of Ulysses and Elizabeth 
(Bradley) Marvin. The Marvins and Bradley's 
descended from Connecticut Puritans. UlysseS, 
the father of Mrs. Danforth, was born in New 
England, was a cloth dresser by trade, and 
married. May i, 1822, in Middletown, Conn., 
Elizabeth Bradley, born October 25, 1800, a 
daughter of Arba and Esther (Chamberlain) 
Bradley. Ulysses Marvin moved to Ohio iti 
the early 'twenties and settled on a farm in 
Stowe township, Summit county, which farm 
he cleared up, but still followed his business 
of cloth dresser. He was a member of the 
Disciples' church, of which he was a dedcon 
for many years; in politics he was first a whig, 
but assisted in organizing the republican party. 
He was the father of Arba B., Jane E., So- 
phronia, Asahel, Chloe B., and Ulysses L.', 
of Akron, judge of the state circuit court. Mr. 
Marvin lived to be eighty-six years of age, and 
died May 11, 1887, at the residence of our 
subject; Mrs. Marvin died June 28, 1S84. 

After marriage Mr. Danforth and wife set- 
tled on the old Danforth homestead and have 
lived here ever since. Of the children born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Danforth, Jennie E., Nina R. 
and Milton H. are those who have lived to 
mature years. Mr. and Mrs. Danforth are lib- 
eral in religious belief and in politics he is a 
stanch republican, and cast his first presiden- 
tial vote for John C. Fremont and his next for 
A. Lincoln. Mr. Danforth has served as town- 
ship trustee and supervisor and as a member 
of the school board, and has been a notary 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



611> 



public many years. He is a charter member 
of Darrowstreet grange, No. 751, and was the 
master of the grange for years, and he is dep- 
uty state master, looking after the interest of 
Summit county granges. He is a man of ex- 
cellent character and stands high in the town- 
ship, and his children have all received good 
educations. Jennie E. is married to Edward 
O. Shively, and has one child — Mabel E., 
and resides at Darrowville, Ohio. Nina R. 
is married to F. R. Howe, and Mil- 
ton H., who was married October 20, 1897, 
to Miss Frances G. Ball, daughter of Dr. W. 
T. Ball, of Mantua Station, Portage county, 
is a resident of Darrowville, Ohio. 

Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Howe are publishers 
of The Children's World, a journal devoted to 
rhetorical exercises in the public schools, be- 
side all grades of school aids. Their business 
has grown to large pretentions and some mail 
days their output reaches to fifteen sacks of 
publications. Their business comprises mail 
business entirely, and the grade of the work is 
first-class and is indorsed by all the practical 
educators. 

Mr. Danforth is an ardent advocate of spir- 
itualism, which is now recognized in many 
places as one of the important factors in relig- 
ious belief, and of the truth of which he be- 
came convinced in 1858, two years after its 
announcement to the world as a religious doc- 
trine, but it was not until 1890 that an organ- 
ization was formed in Portage county, although 
national in character. The local originator of 
the movement was Dr. David M. King, of 
Mantua Station, Ohio, with the aid of the 
spirits, which were associated with him. The 
organization, now known as the National Spir- 
itual and Religious Camp association, is lo- 
cated at Mantua Station, Ohio, owning a hotel, 
beautifully located within one-half mile of the 
Erie railroad depot in Maple Grove, 30x90 feet 
and three stories high; but there will be an- 



other more pretentious building, which will be 
erected soon. There are about thirty cot- 
tages erected on the grounds. The audito- 
rium, 120x60 feet, will accommodate about 
2,000 people. Here, in this beautiful grove, 
God's first temples, is where these happy peo- 
ple congregate each year, and each year brings 
new additions to their religious belief. Rev.'i 
Moses Hull, one of the best and most profound 
Bible scholars in the United States, is the 
chief exponent of this work. 

Dr. Hull, Rev. A. J. Weaver, Milton H. 
Danforth and D. M. King, also Dr. Schermer- 
horn, of Akron, Ohio, conduct a school each 
summerat the camp grounds, which is one of the 
great aids in spreading the teachings of the Spir- 
itualists. Mr. Danforth has been president and 
chairman of the organization since 1890, and 
his onerous duties have been received by his 
people with the greatest satisfaction. Some 
of the most striking seances have been given 
at Mantua, Ohio, and such prominent 
mediums as Mrs. Sheets, of Michigan; A. B.' 
French, Clyde, Ohio; Mrs. Anna L. Robin- 
son, of Port Huron, Mich. ; Mrs. Jennie B. H. 
Jackson, of Grand Rapids, Mich. ; Lyman C. 
Howe, of Fredonia, N. Y. ; Mrs. Cora L. 
Richmond, of Chicago, and Mrs. Mary C. 
Lyman, principally platform workers, have 
been present, which indicates that the work 
is in a very flourishing stage. Mr. Danforth 
has been an indefatigable worker in the Lord's 
vineyard in this religious belief, being a gen- 
tleman of more than ordinary executive 
ability and courteous in manner, and has done 
much to advance the cause. 

Mr. Danforth's mother, who had reached, 
the advanced age of eighty-seven years and 
eight months, died December 18, 1897, sin- 
cere in the spiritualistic belief. Her life was- 
replete with good works or deeds, and her 
departure was peaceful and contented, and she 
was beloved by all who knew her. Her remains 



612 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Are interred in Maple Grove cemetery, where 
a beautiful granite monument stands sacred to 
her memory. 



(D 



RS. EMELINE BLISS, of North- 
field Center. — In a work of this 
character the pioneers deserve more 
' than passing mention. To those 
sturdy men and women of a time now histori- 
cal the present owes a debt of gratitude which 
is only augmented by the increase of years, 
a debt of whose significance future genera- 
tions will be prepared to more adequately esti- 
mate. To the life work and influence of the 
venerable lady whose name heads this sketch 
the community of Northfield Center is in- 
estimably indebted. Here her whole life has 
been passed, and the good she has done will 
live after her. Her work of love in the com- 
munity will form an imperishable monument 
to her memory. 

Emeline Palmer was born at Windsor. 
Conn., April 5, 1815, daughter of Hezekiah 
H. and Abagail (Taylor) Palmer, who were 
the original pioneers of Northfield Center, 
building the first log cabin there in 1832. 
Hezekiah Palmer was born in Windsor, Hart- 
ford county. Conn., January 19, 1781, was 
married May 29, 1811, to Abigail Taylor, who 
was born in Buckland, Mass., January \2, 
1792. To them were born eight children, viz: 
Julia A., Emeline, Abigail T., William L., 
Horace H., Henry T., and two who died in in- 
fancy. The Palmers are of old Connecticut 
stock, who came over in the Mayflower, some 
were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. Mr. 
Palmer first came to Ohio in 1822, locating at 
Willoughby. They were six weeks in making 
the journey in a large covered wagon drawn 
by two yoke of cattle and a horse. After a 
few years the family returned to their native 



town and state. In 1 831 Mr. Palmer came 
again to Ohio, purchasing 160 acres at the 
center of Northfield. Returning, he brought 
out his family in June, 1832. He built the 
first log house at the center of Northfield, in 
the woods, which in a few years was replaced 
by the frame house. Here the parents spent 
the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Palmer was 
a most exemplary woman, patiently enduring 
the labors and privations of pioneer life. She 
was truly a helpmeet for her husband. At 
sixteen years of age she united with the Bap- 
tist church, and for sixty-eight years was true 
to the church of her early choice. Mr. 
Palmer lived and died an honored and worthy 
citizen, upright in all his dealings, obliging 
and courteous to all. 

Miss Emeline Palmer, the second child 
and daughter, was married in a log house at 
Northfield May 9, 1839, to Ambrose Williams 
Bliss, who was born December 6, 1806, at 
Jericho, Vt. , a son of Timothy and Anne 
(Campbell) Bliss. Ambrose W. Bliss received 
a common-school education in his native state 
and learned the trades of millwright and car- 
penter. He came to Ohio in the fall of 1833 
and for some years he worked at these trades 
in Cleveland, being engaged for some time as 
a foreman on the public works in Cleveland 
harbor and Black river. Previous to his mar- 
riage in 1839 he bought thirty acres of par- 
tially cleared land a half mile south of North- 
field Center, where he resided for a few years. 
He and his brother, Lucien, had previously 
bought I 50 acres a mile west of the Center, 
which Lucien improved. In 1837 Ambrose 
W. bought 165 acres at what is now North- 
field Center. Of this tract but a few acres 
had been cleared. He completed the task of 
clearing, and, about 1843, erected the present 
substantial homestead. This was the first 
large two-story frame house in Northfield and 
is still standing, a commodious and pleasant 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



615 



residence. Mr. Bliss was largely engaged in 
contracting and mechanical pursuits. He 
built many of the acqueducts and locks on the 
Ohio canal, also trestles and bridges, beside 
many buildings of a substantial character, 
having been engaged in nearly all the works 
of importance in his vicinity. In the true 
sense of the term, Ambrose W. Bliss was a 
self-made man. Through his own sturdy 
efforts and the assistance of his faithful wife, 
prosperity came, and at the time of his death 
he owned 240 acres of finely improved farm- 
ing lands. In his political faith Mr. Bliss was 
an old-line whig, and a warm Union man, and 
was one of the original republicans of his 
county. By his upright manner of living he 
received the honors of his community and held, 
in his township, the offices of justice of the 
peace and township trustee. He also served 
the county six years as commissioner — from 
1854 to i860 — and was one of the directors of 
the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati (now 
C, A. & C. road). Mr. Bliss was an ardent 
friend of religion, and was a life member of 
the American Bible society. He was a well- 
read man, taking a lively interest in the aflairs 
of the day. His excellent judgment in men's 
affairs, coupled with his unquestioned integ- 
rity, gave him a high place in the community 
of which he was so valued a member. The 
children of this family were Ellen, Lorin, 
Horace and George. Horace was a soldier in 
the Civil war, a private in company C, One 
Hundred and Fifteenth regiment Ohio volun- 
teer infantry, and died February 20, 1863, of 
disease contracted in the service. Though 
quite young at the time of his enlistment, and 
of frail physique, his high patriotism impelled 
him to offer his services to his country, and 
against the wishes of his parents he heroically 
went to meet an untimely death. The daugh- 
ter, Ellen Bliss, remains at home to care for 
her mother in her declining years. Miss Bliss 



is a lady of marked intelligence, refinement 
and grace, and is possessed of fine literary 
tastes. She acted as historian for the West- 
ern Reserve Historical society in the prepara- 
tion of the work on "Pioneer Women of the 
Western Reserve." The family is very prop- 
erly one of the most respected in the county. 
Mrs. Bliss, the venerable subject of this mem- 
oir, although now past the allotted three score 
and ten, possesses even excellent memory and 
vision; her mental faculties are unimpaired. 
She is one of the few remaining pioneers of 
the Western Reserve who have seen all this 
wonderful advance in the condition of the 
wilderness of her childhood, and her reminis- 
cences of former times are interesting and 
valuable. 

A brief glance at the history of the Bliss 
family will be interesting. This family is of 
old and noble Norman stock, and anciently 
possessed a coat of arms. The first of the 
name of whom record has been retained was 
Thomas Bliss, of Belstone parish, in the county 
of Devonshire, England, born about 1550. 
He was a wealthy land owner of the sect of 
the Puritans and was mercilessly subjected to 
all the severity of the persecution against that 
austere sect. He was the father of six chil- 
dren, of whom Thomas, of the second genera- 
tion, was the founder of the Northfield family. 
Thomas was born at Belstone parish in 1580, 
and married a Miss Margaret Lawrence. The 
continued restrictions against the Puritans 
drove Thomas and his family to America in 
the autumn of 1635. They landed at Plymouth 
and temporarily located at Braintree, Mass., 
but later moved to Hartford, Conn., where he 
died in 1640. Thomas was the father of ten 
children, and has one grandson. Ebenezer 
Parsons was the first white child born at 
Northampton. Mass. He was born May i, 
1655, and was killed by the Indians at North- 
field, September 2, 1675. Mary, daughter of 



616 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Thomas Bliss, was this boy's mother. She 
was charged with witchcraft by envious neigh- 
bors, sent to Boston for trial, but was acquitted. 

John, son of Thomas and Margaret Bliss, 
was born at Hartford, Conn., about 1640; was 
married at Springfield, Mass., October 7, 1667, 
to Patience, daughter of Henry and Ulalia 
Burt, of that place, and died at Longmeadow, 
Mass., September 10, 1702. Patience was 
born August 18, 1645, and died October 25, 
1732. 

Nathaniel, son of John and Patience Bliss, 
was born at Springfield, Mass., January 26, 
1671, and died at Lebanon, Conn., in 1751. 
He married Mary Wright in Springfield, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1697. 

Henry, of Lebanon (now Columbia), Conn., 
son of Nathaniel and Mary Bliss, was born 
October 25, 1701, married Bethiah Spafford, 
of Lebanon, in 1725, and died August 28, 1761. 

Pelatiah, of Lebanon, son of Henry and 
Bethiah Bliss, was born May 6, 1725, and 
married Hepzibah Goodwin June 19, 1744. 

Timothy, of Essex, Vt., son of Pelatiah 
and Hepzibah Bliss, was born March 22, 1745, 
married Zerviah Williams, and died May 3, 
1817. He was a member of the convention 
called in 1791 to act on the adoption of the 
constitution of the United States. 

Timothy, of Jericho, Vt. , son of Timothy 
and Zerviah Bliss, married Anne Campbell 
about 1792, and died April 17, 1843. He was 
the father of Julius, born June 10, 1793; Cyn- 
thia, born November 27, 1794; Fannie, born 
May 6, 1796; Hosea, born February 8, 1798; 
Timothy (third) born January 20, 1800: Lu- 
cien, born December 4, 1801; Laura Ann, 
born February 7, 1803; Lucien, (second), born 
December 16, 1804; Ambrose Williams, born 
December 6, 1806; Zebina, born February 26, 
1809; George, born June i, 181 3. 

Ambrose Williams Bliss was the founder 
of the Northfield Center homestead. 



(h 



RS. HENRY F. ELLSWORTH, 

of Streetsboro township. Portage 
county, Ohio, descends from an 
early pioneer of the county. Heze- 
kiah Ellsworth, the original settler here of 
that name, was born in Massachusetts, at 
Windsor, where he grew to maturity, and May 
22, 1 8 16, married Eunice Gibson, and the 
children were Henry F. ; Rufus G., born Jan- 
uary 17, 1818; Amy E. , born July 3, 18 19; 
Annie- — deceased, aged thirteen years. May 19, 
1836; Josephine Aura, born May 7, 1820. 
Hezekiah Ellsworth had fought in the war of 
1812, and came to Ohio in 1829, making the 
journey with an ox team, and was forty days 
on the way, being obliged to cut the road part 
of the way through the woods. He first set- 
tled in Aurora, at Geauga lake, and lived there 
one year. He then bought ten acres of land 
in the woods in Streetsboro township, where 
the homestead now is. He cut the first tree 
on the place, which was very thickly covered 
with very heavy timber, and by degrees he 
cleared up a small space and built a log cabin. 
He worked hard, and finallj' developed a good 
farm of sixty acres. He lived to be eighty- 
eight years old and died on his homestead. 

Henry F. Ellsworth, first saw the light in 
Windsor, Conn., and was about nine years of 
age when he came to Ohio with his parents. 
He was always a farmer, and had a good 
common-school education and possessed an 
excellent memory. He married Betsy Meech, 
who was born September 9, 1823, in Chip- 
pewa township, Wayne county, a daughter of 
Abel and Charity (Meek) Meech. Abel Meech 
was born in Connecticut and married there, 
and his children were Althea, Polly, Amos, 
William, Aaron, Sallie, John, Abel, Katie A., 
Eunice, Betsy, George, Charity and Hannah. 
Mr. Meech was one of the pioneers of 
Wayne county, was a substantial farmer and 
cleared his farm from the woods, building a 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



617 



log house before he built a frame house. He 
was a hard-working pioneer and much respect- 
ed citizen, lived to be about eighty years old, 
and died on his farm. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth 
settled on the old Ellsworth farm — and by his 
thrift and industry Mr. Ellsworth added to it 
until he owned 265 acres of good land and 
was a substantial and prosperous farmer. His 
children were Alvira, Westley and Henry L. 
His politics was democratic. He was a hard- 
working, industrious man and made his prop- 
erty by his own labor, and built the present 
residence. He lived to be seventy-seven years 
old and died on his farm. 

Henry L. Ellsworth, son of Henry F. and 
wife, was born June 21, 1859, received a com- 
mon education and has always been a farmer. 
He was married March 17, 1895, in Hudson 
township, to Lillian Washburn, who was 
born August 25, 1866, in Boston township, a 
daughter of V. D. and Ellen (Kelly) Wash- 
burn. Mr. and Mrs. Washburn were the 
parents of two daughters — Lillian and Marion. 
Mr. Washburn served through the Civil war 
and was wounded in battle. Mr. Ellsworth 
is now living on the old homestead, is a prac- 
tical farmer and an industrious man, straight- 
forward and honorable. In politics he is a 
democrat. Mr. Ellsworth is a member of the 
Congregational church of Hudson, and frater- 
nally he is a member of K. of P. of Hudson. 



*w ' C. ECKERT, one of the leading 

1^^^ liverymen in Kent, is a native of 

M. . r Portage county, Ohio, and was born 

in Ravenna townsnip March 2, 1862, 

a son of Abram and Olive (^Reed) Eckert, the 

Eckert family coming from Pennsylvania. 

The father is a farmer by occupation, and, in 

conjunction, for many years, was also engaged 

in running a threshing machine. H. C. Eck- 



ert was about eight years of age, only, when 
his mother died. He was brought up on the 
farm and was educated in the public schools. 
He began the activities of life for himself by 
running a dray and transfer wagon in Kent, 
doing a general transfer business, which he 
continued some three years, and then for one 
year was engaged in the dairy or milk business. 
Later, he was in the employ of Levi Reed, in 
the livery business, for one year, and then en- 
gaged in the livery business on his personal 
account, which he has continued for about 
ten years and has one of the best appointed 
establishments in the city of Kent. 

Mr. Eckert was married, in 1880, to Miss 
Eliza Ayliffe. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Eckert have been born three children, viz: 
Olive, Harry and Ruth. Mr. Eckert is a 
member of Achilles lodge, No. 378, K. of P., 
is greatly honored by his fellow-members and 
he and wife are among the most highly es- 
teemed residents of Kent, where the business 
of Mr. Eckert, which is of a semi-public char- 
acter, causes him to be widely known, and 
where his obliging disposition and courteous 
deportment have won for him hosts of personal 
friends. 



Wyy^ILLIAM BARNABAS DOYLE, the 
Mm I son of William B. and Mary Maud 
mjL^ (Lantzj Doyle, was born in the city 
of Akron, in the old homestead at 
150 South High street, on the 19th day of 
April, 1868. He was educated in the Akron 
public schools from 1874 to 1883; in the 
Western Reserve academy from 1883 to 1886, 
where he graduated after completing the 
classical course; received his academic train- 
ing at Amherst College from 1886 to 1890, 
and graduated as a member of the class of 
1890. In January, 1891, he was elected a 
director and treasurer of the Akron Electrical 



«18 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Manufacturing Co. , but resigned to enter the 
Harvard Law School in October, 1892. He 
spent three years at Harvard and graduated in 
June, 1895, receiving the degree of LL. B. 
from Harvard university. In 1895 he was 
again elected a director and treasurer of the 
Electrical company, positions which he con- 
tinues to hold. In October, 1895, Mr. Doyle 
was admitted to the bar by the supreme court 
of the state of Ohio, at Columbus, and im- 
mediately commenced the active practice of 
his profession in his native city. He is a 
member of the Beta Theta Pi college fra- 
ternity, and was for two years chief of the 
New England district. He is a republican in 
politics and is connected by membership with 
the Congregational church and the Sons of the 
American Revolution. 



ar 



'ILLIAM BARNABAS DOYLE, Sr., 
was born in Franklin county, Pa. , 
in a valley of the Blue mountains 
called Path valley, on the 5th day 
of March, 1825. His ancestors had been 
pioneers in the settlement of Cumberland and 
Franklin counties, and the first record of his 
family in America appears in the Pennsyl- 
vania and Colonial Archives, where an inter- 
esting account is given of the expulsion of the 
earliest settlers, of whom his great-grand- 
father, Felix Doyle, was one, from territory 
ceded to the Indians by treaty with Great 
Britain. 

Felix Doyle came to America from the 
north of Ireland very early in the eighteenth 
century and made a home for himself in the 
wilderness, where a son, whom he named 
Barnabas, was born. Barnabas became the 
father of ten children, among whom were Will- 
iam Doyle, Barnabas Doyle, Jr., and Thomas 
John Sylvester Doyle, who was born July 
31, 1788, and became the father of the sub- 



ject of our sketch, and two other children, 
Thomas John Doyle, and Mary A. Doyle, who 
afterward married Hon. James Ferguson, of 
Chambersburg. Thomas John Sylvester Doyle 
reared his children on the farm which he tilled 
for his vocation, and when his youngest child, 
William B. Doyle, was thirteen years of age 
he apprenticed him to a cabinetmaker for 
three years; this became the young man's 
trade. When he was but seventeen years old 
a spirit of enterprise and indomitable cour- 
age turned the young fellow's steps toward 
the west. In 1842 he arrived in Akron, Ohio, 
having traveled almost the entire distance on 
foot and with no money to aid him. He found 
employment at his trade and in time bought 
out his employers and became a master cabi- 
netmaker. Several years later he profitably 
disposed of his business and formed a partner- 
ship, known as Doyle & Chamberlain, which 
engaged in the business of buying cattle for 
market, selling meat, etc. His next venture 
was a return to agriculture, which he pursued 
upon a large farm, which he had purchased in 
Coventry township. In August of 1865, with 
John H. Dix and Daniel Farnam, he pur- 
chased the lumber and manufacturing business 
of S. G. Wilson for the sum of $35,000, and 
organized the firm of W. B. Doyle & Co. 
Mr. Dix died in 1886, and in 1888 Mr. Doyle 
purchased the interest of Mr. Farnam and 
conducted the business alone until his death. 
He became a victim of the epidemic known as 
"La Grippe," and died in Akron on August 
6, 1890, at the age of sixty-five years, five 
months and one day. It should be stated 
that his mother was Anne (Taylor) Doyle, who 
was born at Carlisle, Pa., February 12, 1797, 
and who died in Akron, December 12, 1882. 
His mother was of the old-time Presbyterian 
school and in such an atmosphere his earliest 
years were spent. When the Methodist church 
was built in Akron he became a worshiper 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



619 



there, though never becoming a member of any 
church. He was a member of the republican 
party from the start, having voted for John C. 
Fremont, and he remained a stanch repub- 
hcan through all his days. He held no public 
civil office of any kind whatever and never 
wanted nor sought any. On July 30, 1857, 
he was made ensign of the Akron Rifles, Ohio 
volunteer militia, and in 1863 he was made 
captain of the Coventry company of national 
militia, organized under the act of April 14, 
1863. This company was ready to take part 
in the great struggle for the preservation of 
the Union, and was organized and maintained 
with that end in view, but was never called 
upon to go to the front. 

Mr. Doyle was married October 30, 1855, 
to Miss Harriet Sage, of Monroe 'county, N. 
Y. , who died November 6, 1862, leaving one 
child, Dayton A. Doyle. On June 9, 1867, 
Mr. Doyle married Mary Maud Lantz, of 
Akron, who died February 1 1, 1874, leaving 
three children, William B. Doyle, Jr. ; Delia 
May Doyle and Dean Lantz Doyle. In 1877 
he married again, and of this marriage there is 
one daughter, Anna Doyle, who survives. 



aHARLES H. FARWELL, one of the 
old settlers of Hudson, Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, and a man well known for 
his industry and integrity of charac- 
ter, was born at Concord, Mass., October 22, 
182 1, and came to Ohio in November, 1837. 
He first worked for his uncle, John Bateman, 
of Hudson, began learning the blacksmith's 
trade, and in 1839 moved to Twinsburg, where 
he finished learning his trade with Thomas 
Parmelee. He married, in Twinsburg, Ohio, 
May 14, 1845, Ellen Amelia Porter, who was 
born either in Naugatuck, or Prospect, Conn., 
November 17, 1826, a daughter of Arba and 
Atlanta (Beecher) Porter. Arba Porter was 



born in Connecticut, descended from the early 
Puritan settlers, and was a soldier in the war 
of 1812. The Beecher family was also of 
Puritan stock and of the family from which 
the famous Henry Ward Beecher descended. 
Mrs. Porter was first married to Myers Scott, 
and by him was the mother of Julia J., Cath- 
erine M., Harriet E. and Delia. Thus she 
was the mother of nine daughters, but of no 
sons, as will be seen by what follows. All 
her daughters, except Delia (who died of chol- 
era in Cleveland — aged fourteen years), lived 
to rear families of children. Mrs. Porter lived 
to be ninety-five years and five months old. 

Arba Porter was a farmer and he and wife 
were the parents of five children, viz: Julia A. , 
Jane B., Ellen A., Frances M. and Elizabeth. 
Mr. Porter and family came to Ohio in Sep- 
tember, 1833, and bought land two and one- 
half miles from Twinsburg, consisting of about 
100 acres heavily timbered. He lived about 
two years in a house on the farm of his brother 
William, who had previously settled in Twins- 
burg township. Both Mr. and Mrs. Porter 
were members of the Congregational church. 
Politically he was an old-line whig. He was 
a straight-forward, industrious man and useful 
citizen. He lived to be sixty-eight years of 
age and died on his farm. He was one of the 
sturdy pioneers of Twinsburg township, and 
was noted for his sterling worth and stanch 
moral character and reared an excellent family. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. 
Farwell resided one year in Twinsburg and 
came in 1846 to Hudson, Ohio, where Mr. 
Farwell engaged in the blacksmith business 
with Mr. Bateman, his uncle, in a shop on 
Main street. He remained in company with 
his uncle about two years and then engaged 
in partnership with Nelson Wadsvvorth, and a 
few years later engaged in the manufacture of 
carriages with Deacon Landfear, still continu- 
ing, however, in the blacksmith business with 



620, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



William Wadsworth. In January, 1870, he 
bought his present residence and an old store 
building, which had been used as a bakery, 
and which he used as his shop. The substan- 
tial residence was built by 'Squire Wheadon 
prior to 18 18, and was used for many years as 
a tavern and afterward as a seminary. It is 
built in the substantial manner of the pioneers, 
of heavy framed timbers, and is finished, both 
outside and in, with the best of lumber and 
ornamented in the old style by hand. Mr. 
Farwell has preserved the old homestead and 
greatly improved it, and it is one of the most 
attractive and dignified residences in Hudson. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Farwell have beed born 
Henry, May 17, 1846, at Twinsburg, Ohio; 
ArbaP. , born January 17, 1849, in Hudson, 
Ohio, and Cyrus, born June 14, 185 1, but 
who died October 17, 1851. Mr. Farwell 
was formerly a democrat, but was one of the 
original republicans and voted for John C. 
Fremont, the first presidential candidate of the 
republican party, and has since been a stanch 
republican. He was a strong supporter of the 
Union, and two of his sons, Arba and Henry, 
were soldiers in the Civil war. Arba enlisted 
at the age of only thirteen years as a drum- 
mer. His officers were Professors Young and 
Cuttler of Hudson college, who were respect- 
ively captain and lieutenant of the company, 
which was largely formed of the students of 
the Western Reserve college. Arba served 
with his company at Camp Chase, Ohio, 
guarding prisoners, and was on an exposition 
to Vicksburg, Miss., with prisoners for ex- 
change. Although so young, he performed 
his full service and was a good soldier. He 
was considered the best drummer of his regi- 
ment and was the pet of his company. The 
next year, both Arba and Henry enlisted at 
Cleveland, Ohio, in the One Hundred and 
Twenty-eighth volunteer infantry, to serve 
three years or during the war. Arba was as- 



signed to the post band, on the ' ' Gxeat West-, 
ern " of Sandusky, Ohio, and with this band, 
attended the funeral of Gen. McPherson, who 
was killed in the Atlanta campaign. Both the 
boys served until the close of the war. Mr. 
and Mrs. Farwell visited their boys in camp 
several times during their services, and saw 
the food furnished to the guards. 

Arba P. received a good education in the 
Western Reserve preparatory department, and 
afterwards in the Commercial department of 
Oberlin college. He then went to Cincinnati, 
where he became a bookkeeper. He married 
at Richmond, Ohio, Laura Salt, and their 
children were Monte C. and Alice E. Arba 
died, aged thirty-one years, at his father's 
home in Hudson, July 24, 1880. He was a 
man of high character and integrity, much 
trusted by his em-ployers. He was a very fine 
and beautiful penman and a skillful accountant 
and business man. Henry graduated at the 
Western Reserve college in 1872 and also at 
Lane's Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, three 
years later. He then entered the Presbyterian 
ministry and is now home missionary at 
Harper, Kans. , and is pastor of two churches. 
He married Mary McGinnis, daughter of Rev. 
Franklin and Lucy (Porter) McGinnis, of 
Rome, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Farwell have 
two children, viz: Franklin M. and Clara R. 
Mr. Farwell is an honored citizen of Hudson 
and has been a member of the town council 
several terms. Fraternally he is a non-affili^ 
ating Odd Fellow. He has always been an 
industrious, hard-working man, noted for his 
sturdy traits of character and frugality, and 
standing well as a citizen. He is the son of 
Cyrus and Rebecca (Bateman) Farwell. Cy- 
rus Farwell was born in Concord, Mass., as 
was his wife, and both descended from the old 
Puritan families in New England of English 
stock. He was a cooper by trade, and his 
children were Elzina, Mary S., Charles H., 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



621 



Adaline, (died young), Harriet, William, John, 
Elizabeth H., and Adeline, second. Mr. Far- 
well was a soldier in the war of 1812. The 
Farwell family had lived in Concord from 
early colonial times. After the death of their 
son, Arba, Mr. and Mrs. Farwell, our sub- 
jects, made a home for his widow and their 
two children until they were well educated 
and ready to begin life for themselves. Will- 
iam Farwell, brother of our subject, was a 
soldier in the Civil war and is now a resident 
of Akron, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Farwell, our 
subjects, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary 
of their marriage — their golden wedding — May 

14, 1895, and received many tasteful and ele- 
gant testimonials of friendship and regard 
from far-distant friends and relatives, as well 
as those nearer home. Mrs. Farwell is a 
lady of rare intelligence, clear judgment and 
marked traits of character, strong conscien- 
tious convictions and religious principles in- 
herited from her Puritan ancestry. Through- 
out her life she has been a follower and an 
advocate of high moral principles, and her 
many friends justly place a high value upon 
her good opinion. 

Joseph Farwell and Hannah Farwell are 
the first of the name of whom there is any 
record in America. From their son, Joseph, 
born May 24, 1670, this line descends: Joseph 
Farwell, born August 5, 1696; Thomas, born 
October 11, 1698; Hannah, May 6, 1701; 
Elizabeth, December 31, 1704; Edward, July 
12, 1706; Mary, February i, 1709; John, 
June 23, 171 1 ; Sarah, February 26, 1721, 
died July 4, 1721. Joseph Farwell (second) 
married December 24, 17 19, Mary (Gibson) 
Farwell. Their children were Anna, born 
February 19, 1721; Isaac, March 6, 1723, 
died May 18, 1740; Joseph, September 20, 
1725, died August 27, 1758; Jonathan, May 

15, 1730, died November 29, 1761; Thomas, 
born July 31, 1733, died February 20, 1825; 



Olive, born June 24, 1735, died at a date not 
remembered; Mary, born at a date forgotten, 
and Susannah, born August 8, 1742. The 
children of Thomas and Sarah (Davis) Far- 
well were Ephraim, born October 31, 1760, 
died August 13, 1825; Thomas, born January 
26, 1763, died May 29, 1829; Joseph, born 
May 13, 1765, died January 25, 1829; Sarah, 
born January 9, 1768, and died at date for- 
gotten; Levi, born November 7, 1770, died 
September 14, 1858; William, born March 26, 
1780, died December 21, 1863. 



^~>^ AMUEL FAUBLE, a respected citizen 
•^^^k* and stonemason of West Richfield, 
hs,^^ Summit county, Ohio, and an ex- 
soldier of the Civil war, was born in 
Chippewa township, Wayne county, Ohio, De- 
cember 19, 1842, a son of Samuel and Jane 
(HaHowell) Fauble. 

Michael Fauble, grandfather of Samuel, 
was born in the Keystone state, a son of a 
Revolutionary soldier who had come from 
Germany and had settled in Pennsylvania prior 
to the declaration of independence. Michael 
was married in his native state and later be- 
came a pioneer of Chippewa township, Wayne 
county, Ohio, where he had 160 acres of wild 
land, which he cleared up from the forest and 
converted into a fine farm, on which he passed 
the remainder of his life, dying at the patri- 
archal age of ninety-nine years, a consistent 
member of the Methodist church and a greatly 
respected citizen. 

Samuel Fauble, father of Samuel, the sub- 
ject, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, was 
reared a farmer, and there married Miss Jane 
Hallowell, a daughter of a Stark county, Ohio, 
pioneer, and to this union were born Josiah, 
Cyrus, Samuel (all soldiers in the Civil war), 
Caroline, Martha, Emeline, Elizabeth and 



622 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Loisa. From Wayne county Mr. Fauble 
moved to Medina county, in 1843, whence he 
came to Summit county, in 1844, where he 
became a substantial and respected citizen, 
and in politics was a democrat. In middle 
life he became blind, and at the age of forty- 
five years died while on a trip to Illinois, leav- 
ing 210 acres of good land to his children. 
His widow, some time afterward, became the 
wife of Clark Woodruff. Of the children 
spoken of above, Josiah enlisted for three 
years in an Illinois regiment, but was taken 
sick after the battle of Pea Ridge and came very 
near dying; Cyrus was in the One Hundred 
and Fifty-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry and 
served about fifteen months. The military 
record of Samuel will be given further on. 

Samuel Fauble, the subject proper of this 
biographical memoir, was brought to Rich- 
field township, Summit county, in 1844, re- 
ceived a good common-school education, and 
was reared to farming. In i860 he went to 
Delta, Fulton county, and was engaged in 
farm work until his enlistment. August 27, 
1 86 1, at Delta, in company I, Thirty-eighth 
Ohio volunteer infantr}', to serve three years, 
and was mustered in at Camp Trimble, De- 
fiance county, September 4, of the same year, 
and did good and faithful duty until honorably 
discharged at Louisville, Ky. , September 13, 
1864. He fought at Mill Spring, Shiloh, 
Stone River, Perryville, Hoover Gap, Chick- 
amauga and Missionary Ridge, and, in the 
Atlanta campaign, took part in the battles of 
Dalton, Resaca, Burnt Hickory, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Pumpkinvine Creek, Peach Tree 
Creek and the general engagement before At- 
lanta and at Jonesboro. In the general charge 
here, his regiment lost forty-eight men killed, 
and was second as to amount of loss in killed 
in one battle, by any regiment from Ohio; it 
captured three lines of the enemy's works, and 
his division captured 1,000 prisoners. The 



only mishap on the field that befell Mr. Fauble 
was a slight flesh-wound from a bit of shell at 
Chickamauga, although his clothing was shot 
through by rifle-balls no less than five times. 
He was sick, however, after the battle of Mill 
Spring, having had to wade waist-deep through 
Fishing creek, to reach the battle field, and 
go through the same experience on returning 
from victory, and was confined in hospital at 
Somerset, Ky. , three weeks, and later, for 
one week, in field hospital. During his term 
of service he was at one time detailed to drive 
a supply wagon for three months, and at Cor- 
inth, Miss., was detailed to drive an ammuni- 
tion wagon, which he drove fifteen months, 
and had charge of this vehicle at the battle of 
Chickamagua. He was a brave soldier, was 
always promptly at his post of duty, and was 
ever willing and cheerful in doing the neces- 
sary work that befell him as a defender of his 
country's flag. 

On his return to Delta, Ohio, Mr. Fauble 
engaged in the hotel business, but shortly af- 
terward went to Medina county, where he 
married, December 19, 1865, Miss Martha E. 
Banford, who was born in Hinckley township, 
that county, February 2, 1844, a daughter of 
Cyrus and Almira (Patch) Banford, the for- 
mer of whom was a tailor by trade, but died, 
in middle age, in 1846, leaving his widow with 
four children, viz: Martha E., Julia, Celia 
and Albert. Mrs. Banford afterward married 
Thomas Cole, and to her second marriage 
was born one child — Millie. For three years 
after marriage Mr. Fauble lived in Hinckley 
township, Medina county, and then came to 
West Richfield, Summit county, where he has 
since followed his trade of stonemason. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Fauble have been born 
four children, viz: Cyrus Albert, Louie, Le- 
Roy and Preston, but of these Cyrus Albert 
was accidently killed while hunting, Decem- 
ber 4, 1893. He was a promising young man 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



625 



of twenty-two years of age, and, it is needless 
to say, was greatly mourned by his parents 
and hundreds of young associates. 

In politics Mr. Fauble is a republican, and 
cast his first presidential vote for Abraham 
Lincoln, when that martyr was nominated for 
his second term, and has voted the republican 
tici<et ever since. He has served as com- 
mander of Goldwood post, G. A. R., No. 104, 
at West Richfield, and is a member in good 
standing of Meridian Sun lodge, No. 266, F. 
& A. M., of Richfield, in which he has held 
the offices of junior and senior warden; in 
chapter No. 30, royal arch Masons, he is mas- 
ter of the second vail. Mr. Fauble, as a citi- 
zen and soldier, has attained a high position 
in the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and fully 
merits all the respect that is paid to him. 



>^OHN ELSEFFER SHARP (deceased), 
■ ticket and freight agent for the New 
/• 1 York, Lake Erie & W^estern Railway 
company at Ravenna, Ohio, for twenty- 
two years, was born in Sharon Springs, N. Y. , 
January 25, 1830, and was a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Bodine) Sharp, both natives of the 
Empire state and parents of four children, viz: 
John E. (subject), Henry, Ellen J. (widow of 
James Hudson), and Thomas K. The pater- 
nal grandfather of subject was born in Ger- 
many, but was a small boy when brought to 
America by his parents, who settled in Ulster 
county, N. Y. ; the maternal grandfather. John 
Bodine, was a native of New York state, was 
a farmer, had born to him a large family, and 
was quite an old man at the time of his death. 
John Sharp, the father of subject, was a 
farmer and hotel-keeper, and first married a 
Miss Markle, who bore him ten children, of 
whom two are still living, viz: Rebecca, 
widow of Seth P. Branch, of Ravenna; and 



25 



Julia Ann, wife of Stephen Merenes, now 
deceased. 

John E. Sharp, whose name opens this biog- 
raphy, was reared on his father's farm, and also 
learned brick and stonemasonry and phistering, 
when young, and at the age of seventeen years 
came frotri New York to Ravenna, Ohio, where 
he followed his trade for a number of years, 
or perhaps until the fall of 1864, when he en- 
tered the employ of the Erie Railway com- 
pany, for which, with the exception of about 
three jears, he worked in various capacities, 
and lor the past twenty-two years in that of 
ticket and freight agent. 

Mr. Sharp was first united in marriage, in 
1856. with Miss Lavinna Kellogg, daughter of 
Lansing and Caroline (Bishop) Kellogg, the 
union resulting in the birth of three children — 
Alfred L., Dwight E. and Harry S. The eld- 
est of these. Alfred L. , has been twice married, 
and had b( rn to him. by his first wife, one 
son (John Oakley Sharp), he is now a hard- 
ware merchant in Georgetown, Te.x., and has 
married, for his second wife. Miss Kate 
Leaville. Dwight E., who is clerking for the 
American Cereal company in Chicago, 111., 
married Mi-s Eva Jones, and to this union 
have be n born three children — Mabel, Don 
and Pearl. Harry S. is living with his broth- 
er, Alfred L., in Texas, and is in the employ 
of the Pacific Express company. The honored 
mother of the above family, Mrs. Laviima 
Sharp. v\as called to her final rest in 1877, 
and died in the faith of the Universalist 
church. 

In 1878 John E. Sharp was united to Mrs. 
Mary E. Cope, widow of Horner Cope and 
daughter of Charles D. and Abi ( Smith ) 
Thomps<m, and this union was blessed with 
one son — Charles R. 

Mr. Sharp was a chapter Mason, and in 
politic-; was a democrat; for thr<e years he 
served his fellow-citizens as township trustee 



626 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and filled the office to the entire satisfaction of 
the public. That he was faithful and true in 
his responsible situation is fully evidenced by 
the long time he was in the railroad company's 
employ, and it is further in evidence that he 
was at all times polite and obliging in his 
intercourse with the public, as no word of com- 
plaint was ever uttered against him. Mr. 
Sharp died March i8, 1897, sincerely mourned 
by the surviving members of his family and a 
large circle of true friends. 



^>^^ORBERT F. GENEREAUX, of 

T M Macedonia, Northfield township, Sum- 
l ^ mit county, Ohio, and ex-prisoner of 
the Civil war, a veteran soldier and 
an honored citizen, comes of sterling French 
ancestry, and was born February 7, 1842, at 
Mt. Clemens, Mich., a son of Henry and 
Monac (Chapaton) Genereaux. He was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Mt. Clemens, 
and learned the cooper's trade of his father. 
He came to Wood county, Ohio, in i860, and 
enlisted at Tontogany, in April, 1861, on the 
first call for 75,000 men, in company B, 
Twenty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve 
three months, and was honorably discharged 
in August at Columbus, Ohio. This service 
was in West Virginia and was in two battles 
at Scair Creek, when his brigade drove Gen. 
Wise's troops to Harper's Ferry, and was also 
in many skirmishes. After this service he 
went to Mt. Clemens, Mich., and on August 
15, 1862, re-enlisted for three years and was 
immediately promoted to second duty ser- 
geant, company F, Twenty-second regiment, 
Michigan volunteer infantry, and was honorably 
discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 9, 1865. 
At the battle of Chickamauga the entire bri- 
gade was captured by the rebels after a gallant 
tight. Mr. Genereaux belonged to the Four- 
te nth army corps, Whittaker's brigade, and 



supported the artillery. September 20, 1S63, 
the corps was ordered to the front. The 
right of the Union army was falling back in 
great confusion. The corps charged the 
enemy, and the brigade drove Longstreet's 
forces down from the third elevation; shortly 
afterward recharged, but were repulsed. The 
enemy made a strong effort to mass the whole 
artillery against the Union men, but the at- 
tempt was futile. Then the enem}- recharged 
with infantry, and the Union troops continued 
to repulse their charges until night, when they 
were surrounded. The Confederates marched 
the Union prisoners three or four rods, and 
carried torch-lights in order that the surren- 
dered soldierey would not step on the wounded 
and dead. Snodgrass Ridge was where this 
great slaughter was made, and here is where 
the beautiful monuments are erected, marking 
this spot as the place where so many of the 
brave boys fell in defense of the nation. In 
company F, Twenty-second Michigan infantry, 
there were only fourteen of the enlisted sol- 
diers left to be taken prisoners, of whom twelve 
died in Confederate prison pens. N. H. 
Miller, of Mount Clemens, Mich., and Mr. 
Genereaux were the only two survivors. 

Mr. Genereaux with the others was taken 
to Belle Isle, on the James river, the com- 
missioned officers being placed in Libby 
prison. Mr. Genereaux and most of the pris- 
oners had no shelter, and being here from 
October i to along in December, suffered 
greatly from cold and hunger — two sticks of 
cord wood only being allowed for 100 men. 
The rations, issued twice each day, consisted 
of one-half pint of bean soup containing two 
tablespoonfuls of beans, with bugs in them, 
and one-fourth pound of bread. Mr. Gener- 
eaux had no blanket and slept on the bare 
ground. The island was very low, being 
really a sand bank, but a few inches above the 
river, and very damp. It was very bleak and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



627 



swept by cold, severe winds, and during the 
winter the river James was frozen over three 
times. The rations of soup were so thin that 
the soldiers were famished for meat and killed 
and ate a dog belonging to Lieut. Boisseux, 
the commandant, and he starved them twenty- 
four hours in punishment. From here Mr. 
Genereaux was taken to Crew's tobacco ware- 
house in Richmond, Va. , in December, and 
there the scanty rations were served once 
each day. Mr. Genereaux was taken sick 
and was sent to the Confederate Marine hos- 
pital, Richmond, and there had for rations 
wheat bread, rice soup, with meat cut in it, 
and a good cot-bed — the bed and bedding 
being furnished by the Sanitary Commission 
of the north. Mr. Genereaux was returned to 
prison after two weeks, and placed in the 
Pemberton tobacco warehouse — the rations 
here being the same as in the Crews prison, 
but the officers were meaner. At New Year's 
they were left without food for over thirty 
hours. Mr. Genereaux was next taken with a 
train load of prisoners to Andersonville, where 
he arrived February 26, 1864. This prison 
had just been opened, and not yet completed, 
and Mr. Genereaux was one of the first squad 
of prisoners to enter it, not more than seven- 
teen prisoners of the first detachment of 100 
having entered before him. He remained 
there about six months, and the condition of 
the prisoners daily grew worse. There was 
no shelter from the cold, but some wood was 
left from building the stockade. The rations 
were corn meal — ground cob and all — one pint 
per day, and sometimes a little very poor 
beef, and two skillets were allowed to each 
100 men, with which to bake the bread. Mr. 
Genereaux and four comrades built a hut of 
logs covered with pine boughs, which was 
about 8x10 feet wide and seven feet high, 
and they messed together. This was the best 
shelter in the stockade, and they were offered 



$500 in greenbacks for the logs in this hut for 
fuel purposes. Mr. Genereaux worked at his 
trade of cooper and made little tubs and pails 
and sold them to the prisoners to get water in, 
and in this way he sometimes made $6 per 
day and thus bought off the guards as well as 
others who came in to peddle navy beans and 
corn meal, by this means preserving his life 
and assisting his comrades. Near the close, 
three of his comrades died in the hut while he 
was there. George Walker, a schoolmate of 
Mr. Genereaux, had been taken prisoner. He 
was a member of company G, Twenty-second 
Michignn, and had a hole dug in the side hill 
as a shelter for himself and two comrades. 
He died in a dreadful condition of starvation, 
and his two comrades died by his side. At 
times 200 men died every twenty-four hours 
and were taken out by the prisoners and 
buried. Mr. Genereaux took scurvy and was 
in a bad condition for some time. He sold a 
rubber blanket for $50 greenbacks, to a rebel, 
and paid $30 for a watermelon, and sold the 
melon for $25, retaining the green part, and 
with it and a few Irish potatoes cured himself 
of the disorder. He was next taken to Charles- 
ton. S. C, and was in that city exposed for 
several days to the iire of the Union guns, 
among them the famous "Swamp Angel," 
the prisoners being exposed on the streets. 
From here he was taken to Savannah, and 
shortly afterward to Macon, Ga., and placed 
in a stockade prison for several months, be- 
coming moon blind from exposure, also suf- 
fered from diarrhea and was cared for by his 
comrades. While there the prisoners held an 
eh ction and voted 3,000 for McClelland and 
5,000 for Lincoln. This made the officer in 
charge very angry, and he cut their rations off 
for one day and cursed vigorously besides. 
From there he was taken to Blackshear, Fla., 
and k pt a few days, and was then sent to 
Florence and remained till February, 1865, 



628 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



There Mr. Genereaux was taken sick with 
typhoid fever and his comrades took good care 
of him, he being ward' master. One time he 
was threatened with the dungeon by Maj. 
Winder for trying to give a piece of bread to a 
corrirade, but was saved by his doctor, Tebbs. 
He was taken from Florence to Wilmington, 
N. C. , and paroled February 27, 1865, having 
been a prisoner of war seventeen months and 
seven days. He was in a very weak and 
feeble condition, emaciated to skin and bones, 
and it was a long time before he was even 
partially recovered, and he still suffers from 
his imprisonment. At Andersonville prison 
the skillets were taken from the Union captives 
for the use of the Confederates, but Mr. 
Genereaux buried his skillet, for which he had 
been offered $100, and thus preserved it. 

Mr. Genereaux married, in Mt. Clemens, 
May 7, 1867, Frances L. Connor, native of 
Mt. Clemens and a daughter of John H. and 
Josephine T. (Bondy) Connor. The children 
born to this union are named Celia, Franklin, 
Arthur, Alice and Olive. In 1866 he went to 
Oil City, Pa., and worked in the cooperage 
business; in 1868 he went to Cleveland and 
built a cooper shop, and in 1875 came to 
Macedonia, Ohio, and engaged in coopering 
and farming. Mr. Genereaux is a member of 
Royal Dunham post, No. 177, G. A. R., at 
Bedford, Ohio, and in politics is a republican, 
and cast his first presidential vote in the ranks 
for honest Abe. He is a straightforward and 
honored citizen, and stands high in the esteem 
of the public. 

Mr. Genereaux had two brothers in the 
Civil war — Peter was captain of company B, 
Fifth Michigan infantry, and was killed at the 
battle of Gettysburg. He was the youngest 
commanding officer in the state, receiving his 
command for bravery, and was aid-de-camp to 
Gov. Blair. Augustus served six months in a 
Michigan regiment. Mrs. Genereaux also had 



two brothers in the Civil war — Darius in the 
Michigan infantry, and Franklin in the navy. 

Henry Chapaton, father of Mrs. Genereaux, 
was born in Detroit, Mich. His grandfather 
came from France with a colony in early 
times, settled in Detroit and was a surgeon in 
the army. Henry Chapaton, the grandfather, 
was a soldier in the war of 1812. 

Mrs. Genereaux's grandfather, Richard 
Connor, came from Ireland with his brother, 
Henry; both served in the Revolutionary war 
and were early settlers of Detroit. Theressa 
Trombley, the maternal grandmother, was 
born in Detroit, and in the war of 1812 was 
warned, by friendly Indians, that her family 
was to be massacred. She took her two chil- 
dren from Connor's creek, near Detroit, and 
paddled through lake St. Clair and up the 
Clinton river a day and a night to Frederick, 
a trading point, a distance of thirty-eight 
miles. Her husband was in the army at the 
time and she had no one to protect herself and 
children. 



^^>^YLVESTER GRIEST, an old soldier 
•^^^k* of the Civil war and a son of one of 

^^ J the pioneers of Northfield township, 
Summit county, Ohio, springs from 
an old family of Pennsylvania, his grandfather, 
Willard Griest, having come from England. 

Cornelius Griest, father of subject, was 
born in Pennsylvania near Petersburg (York 
Springs), Adams county, was a farmer and 
married Elizabeth Toland. He brought his 
wife and three children to Ohio, first located 
near Salem, and came to Northfield township, 
Summit county, among the early pioneers. 
He cleared up a farm of eight)' acres from the 
woods and was a respected citizen. His chil- 
dren were Eliza, George W., James T. , 
Augustus F., Eli, Lemuel D., Cornelius, Syl- 
vester and Henrietta P., the last named dying 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



629 



an infant. Mr. Griest died wheti seventy- 
three years old on his farm, and was an in- 
dustrious and hard-working pioneer. 

Sylvester Griest, our subject, was born 
February i6, 1839, in Northfield township and 
attended the pioneer schools a short time. He 
enlisted, August 4, 1862, at Fort Wayne, Ind., 
in Capt. C. B. Oakley's company E, Eighty- 
eighth regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry, 
to serve three years or during the war, and was 
honorably discharged at Louisville, Ky., July 
12, 1S65, on account of the close of the war. 
He was taken sick at Murfreesboro, Tenn. , 
with malaria and fever and ague, and was in 
field hospital in Murfreesboro, and in hospitals 
at Louisville, Ky. , Camp Dennison, Cincinnati 
and Columbus, Ohio. He was detailed at 
Louisville, Ivy., as nurse, was also in charge 
of the dining-hall, about one year. After his 
discharge he returned to Summit county, and 
resumed farming. He married, November 28, 
1866, in Hudson township, Sarah E. Collar, 
who was born June 9, 1841, on the homestead 
where they now reside, a daughter of Sidney 
S. and Caroline (Stone) Collar. 

Sidney S. Collar was born August 2, 1802, 
in Vermont, at Warren, was a farmer, and 
came to Ohio, when a young man, married in 
Summit county and settled in Hudson town- 
ship, one mile south of their present home- 
stead, late in the 'thirties. Mr. Collar bought 
eighty-two acres of land, cleared the most of it 
from the woods and made a good home. His 
children were Caroline L. , Emeline E. and 
Sarah E. Mr. Collar was a member of the 
Congregational church, was in politics a re- 
publican, and was a hard-working, industrious 
man, respected by all, and reared an e.xcellent 
family. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Griest, our 
subjects, settled on the Collar homestead and 
here have since lived. To them have been 
born Sidney D., July 20, 1869, and Frederick 



S., January 2, 1877. Mrs. Griest is a member 
of the Disciples' church at Hudson, and Mr. 
Griest is in politics a republican, cast his first 
presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and 
stands well in his neighborhood as a good 
citizen. Mrs. Caroline (Stone) Collar, the 
mother of Mrs. Griest, is a daughter of Nathan- 
iel and Sarah (Hallenbeck) Stone. Nathaniel 
Stone came from Connecticut about 18 10 and 
brought his family. The Stones were of Eng- 
lish descent; the Hallenbecks are of Dutch an- 
cestry. Mr. Stone was a pioneer of Hudson 
township, and Streetsboro, Portage county. 
He owned about 500 acres of land, cleared up 
a large farm, and was a well-known pioneer. 
His children are Caroline, Charles, Sidney, 
Emeline, Rozell, Orlando, Chelsey, Helen and 
Belinda — all now deceased except Sidney. 



|r^>^AMUEL W. HARRIS, a respected 
*^^^^ citizen of Tallmadge township, Sum- 

f\^^y rnit county, Ohio, was born in the 
township of Coventry, August 27, 
1843, a son of William H. and Mary (Lewis) 
Harris, of whom further mention will be made. 
He was reared on a farm, received a good 
common-school education, and in the later 
days of his minority was in the coal business. 
October 13, 1863, he enlisted in the Ohio 
national guards for five years, and was mus- 
tered into the United States volunteer service 
by Gov. Brough, as corporal of company D, 
One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio volunteer 
infantry. May 2, 1864, to serve 100 days, and 
was placed on duty at Arlington Heights, Va., 
and served out his term. As a member of the 
national guards of Ohio he was honorably dis- 
charged May I, 1866. 

Mr. Harris was first united in marriage, 
September 5, 1867, in Tallmadge township, 
with Miss Anna B. Hughes, who was born in 
Portage county, Ohio, September 5, 1847, ^ 



630 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



daughter of David and Elizabeth (Davis) 
Hughes. After marriage Mr. Harris carried on 
the coal business until 1873, when he bought 
his present farm of 1 13 acres, on which he has 
made excellent-improvements and which he has 
placed under a high state of cultivation. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Harris were born the following- 
named children: William H., Archer H., 
Austin D. , Howard C, Stanley W. , Mary E. 
and Benjamin B. The mother of these children 
was called away in February, 1886, a member 
of the Congregational church, and the second 
marriage of Mr. Harris was to Miss Lydia A. 
Felmly, who was born February 10, 1868, in 
Portage township. Summit county, a daughter 
of Jacob and Susannah (Paulus) Felmly. 

William H. Harris, father of Samuel W. , 
was born in the southern part of Wales, in 
November, 1808, a son of Henry and Anne 
Harris. He was reared a coal miner, and, 
when a young man, married Ann Rowland, 
who died in Wales, leaving one child, William. 
He then bame to America, engaged in mining 
near Pottsville, Pa., and later came to Ohio, 
eventually becoming an owner and operator 
of extensive mines in different districts of the 
state. He married, in Ravenna, Portage 
county, on the Kent homestead, June 19, 1841, 
Miss Mary Lewis, who was born in Benning- 
ham. England, a daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth Lewis, the result being the follow- 
ing-named children: John H., born March 9, 
1842; Samuel W., August 27,' 1843; Henry, 
April 6, 1845; Benjamin, November 6, 1847; 
Mary A., April 8, 1850; Reuben, August 13, 
1852; Myron, September 2, 1854, and Isabella, 
November 18, 1856. Three of these sons 
served in the Civil war, viz: John H., who 
was in the three-year service with the One 
Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, and suffered as a prisoner at Anderson- 
ville; Samuel W., and Hear}', who served in 
the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth. Beside 



giving these three children to the cause of 
freedom, Mr. Harris furnished money liberally 
for the purpose of securing men to aid the 
same righteous cause. Mr. Harris, after mar- 
riage, lived in what is now the Sixth ward of 
Akron until 1849, when he bought the home- 
stead in Tallmadge township, beside which he 
owned another fine farm. In politics he was 
a vvhig, and afterward a republican, and served 
as township trustee. Fraternally he was a 
Mason, and in religion a Congregationalist, 
and in this faith he died December 18, 1868, 
his widow dying in the same faith in 1874. 

John H. Harris, the eldest child of Will- 
iam H. and Mary (Lewis) Harris, was born in 
Summit county, received a common-school 
education, and was reared to farming and coal 
mining. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Tall- 
madge, in company C, One Hundred and 
Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served 
until honorably discharged at Camp Chase, 
Ohio, May 11, 1865. He did duty in Ohio, 
Kentuck}' and Tennessee, and was in several 
skirmishes with Morgan's men, particularly at 
LaVergne, Tenn. December 5, 1864, he was 
captured by the rebel Forrest, was taken to 
Minden, Miss., and thence to Andersonville, 
N. C, in which infamous den he was confined 
until April 21, 1865, and three-quarters 
starved with 7,000 other unfortunates, his 
blanket, of which he was fortunately not 
robbed, being his only shelter, bed and cover- 
ing. His sufferings were simply terrible, and 
he was reduced to mere skin and bones, weigh- 
ing but seventy-five pounds when released. 
He was on board the ill-fated steamer Sultana, 
on his way homeward, when the boilers ex- 
ploded about three o'clock in the morning. 
After having floated down the Mississippi river 
on a plank, to which five or six others had clung, 
but who, from exhaustion, were compelled to 
let go and were drowned — the plank finally 
drifted into a tree-top about six miles down 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



631 



stream from the wreck, where Mr. Harris was 
rescued, half frozen to death. After being 
nursed in hospital at Memphis for a week, Mr. 
Harris was sent to Camp Chase, and there 
was discharged, as already mentioned. Since 
the war Mr. Harris has resided on the old 
homestead in Tallmadge. He is a republican 
in politics and a highly respected citizen. 

Samuel W. Harris is also a republican in 
politics and has held the office of township 
trustee. Fraternally he is a member of Elm 
Grove lodge, No. 501, Knights of Pythias, at 
Tallmadge. Mrs. Harris is a member of the 
Methodist church. Mr. Harris is an upright, 
straightforward citizen, liberal and enterpris- 
ing, and is honored by all who know him. 



BRED L. HARRINGTON was born on 
the farm he now owns in Northamp- 
ton township, Summit county, Ohio, 
October 14, 1834, a son of Job and 
Susan (Hartle) Harrington, who were among 
the earliest pioneers of the township. Job 
Harrington, father of subject, was a native of 
Bennington, Vt., was born March 9, 1792, 
and was a son of Richard and Roby (Perkinsj 
Harrington. Richard Harrington was born in 
Rhode Island in 1756, was married about 
1774, and soon after moved to Sandgate, Vt. 
When the British general, Burgoyne, was 
marching his army south from Canada, Mr. 
Harrington joined the Continental army as a 
volunteer and took part in the battle of Still- 
water. In later years he was in the habit of 
occasionally relating the incidents of that 
eventful day and of declaring that he was never 
more animated or more pleased than when 
fighting for colonial independence. To Rich- 
ard and Roby Harrington were born fifteen 
children, viz: Asa, Catherine, Leonard, Lydia, 
Phebe, Job, William, Joseph, Roby, Con- 



stance, Richard, John, Abram, Elisha and 
Hannah. 

In 1812 Job Harrington started on foot 
from Bennington, Vt., for Tallmadge township, 
Summit county, Ohio, and on foot he reached 
his destination the same year. Here he pur- 
chased a tract of land for his parents, built 
them a log cabin in the heart of the wilder- 
ness and partly cleared a space for farming, 
and in the following year his parents joined 
him. In the fall of 18 14 Job Harrington mar- 
ried Miss Susan Hartle, who was born in 
Georgetown, Pa., January 27, 1796, and the 
next year he purchased and moved upon the 
farm in Northampton township now owned by 
his son, Fred L,, the subject of this memoir. 
Eleven children were born to this union, in 
the following order: John, George, Seth W., 
James, Clarissa, Warren, Alvan, William, 
Fred L. , Wallace and Newton. The mother 
of this family was called from earth November 
9, 1849, and for his second helpmate Mr. Har- 
rington married, November 30, 1851, MaryM. 
Paige. Mr. Harrington died March 24, 1869, 
and Mrs. Mary M. Harrington was killed in a 
street-car accident, in Cleveland, in 1895. Job 
Harrington was regarded as among the best 
of the citizens of Northampton township. He 
had held many offices of trust and honor, was 
a life-long member of the Methodist church, 
was the warm friend of morality and education, 
and had done as much as any other resident 
to advance these and to promote the material 
welfare of the people among whom he had so 
long made his home. 

Fred L. Harrington married, October it, 
1866, Mahala Carter, who was born October 
II, 1842, and this union has been blessed with 
five children, viz: Charles E. , born February 
24, 1869; Burt C, April 19, 1872; Frank, 
December 13, 1874; Myron E., May 22, 1877, 
and Laurel, July 9, 1886. Mr. Harrington 
owns a fine farm of 120 acres, which, through 



632 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



long cultivation and careful management, has 
been developed into one of the best in the 
township. It has been thoroughly improved 
in all its departments, and its buildings are 
neat, substantial and commodious. In poli- 
tics Mr. Harrington is a democrat and has ever 
enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his fel- 
low-townsmen, whom he has served as town- 
ship trustee two terms, as treasurer for thir- 
teen years, and for a number of years as a 
rhember of the school board. 



>Y* B. SWITZER.-- -An eminent writer 
m has appropriately written: " The true 
/• 1 history of a nation is best told in the 
lives of its illustrious citizens," and the 
remark may be accepted as an axiom in com- 
piling the biographies of the more prominent 
citizens of a county. In the present instance 
it is peculiarly pertinent, as will be found by 
a perusal of the following lines, descriptive of 
the life of J. B. Switzer, who is a representa- 
tive and energetic agriculturist, and a gentle- 
man of more than ordinary educational ad- 
vantages, and comes from one of the best 
known and most highly respected pioneer fam- 
ilies in Summit county, Ohio. He was born 
in Coventry township, August 8, 1846, and is 
a son of Charles and Rebecca (Tousley) 
Switzer. 

Charles Switzer, a well-known pioneer of 
this county, was a native of Franklin county, 
Pa., and was a mere lad when his father, An- 
drew, emigrated to Ravenna, Portage county, 
Ohio, but later came to Summit county. 
Charles, the father of J. B. Brewster, served 
as an apprentice to the trade of carpenter and 
joiner, although his chief occupation through 
life has been that of an agriculturist, and it is 
said that he is one of the most wealthy farm- 
ers in Summit county, as he possesses a vast 
amount of real estate within the limits of Sum- 



mit and Portage counties. To his marriage 
with Miss Rebecca Tousley, daughter of John 
and Rebecca (Bishop) Tousley, both natives 
of Connecticut, have been born five children, 
viz: John A., a prominent agriculturist of 
Portage county and the father of five children, 
who are well educated, the eldest being now a 
law student under Mr. Willhelm, of Akron. 
The second born is Earnest, who graduated 
from the high school of Akron and is now en- 
gaged in teaching; Nettie, the third, is also a 
graduate of the Akron high school; Carrie and 
Earl are attending the district school. The 
second child of Charles Switzer was J. B., of 
this sketch; the third is L. Almira. who was 
first married to William Mongold, a carpenter, 
who died but a few years after his marriage; 
her next marriage was with John Brown, of 
CuyahoRa county, where she holds a position 
as postmistress. Orlando, the fourth child, 
died at an early age through an accident, and 
the fifth child is Daniel Scott Switzer, a well- 
known farmer of Springfield township. 

J. B. Switzer was primarily educated in 
the common schools, and was then given a 
training in the seminary at Greensburg, Ohio, 
and was also especially trained in vocal music, 
and qualified for teaching the art of voice cul- 
ture by taking lessons at the Akron normal 
school, and also under such well-known music 
teachers as N. Coe Stewart, of Cleveland, 
James North, of St. Louis, Mo., Miss Trow- 
biidge, of Michigan, Cook & Son, of New 
York, and finally from Prof. Hammerstine. 

In 1869, at the age of twenty-one, Mr. 
Switzer left the parental homestead and fol- 
lowed his profession, with marked success, in 
Summit and adjoining counties for several 
years, and then became instructor in music in 
the public schools, in which vocation he is still 
employed, his experience in this line now cov- 
ering a period of about thirty years, and he is 
also extensively engaged in agricultural pur- 




/l ti/^c.Q.a^l p.^U^^eAjj4i^i^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



637 



suits, being owner of one of the best farms in 
Summit county. He has likewise devoted 
considerable time and attention to drilling 
for oil. 

About 1892, when the well-known oil ex- 
pert, H. D. Van Campen, of Belmont county, 
N. Y., made a tour of the west tracing the 
oil veins, he came to Toledo, Ohio, but con- 
cluded to change his course and came to 
Wadsworth, Ohio, and here convinced some 
of the leading capitalists that oil e.xisted in 
large quantities, and could be obtained by bor- 
ing. He wassuccessfulininaugarating a com- 
pany and the drilling process began. They 
reached a depth of 2,700 feet, when they 
struck a vein of salt, which was 300 feet thick, 
and those financially interested called a halt 
against Mr. Van Campen's efforts. They 
thought that salt was as good an enterprise as 
they cared for, and it is true that the citizens 
of Wadsworth have one of the best salt plants 
in the state. Mr. Van Campen was not satis- 
fied, since he was under the strong impression 
that oil existed there, so he came on to Akron, 
and here was successful in convincing a cap- 
italist that oil could be obtained in Summit 
county. So the work began here, and the 
same vein of salt was struck as at Wadsworth, 
but at a slightly greater depth, and the citizen 
was of the same opinion as the Wadsworth 
people; but the tenacity, will and fortitude of 
Mr. Van Campen grew stronger, and the pro- 
cess of drilling was proceeded with, 250 feet 
farther, as the expert had desired, and an 
abundance of oil was discovered November 9, 
1892, and on the strength of the prospect for 
a successful venture, a company, " The Akron 
Gas & Oil company," was incorporated to de- 
velop the enterprise, and a few well-known 
citizens became members, viz: Lewis Miller, 
George W. Crouse, Attorney Atterhault, 
Col. Conger, Dr. Kranz and others. No 
business was transacted under this manage- 



ment, and the farmers of the immediate vi- 
cinity took upon themselves the responsibility 
of organizing a limited company. This com- 
pany was known as " The Brittain Gas & Oil 
company," and was incorporated in the beg;in- 
ning of the summer of 1893, when the follow- 
ing officers were duly elected: J. B. Switzer, 
chairman; T. J. Gilcrest, secretary; J. H. 
Lepper, treasurer; and a board of directors 
was elected comprising five members, viz: J. 
B. Switzer, T. J. Gilcrest, J. H. Lepper, W. 
H. Jones and P. V. McCoy. A new drill was 
begun August 5, 1893, and reached 3,533 feet 
in less than 100 days. The business is at a 
standstill at present, although, at a recent 
meeting the stock was increased three times 
the former amount, and the future success of 
the enterprise is manifest. It may be added 
that at the solicitation of the citizens of Wads- 
worth, State Geologist Horton lectured before 
the people, and warned them not to venture 
upon any enterprise unless it was for coal. 
His prophecy, on scientific ideas, did not 
prove to be well taken. 

J. B. Switzer was united in marriage July 
5, 187s, with Miss Rebecca Yarrick, a scion 
of another old family, who were amongst the 
most prosperous farmers in Summit county. 
She is a daughter of Adam and Catherine 
(Switzer) Yarrick, is a native of Green town- 
ship. Summit county, and was born March 21, 
1852, one of a family of seven sons and three 
daughters. Mrs. Switzer received her educa- 
tion in the common schools, and is a member 
of the United Brethren church at Akron, Ohio. 
His father was a native of Pennsylvania, was 
reared as a farmer and stock-raiser, and died 
January 23, 1885; her mother was born April 
5, 1817, in York county. Pa., and died Jan- 
uary 30, 1897. Their remains lie interred in 
East Liberty cemetery, where a modest stone 
marks their last resting place. To the mar- 
riage of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Switzer have been 



638 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



born ten children, viz: Nellie J., who is a 
graduate of the Akron high school and of 
Buchtel college, having completed her educa- 
tion at the age of eighteen years, when she ac- 
cepted a position as inspector in the Akron 
Rubber works, which she still holds; Oscar 
F., Lula v., Charles W., Marjorie I., Francis 
W. and Gladys V. are still living, and Claude, 
Rose R. and an unnamed infant are deceased. 
The family are members of the United Breth- 
ren church, of which Mr. Switzer has been 
the Sunday-school superintendent for years. 
In politics he had for a long time affiliated 
with the republican party, casting his first 
presidential vote for Gen. Grant; of recent 
years he has espoused with ardor the principles 
of prohibition. Officiallj', Mr. Switzer has 
held the office of treasurer of Springfield town- 
ship, a strong democratic community, and he 
being an ardent republican. He has also 
been supervisor for two terms, and has been a 
strong supporter of the public schools. 

Daniel Scott Switzer, brother of J. B., is 
a well-known farmer and a gentleman of honor 
and integrity. He married Miss Mary L. 
Stooldraher, a native of Summit county, and 
to their marriage have been born five sons 
and two daughters, of whom five are living, as 
follows: Maud, a graduate of the Akron high 
school and now one of the successful teachers 
in the public schools of the county; Grace, 
Bradie, Leo and James, at home. Mr. Switzer 
is a republican in politics, and he and wife 
affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church 
of Pleasant Valley. Officially he has made a 
marked career in the directorship of the public 
schools. 

Both the Switzer and Yarrick families are 
among the most prominent and highly re- 
spected in Summit county, and J. B. Switzer 
has made for himself a reputation that will last 
as long as Summit county holds a place on the 
map of Ohio. 



>^ AMES ALVIN HATHAWAY, of North- 
M field township. Summit county, Ohio, 
A 1 and an old soldier of the Civil war, 
springs paternally from an old Penn- 
sylvania-Dutch family, and on his mother's 
side from a New York state family of English 
descent. 

James A. Hathaway was born in East 
Cleveland township, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, 
October 24, 1840, a son of Peter and Man- 
dania (Austin) Hathaway. He received a 
common-school education and was reared a 
farmer. He enlisted in battery B, First Ohio 
light artillery, at East Cleveland, Ohio, Au- 
gust II, 1862, under Capt. William Standard, 
but was afterward under under Capt. Norman 
Baldwin. He was honorabl}' discharged at 
Chattanooga, Tenn., June 16, 1865, having 
served nearly three years. He was in the bat- 
tles of Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga 
Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Som- 
erset, Wild Cat Mountain, and several other 
important battles and in many skirmishes, and 
was in all the marches, campaigns, battles and 
skirmishes in which his battery took part and 
his battery never fired a gun in any engage- 
ment in which he was not present, and he vol- 
unteered several times to go with the infantry 
after guerrillas in Alabama. After the war he 
returned to Ohio and married, in Boston town- 
ship, Summit county, Amanda Mills, a daugh- 
ter of Curtis and Harriet (Richards) Mills, who 
was born in Akron, Ohio, September 10, 1850. 

Curtis Mills came from New York state to 
Akron at an early day and drove a team for 
William Buchtel, for whom he worked twenty- 
one years, but was killed when foreman of the 
lumbermen. His children were Hiram, Louisa 
and Amanda. He was a hard-working re- 
spected citizen and died aged about si.xty years, 
a member of the Lutheran church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway located, after mar- 
riage, in Boston township, where Mr. Hatha- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



639 



way farmed three years; he then moved to 
Northampton township and bought forty acres 
and finally moved to Northfield township in 
1891. The children born to his marriage are 
Hattie, Curtis and Stella. Mr. Hathaway is 
an ex-meinber of Eadie post, G. A. R. . of 
Cuyahoga Falls, and in politics is a republican. 
Of his children, Hattie is married to Elmer 
McCuskey — a farmer of Stowe township, and 
has three children, two sons and one daughter; 
Curtis is a member of the Sons of Veterans of 
Bedford, Ohio, and the family is one of the 
most highly respected in Northfield township. 



QICHAEL HAWK, a successful 
farmer and a highly respected cit- 
izen of Tallmadge township. Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, was born in the 
grand duchy of Baden, Germany, about the 
year 1834, a son of Philip and Margaret 
(Fooreman) Hawk, who were the parents of 
five children, all of whom reached mature 
years, and of whom Daniel resides in Grand 
Rapids, Mich. ; Abbie, who was the wife of 
John Ginder, died March 3, 1881, at the age 
of seventy-two years; Ivatherine died August 
I, 1894, aged sixty-three years, and the wife 
of Henry Swartz; Philip died August 7, 1895, 
aged eighty years, and Michael, whose name 
opens this paragraph. The family came to 
Ohio in 1840, and settled in SulSeld township. 
Portage county, where the father departed 
this life December 28, 1S68, at the age of six- 
ty-three years, a prominent member of the 
Reformed chnrch, of which he had been a 
deacon for many years, after which sad event 
the widow joined her son Michael, in Tall- 
madge township. Summit county, where her 
decease occurred October i, 1873, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-four years and nine 
months, also in the faith of the Reformed 
church. 



Michael Hawk was but six years old when 
his parents settled in Portage county, which 
was then a wilderness, in which his father 
bought a tract of land. As Michael grew in 
size and strength, he assisted in clearing ofl 
the forest growth from the homestead, and 
aided his father until twenty-three years old, 
receiving, meantime, the meager education 
afforded by the pioneer school of his youthful 
days. At the age mentioned, although a 
poor young man, Mr. Hawk entered upon 
life's conflict upon his own account, and 
through hard work and good management has 
made himself one of the well-to-do farmers in 
the county of Summit. At the age of twenty- 
five years he found a helpmate in the person 
of Miss Albenia Bletzer, daughter of Michael 
and Catherine Bletzer, whom he married July 
3, 1859, and which union has been blessed 
with three children, of whom two are still liv- 
ing, viz: Albert, a farmer of Tallmadge town- 
ship, and Lydia, wife of Frank Pieffer, and 
residing in Union Town, Stark county; Salinda, 
the deceased child, passed away at the age of 
five years and five months. 

Mr. Hawk, after marriage, continued his 
farming operations in Suffield township. 
Portage county, meeting with every desired 
success until 1870, when he came to Tall- 
madge township. Summit county, and pur- 
chased the large farm owned by the late Ira 
Sprague, on which, a few years ago, he erect- 
ed his present commodious and handsome 
dwelling, which is furnished with every possi- 
ble modern convenience; but here, although 
blessed with all that wealth can buy, he has 
met with the saddest misfortune of his life in 
the loss of the beloved companion of his early 
manhood, mellow middle age, and declining 
years, who died May 24, 1893, at the age of 
fifty-two years and three months. She was a 
devoted member of the Reformed church and 
a true Christian, a loving wife and mother and 



640 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



a true helpmeet for her husband. Mr. Hawk 
is himself a member of the Reformed church, 
and while living in Portage county held the 
office of deacon a number of years, and is how 
a member of the Grace Reformed congregation 
at Akron. In politics he is a democrat, has 
served as township supervisor, and has been a 
member of the school board for nine years. 

Mrs. Albenia Hawk, the departed wife and 
mother, was born in Baden, Germany, March 
26, 1 841, was confirmed in the Reformed 
church April 22, 1855, and was alwaj'S faith- 
ful to her church obligations. Mr. Hawk has 
ever been an industrious as well as a success- 
ful farmer, a kindly neighbor, and a free con- 
tributor of his means to the support of school 
and church, and to the promotion of every 
project designed for the advancement of the 
public welfare and the development of his 
township and county, and stands very high in 
the esteem of his immediate neighbors as well 
as in that of the community at large. 



•^EORGE HEIMBAUGH, who resides 
■ ^\ near Monroe Falls, Summit county, 

\^^^ Ohio, and an e.x-soldier of the Civil 
war, was born in Middleton town- 
ship. Union county. Pa., February 3, 1837, a 
son of Peter and Amelia (Yarnell) Heimbaugh, 
natives of the same state and of German e.x- 
traction. 

Peter Heimbaugh, a hatter by trade, came 
from Union county, Pa., in the month of 
June, 1845, ^'^d settled in Summit county, 
but died in Suffield township, Portage county, 
Ohio, at the age of fifty-five years, a member 
of the Reformed church, and the father of 
eleven children, of whom there now live 
Jacob, William, George, Catherine, Barbara 
and Sarah. 

George Heimbaugh was not quite eight 
years of age when he was brought to Summit 



county by his parents. He received but a 
limited district-school education, and soon 
after coming iiere was bound out, until eight- 
een years old, to Abraham Tyson, who proved 
to be a good and kind master, and when his 
term expired Mr. Heimbaugh hired to him for 
one year as a farm hand. Mr. Heimbaugh 
then worked out in the same capacity until his 
marriage, February 14, 1858, in Springfield 
township, to Miss Amelia A. Weyrick, who 
was born in that township April 26, 1840, a 
daughter of David and Elizabeth (Walter) 
Weyrick. 

David Weyrick, also a native of Union 
county, Pa., settled in Springfield township 
about 1827, bought and cleared up a farm of 
149 acres, becoming a substantial citizen. To 
his marriage with Miss Elizabeth Walter were 
born eleven children, viz: Elizabeth, Cath- 
erine, Polly, Sally, Rebecca, Susannah, Car- 
oline, Leah, George, John and Amelia A. He 
was a man of moral character, never used to- 
bacco nor liquor nor profane language, and 
lived to be seventy-five years old, dying on his 
farm in the faith of the Reformed church, 
while his wife was a Lutheran. 

George Heimbaugh enlisted, September 5, 
1862, in Springfield township, in company I, 
One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio volunteer 
infantry, for three years, and served until July 
6, 1865, when he was honorably discharged 
at Murfreesboro, Tenn., the war being closed. 
He was in the battle of Nashville, Tenn., was 
on the pursuit after Gen. Hood and his re- 
treating rebel troops, took part in many fierce 
skirmishes along the line of the Nashville & 
Tullahoma railroad, and sustained a flesh 
wound in his left arm during a skirmish at 
Stone River, on Lancaster pike, where, the 
same night, the Union troops captured a rebel 
cavalry regiment. Many members of Mr. 
Heimbaugh's regiment were captured and 
about 100 imprisoned in Andersonville, and at 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



641 



least sixty of these were blown up on the 
steamer Sultana, on the Mississippi river, 
after having been exchanged and being on 
their way homeward. Mr. Heimbaugh was 
never captured, but was always at his post of 
duty, excepting a period of about sixty days 
in the early part of his enlistment, when he was 
confined at Camp Dennison with chronic diar- 
rhea. His brother William also served in the 
same regiment. 

After his return from the war Mr. Heim- 
baugh located in Summit county, and in 
March, 1876, settled at Monroe Falls, where 
he bought a neat place of eleven acres, pleas- 
antly situated on the banks of the Cuyahoga 
river. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Heimbaugh four children, viz: Daniel W., 
George W. (died aged one year), David L. 
and Minnie E. Mr. and Mrs. Heimbaugh are 
members of the Methodist church, and in pol- 
itics he is generally independent, but with re- 
publican proclivities; he is a member of Eadie 
post, G. A. R., at Cuyahoga Falls, and is 
greatly respected as a straightforward, hard- 
working citizen. 



aHARLES P. HELLER, a prominent 
farmer, stock-raiser and dairyman of 
Bath township. Summit county, Ohio, 
is the only child of Levi and Eliza- 
(Dutt) Heller, and was born in Medina county, 
Ohio, October i, 1855. 

Levi Heller, father of Charles P., was born 
in Plainfield, Northampton county, Pa , Au- 
gust 16, 1827, a son of Charles and Mary 
(Retnmel) Heller, was a hotel-keeper in 
Stockertown, Pa., and in the early days drove 
stage between Easton and Mauch Chunk. In 
1852 he married Elizabeth Dutt, who was 
born in Upper Mount Bethel, Northampton 
county. Pa.. August 15, 1828, the eighth child 
of Charles and Dorothy Dutt. In 1853, Mr. 



and Mrs. Heller came to Ohio and settled in 
Guilford township, Medina county, where Mr. 
Heller followed farming until his death, April 
27, 1865, his widow surviving until July 7, 
1893— both dying in the faith of the German 
Reform church. 

Charles P. Heller attended school in Me- 
dina county until thirteen years of age and 
continued working on the home farm, taking 
care of his mother until he was twenty-six 
years old, when he came to Bath township, 
Summit county, bought his preseut farm and 
erected suitable modern buildings. April 28, 
1883, he married Miss Mary Strunk, who was 
born in Hatfield, Montgomery county, Pa., 
August 21, 1857, a daughter of William and 
Mary (Shelley) Strunk, the former of whom 
was born July 22, 1821, and the latter March 
15, 1823, emigrated to Sharon, Ohio, in 1861, 
and are now residing in Akron, the parents of 
seven children, viz: Sarah, who was born 
January 23, 1848, was married to Joseph 
Weaver, of Wadsworth, Wayne county, Ohio, 
and died August 10, 1880; Henry, born January 
18, 1852; Matthias, born March 3, 1853, and 
died February 3, 1874; Katherine, born Feb- 
ruary 22, 1855, wife of F. J. Knapp, of Akron; 
Mary (Mrs. Heller); Samuel, who died in in- 
fancy, and Mahlon, born February 2, 1863, 
and died October 10, 1879. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Heller, however, no children have been born. 

Mr. and Mrs. Heller are members of Bath 
grange. No. 1,331, and Mr. Heller is a 
charter member of Bath tent. No. 281, 
Knights of the Maccabees, was its first com- 
mander, and has filled all the chairs; he is also 
a member of Star and Crescent lodge. No. 7, 
Red Cross, of Akron, and in politics is a re- 
publican, by which party he has been honored 
by election to several offices of trust. Mr. 
Heller's farm comprises 148 acres of excellent 
land, mostly cleared, and he gives especial at- 
tention to dairying, owning stock of the high- 



642 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



est grades. Mr. Heller has always been a 
hard-working and industrious man, being what 
is usually termed self-made, and, it may be 
added, self-educated, for, although he was a 
pupil for a short time in the high school at Se- 
ville, Medina county, his information is practi- 
cally self-acquired. He and his wife are greatly 
respecled by their neighbors for their uniformly 
kind disposition and charity of thought as well 
as upright lives, and they well deserve the es- 
teem in which they are held. 



*-|r-» EWIS HOLZHAUER, of Northfield, 
I r Ohio, is one of the old soldiers of the 
^I^J Civil war and a respected citizen. 
He was born November 22, 1845, in 
Baden, Germany, a son of William and Cath- 
erine Ann (Forbach) Holzhauer. He came 
with his parents to America at the age of nine 
years, and shipped from Havre, France, in a 
sailing vessel to Ne-v York city, and was but 
twenty-three days en route — a very quick 
passage for a vessel of that class — and landed 
in December, 1854. His father settled in 
Cleveland, Ohio. He was a s'onemason and 
worked at his trade in several plnces. Lewis 
Holzhauer received a common education and 
learned, when young, the stonemason's trade 
and plastering. He enlisted in August, 1863, 
at seventeen years of age, in Cleveland, Ohio, 
in company K, One Hundred and Twenty- 
foiinh Ohio volunteer infantry, under Capt. 
Manning, for three j'ears or during the war, 
and served until honorably discharged at 
Cleveland, in September, 1865, the war being 
closed. He was in the batiles of Chattanoo- 
ga. Chickam luga. Missionary Ridge and Buz- 
zard's Roost, and May 12, 1864, was shot 
through the right leg below the knee, was in 
hospital for several mom hs and rejoined his 
regiment in March, 1865, at Bull's Gap, 
Tenn. He was in many skirmishes and was 



an active soldier, and in all the battles, skir- 
mishes, marches and campaigns in which his 
regiment took part until wounded, and until 
that time was not sick a day, but always 
prompt and cheerful in the discharge of his 
duty. After the war he returned to Cleveland 
and worked at stonemasonry and plastering 
four years, and then was in a mercantile firm 
for nine years. In 1876 he bought the farm 
where he now lives, consisting of 172 acres. 
He was in company with his father in this 
deal, and traded city property for the land. 

Mr. Holzhauer married in June, 1870, in 
Cleveland, Ohio, Helen Kirsch, who was born 
October 21, 1856. To Mr. and Mrs. Holz- 
hauer have been born Ida M., ^^'illiam W., 
Alfred A. and Helen H. In politics Mr. 
Holzhauer is a republican and has served as 
trustee of Northfield township. He is a mem- 
ber of Dunham post, G. A. R. , at Bedford, 
Ohio. He has always been hard-working and 
industrious, is respected by all who know him 
and has reared an excellent family. 

William Holzhauer was born June 16, 
1816, at Baden, Germany, and married, in 
Germany, Catherine Ann Forbach, becoming 
the father of Almeda, Amelia and Lewis. Mr. 
Holzhauer is still living and has always been 
a good and law-abiding citizen. Mrs. Lewis 
(Kirsch) Holzhauer was called from earth 
February 28, 1891, a lady of many virtues. 



>Y'0HN H. JOHNSON, a prosperous 
M farmer of Northfield township. Summit 
/• 1 count}', Ohio, an old soldier of the 
Civil war and an ex-prisoner of the 
infamous Andersonville prison, descends pri- 
marily from sterling English ancestry and was 
born in Bedford township, Cuyahoga county, 
Ohio, May 8, 1847, a son of William and 
Elizabeth (Wycle) Johnson. He received a 
very limited common education, his father 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



643 



having died when he was but an infant of six 
months. He was bound out when but four 
years old, and was reared by Plato S. Brew- 
ster, a farmer of Summit county. He en- 
listed, when but fifteen years old, August 4, 
1862, in Northfield township. Summit county, 
in company G, One Hundred and Fifteenth 
regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, for three 
years or during the war, and served until hon- 
orably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 
13, 1865, the war having closed. 

He was in several skirmishes with Wheel- 
er's cavalry in Tennessee in August, 1864, and 
on one occasion, when he and thirty-two of 
his comrades were guarding a block house on 
the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga rail- 
road, in Tennessee, being on detached duty, 
were surprised by Confederate cavalry and ar- 
tillery under Gen's. Forrest and Buford, after 
a day's hard fighting, and were taken prison- 
ers — having surrendered with promise of being 
exchanged. He was taken with other prison- 
ers to Columbia, Tenn., and thence to Merid- 
ian, Miss., and thence to the dreaded stock- 
ade at Andersonville. When first captured 
they were stripped and robbed of guns, blank- 
ets, overcoats, knapsacks and valuables. In 
January, 1865, Andersonville had a large 
number of prisoners, was very filthy and af- 
forded no shelter from the weather. The 
rations were of the poorest quality, consisting 
of beans uncooked, corn-meal ground cob and 
all, and a very little meat, and Mr. Johnson 
was held a prisoner until the close of the war, 
about four months. He was sick with typhoid 
fever in Woodward hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, 
from August 23, 1863, to January, 1864, and 
came near death. After the war he returned 
to Ohio, and married, on the farm where he 
now lives, March ir. 1880, Miss Catherine 
AUbaugh, who was born in Carroll county, 
Ohio, a daughter of William and Catherine 
(Sell) Allbaugh. In politics Mr. Johnson is a 



republican, and his first presidential vote was 
cast for Abraham Lincoln. He is a good citi- 
zen, and has always been industrious, and 
respected, and is a member of the E.\-Prison- 
ers' of War association of Cleveland, Ohio. 

William Johnson, father of John H., was 
born in New York state, a son of William, a 
soldier in the war of 18 12. William, father 
of subject, married, in New York state, Eliza- 
beth Wycle, and their children were Hiram, 
Thomas, John H., Sarah Jane and Martha E. 
Mr. Johnson owned a small farm in Bedford, 
Cuyahoga county, Ohio. He died a young 
man of twenty-eight years of age. He had 
three sons in the Civil war — Hiram, Thomas 
and John H. Hiram was in the One Hundred 
and Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infantry and 
died of heart disease in Camp Chase, Ohio. 
Thomas was in company H, One Hundred and 
Twenty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, three 
years, and was disabled at Franklin, Tenn., 
and assigned to the veteran corps. Mrs. 
Johnson, mother of J. H. Johnson, married 
for her second husband John H. Gardner, of 
Bedford, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and their 
children were Oliver, Mary, William Helman, 
Alton and Harrison. William served in the 
Tenth Ohio cavalry during the late war, and 
died in the army, and thus five of the family 
served as soldiers and two died in the service. 

Mr. Johnson has thriven as a farmer, is in- 
dustrious and steady in his habits, and has 
won for himself a high standing in the esteem 
of his fellow-citizens. 



■^•T^OHN S. LEE, a well-known carpenter 
M of Richfield township, Summit county, 
A 1 and an ex-soldier of the Civil war, was 
born July 4, 1847, •" Orland, Steuben 
county, Ind., a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Sanborn) Lee, both early settlers of Summit 
county, Ohio. Elizabeth Sanborn was a 



644 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



daughter of John Sanborn and Sibyl (Fairwell) 
Sanborn, natives of Vermont. Elizabeth Lee 
died at Orland, Ind., in 185 i. 

John Lee, a farmer, was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, July 4, 1820, and was a son of George 
Lee, of German descent and an early settler 
of Boston, Summit county, Ohio. John Lee 
was married in Boston and to him and wife 
were born John S. and Helen A. His death 
occurred in December, 1865, a highly re- 
spected gentleman. John Lee married, for his 
second wife. Electa Oviatt, in 1864, to whom 
was born one son. Park B. Lee. She sur- 
vived him a few years. 

John S. Lee was about four years of age 
when his parents returned from Indiana to 
Richfield, Ohio, where they had previously 
resided. Here he received a common-school 
educ (tion, and at the age of sixteen years en- 
listed in the voluiiteer service, but was dis- 
charged through the action of his father, with- 
out whose consent he had enlisted. When 
he had reached the age of seventeen, however, 
he was permitted to enlist, August 29. 1864, 
at Weft Richfield, as drummer in compan\' H, 
One Hundred and Seventeenth Ohio volunteer 
in'antry, to serve one year, if the war were 
not sooner closed, and received an honorable 
discharge at Greensboro. N. C, June 24, 1865, 
the war having ended the previous month. 
He fought at Murfreesboro, Tenn., Fort An- 
derson and Town Creek, N. C, and took part 
in several skirmishes. He was on one forced 
march of two days, from Tuliahoma to Mur- 
freesboro, and this was the hardest he had to 
undergo, although he took part, necessarily, 
in many others. After the war he returned to 
Richfield, where he has since been employed 
at his trade of carpenter. 

April 18, 1868, Mr. Lee married, at West 
Richfield, Miss Frances A. Pettit, a daughter 
of John and Charlotte (Hoight) Pettit, and 
who was born at Brecksville, April 9, 1847. 



John Pettit, her father, was a native of New 
York state,. and when a j^oung man came to 
Ohio, and located in Brecksville, Cuyahoga 
count}', but married in Westfield, N. Y., the 
result being five children — Henry B. , Alice, 
Esther, Sarah, and Frances A. His second 
marriage was to Hannah Searle, of Hinckley, 
Ohio, and to this union were born eight chil- 
dren. The death of Mr. Pettit took place in 
Newark, Ohio, 1880, at the age of seventy-five 
years, being a Methodist in religion and a re- 
publican in politics. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lee 
went to Manistee county, Mich., and located 
on a farm of forty acres in the woods at Bear 
Lake. This farm Mr. Lee partially cleared 
up, but two years later returned to West Rich- 
field, Ohio, moved to Newark, Ohio, in 1874, 
lived one year, and then came back to Rich- 
field, where he has ever since been engaged at 
his trade. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Lee have been born two children, Lenna C. 
and Cora A. Mr. Lee is a member of A. N. 
Goldwood post. No. 144, G. A. R. , at West 
Richfield, and is greath' respected for his 
moral, temperate and industrious course 
through life. In politics Mr. Lee is republican. 



'^ yy w ^ ILLIAM OLIVER WISE, attorney 
# a I at law, of Akron, Ohio, is one of 
mjL^ four children born to Jacob and 
Martha Elizabeth Wise. He was 
born in the village of East Libert}-, Ohio, Sep- 
tember 8, 1875. His only sister, Idella Ray, 
who was his junior by nearly two years, died 
at the age of three and one-half years; his two 
brothers, twins, died in their early infancy. 

His father, Jacob Wise, is the son of Will- 
iam Wise, who was one of the most progressive 
and thriving farmers of Summit county during 
his day. He was a direct descendant of the 
famous Wise family who to this day inhabit 




^jjJr&^jU^^.^ ^Ayin^Lxy 



il 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



647 



the Shenandoah Valley of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia and which stock emigrated originally 
from Holland. Jacob Wise, aside from being 
a landlord of a village tavern, was also a dealer 
in all kinds of agricultural implements, thereby 
gaining a large circle of friends, especially 
among the tillers of the soil. He was also a 
partner of the firm, Betz, Hammerly & Wise, 
of Canton, Ohio, who were manufacturers of 
the Corn Stalk King Feed Cutter; Jacob Wise 
spent much time and money on this machine 
and took out several patents for improving it; 
and still later on the partnership organized it- 
self in a stock company which later amalgamat- 
ed with the Champion Lawn Rake Co., and 
which was then known as the Champion Lawn 
Rake & Feed Cutter company of Canton, Ohio. 
Several years later this company went into the 
hands of a receiver, as did numbers of other 
like institutions on the. advent of the panic. 
Jacob Wise then managed the hotel at Moga- 
dore, Ohio, for several years and in the sum- 
mer of 1896 he sold out and moved to Akron, 
Ohio, and became engaged in the selling of 
cigars, representing the S. R. Moss Cigar com- 
pany of Harrisburg, Pa. He is also the pat- 
entee of "Wise's Vehicle Headlight." 

Martha Elizabeth Wise was the daughter 
of Solomon Gigger, also a well-to-do farmer 
near East Liberty, Summit county, Ohio. 
Her father also spent a greater part of t .e 
winters in Akron and Cleveland, buildinf ships 
and canal boats, this being his regular irade. 

Oliver Wise, whose name opens this sketch, 
met with a sad misforture at the age of three 
and one-half years; he fell off of a fence at 
his Grandma Wise's home and in falling was 
caught by two fence pales and hung there until 
his cries caused his grandma to come to his 
rescue. In falling he broke his ankle and was 
confined to his bed for months, the final re- 
sults of the wounds being two strokes of 
paralysis. 

26 



He received his early primary education in 
the village schools of Manchester and Union- 
town, Ohio; also attended a country school 
outh of Akron, known as Moore's districts 
school. At the age of fifteen he removed with 
his parents to Akron, Ohio, and attended the 
Akron high school, from which he was gradu- 
ated. During a portion of his time spent in 
the Akron high school his parents were con- 
ducting the village tavern at Mogadore, Ohio. 
During a part of this time, after school hours, 
Oliver worked for Messrs. F. J. Kolb & Son, 
dealers in groceries, hay, straw and feed, 
doing business at the corner of West Exchange 
and Water streets. He baled hay and straw 
and delivered groceries and clerked in the 
store and did " chores " about the house, all 
in return for his board and a small salary. 
After graduating from the Akron high school 
he went to Pittsburg, Pa., and completed a 
course of study in Duff's mercantile college, 
and was graduated with first honors in his 
class from that institution. He immediately 
entered the law offices of Judge E. P. Green, 
Judge C. R. Grant and Col. George W. Sieber, 
of Akron, Ohio, and in the autumn of 1894 
entered the Cincinnati law school, now the 
law department of the University of Cincin- 
nati, and was graduated in the class of 1896 
with high honors, receiving the LL. B. de- 
gree (Bachelor of Laws), also completing a 
regular three-years' course in two years. He 
passed the Ohio bar examinations at the age 
of twenty, and on September 8, 1896, his 
twenty-first birthday, was admitted to the bar 
by the supreme court of the state of Ohio and 
had the distinction of being the youngest law- 
yer in the state. 

During the autumn of 1896 he matriculated 
as a post-graduate in law at Columbian uni- 
versity, Washington, D. C. At the same time 
that he attended this university he also held a 
law clerkship in the offices of Judge I. G. 



648 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Kimball and his son, Harry G. Kimball, 
whoee offices are located on Fifth street, N. 
W., better known in legal circles as "Judi- 
ciiryRow." On November 9, 1896, he be- 
came a member of the Washington bar, hav- 
ing passed the examination and been admitted 
to practice in all the United States courts of 
the District of Columbia. Having fulfilled all 
requirements, he was very soon after also ad- 
mitted to practice in all the departments of 
the government, the war, navy, state, pen- 
sion, interior and treasury, and on the 3d of 
March, 1897, was admitted to practice before 
the United States court of claims, on motion 
of the Hon. Willism A. Maury, sometime 
assistant attorney-general of the United States. 
On March 8, 1897, Gov. Asa S. Bushnell, of 
Ohio, appointed him commissioner of deeds of 
Ohio within the District of Columbia. He also 
took an active part in the debates of the uni- 
versity. The post-graduate class in law of 
Columbian university selected him as one of its 
three representatives of the executive commit- 
tee of the Columbian Law Debating society. 
He was also honored by being elected by the 
post-graduate law class as its representative in 
several public debates. Having been a success- 
ful contestant in those debates, he was again 
elected by an unanimous vote to represent the 
post-graduate class in law in the final prize 
debate which was held at the end of the col- 
legiate year. To be selected as a representa- 
tive in this final prize debate is considered one 
of the highest honors a university student can 
aspire to. The other contestant selected with 
him from the post-graduate law class was 
Francis William Henry Clay, of Kentucky, a 
Cornell graduate, and a direct descendant of 
old Henry Clay. Oliver was graduated from 
Columbian university on June 8, 1897, and 
received the LL. M. degree (Master of Laws). 
On August 26, 1897, he began the practice of 
the law at Akron, Ohio, associating himself 



with A. B. Tinker, with offices in the Akron 
Savings bank building. There are but few 
young men better qualified to fight life's bat- 
tles, as well as legal ones, and we predict for 
Mr. Wise a very bright future. 



5>^ERRY W. JOHNSON, one of the 

1 ■ best business men of Franklin town- 

^ ship. Portage county, Ohio, and well 

known in Kent and throughout the 

county, was born in Shalersville, this county, 

December 21, 1857, and is a son of Alonzo 

and Mary J. (Cook) Johnson, also natives of 

Portage county. 

Alonzo Johnson, father of Perry W. , 
farmer and butcher of Kent, was born in 
Shalerville township, May 25, 1835, a son of 
Ebenezer and Annis (Stoddard) Johnson, na- 
tives of Vermont and New Hampshire respect- 
ively — the latter born April 8 , 1 8 1 1 . Alonzo's 
paternal grandfather, Sylvester Johnson, was 
a farmer of Rutland, Vt., and his maternal 
grandfather, Stoddard, a native of New 
Hampshire. The parents of Alonzo settled in 
Siowe township, Summit county, Ohio, in 
1834, and in 1835 purchased a tract of heavily 
timbered land in Shalersville township. Port- 
age county, which they cleared and improved, 
and where they lived until the death of the 
father in 1850, in his forty-second year. They 
had seven children: Alonzo, Lucinda (de- 
ceased), Emma (Mrs. Willard Seward), Syl- 
vester, Leander, Silas (died in the army dur- 
ing the late war) and Eben. The mother next 
married Rufus Newton, of Franklin township, 
Portage county, in 1857. He died in 1862 
and she moved to Daviess county. Mo., in 
1869, and subsequently married William 
Hughes, who died in 1879, and his widow re- 
turned to Ohio in 1880, and is now residing in 
Kent. Alonzo Johnson was reared in Shalers- 
ville township, and was educated in the com- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



649 



mon schools. He resided in Shalersville 
township until 1863, when he removed to 
Kent, Portage county, and embarked in the 
grocery business, in which he was engaged 
two years. He then built the hotel known as 
the Collins House, which he conducted for 
three years, and during that time opened a 
meat market, which he carried on from 1S66 
to March 30, 1885, when he retired from that 
business. He is now engaged in farming, in 
Franklin township, Portage county, owning 
the farm formerly occupied by Warren Burt. 

Alonzo Johnson was married in November, 
1855, to Mary J., daughter of William and 
Lavina Cook, of Franklin township, by whom 
he had twelve children, nine now living: 
Willard, Berry, Emma (Mrs. Henry Barker), 
Albert, Ora, Nella, Clayton, Cora and Selah. 
Mr. Johnson is a representative citizen of the 
township and in politics is a democrat. 

Perry W. Johnson was engaged in the 
meat business with his father and older brother 
until 18S5, when they dissolved partnership; 
in connection with this they also held the ice 
business of Kent, after which Perry W. John- 
son carried on the ice business alone until 
1889. His wife. Miss Carrie (Luce) Johnson, 
was born August 14, i860, being the youngest 
child of Elihu Luce. They had five children: 
Britton Johnson, Berty J. (deceased). Fay J., 
Malissa J. and Leonard J. Mr. Luce was 
born June 4, 1820, and Melissa Shirtlif? Luce, 
born August 26, 1820. Elihu Luce came 
from Ferrysburg, Genesee county, N. Y. , and 
settled at Franklin, Ohio. Melissa Shirtliff 
was the eldest daughter of Rule Shirtliff, who 
was born February 14, 1793 (died 1865), and 
Mrs. Melissa Loomis Shirtliff, born December 
5, 1795 (died in 1873). They came from 
Massachusetts to Franklin, Ohio, in 18 18, the 
occupation of Mr. Shirtliff being that of gen- 
eral farming. 

Zebulon Luce, father of Elihu, was born 



July 4, 1790, was engaged in farming and also 
ran a saw and grist-mill at Sheldon, N. J., and 
died July 12, 1849. Rachael (Tomkins) Luce, 
his wife, was born September 10, 1795, a 
daughter of a farmer owning 1,600 acres of 
land at Ferrysburg, N. Y., and had born to 
them thirteen children. Zebulon Luce died 
July 12, 1849, a highly respected and useful 
citizen. 



*-!-* YMAN LAUDENSLAGER, one of 
I j the prominent and substantial busi- 
i A ness men of Hudson, Summit county, 
was born in Suffield township. Port- 
age county, Ohio, June 27, 1861, a son of 
John and Catherine (Hull) Laudenslager, Jr. 
John Laudenslager, Jr. , was one of the pioneers 
of Suffield township. Portage county, Ohio. 
They first settled in Springfield township. Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, and in 1839 removed to 
Suffield township. Portage county, Ohio. Here 
the grandfather of subject, John Laudenslager, 
Sr. , cleared up a farm from the woods, con- 
sisting of about 100 acres. He lived to be 
seventy-six years of age and died in 1879. His 
children were Jacob, Henry, John, Lydia and 
Fannie. John Laudenslager, Sr., was born in 
Northumberland county. Pa., about 1803 of 
sturdy Pennsylvania-Dutch ancestry. He was 
a member of the German Reform church, in 
which he was a deacon many years, and a very 
prominent man in his church, assisting to build 
the first German Reform church in his town- 
ship. He was a much respected citizen and a 
democrat in politics. He had one son — Henry 
— in the Civil war, who died in the service of 
pneumonia. John Laudenslager, Sr., was well 
known among the pioneers as a substantial 
citizen and much respected man, noted for his 
sturdy and honest character. 

John Laudenslager, Jr., son of above and 
father of our subject, was born in Sufifield 



650 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



township. Summit count}', June 19, 1835. He 
was a farmer and also traveling salesman, and 
married Catherine Hull, daughter of John and 
Catherine Hull. Mr. Laudenslager settled in 
Suffield township and moved in 1874 to Brim- 
field township, where he bought 100 acres of 
land and had a good home and farm. He was 
a life-long member of the German Reformed 
church, in which he was a deacon many years, 
taking his father's place. He was an active 
church worker and assisted to bui'd the pres- 
ent Reformed church in his town-hip. His 
children were Allen, Emanuel, Lyman, George, 
Frank and Mary. Mr. Laudenslager was an 
upright and practical business m^n, greatly re- 
spected in his community, and a good friendly 
neighbor. He died May 27, 1897. 

Lyman Laudenslager, our subject, received 
a good common-school education in the dis- 
trict schools, and was reared to farming. He 
next became a foreman of a company of men 
in the roofing business with his father, and 
afterward, in 1880, a foreman in the Carriage 
Gear works of Hudson. He married, Febru- 
ary 24, 1886, Miss Aurie Po.-^t, who was born 
at Twinsburg, Ohio, Aug. 12, 1861, a daugh- 
ter of Ebenezerand Maria (Davis) Post. Mr. 
Post was a pioneer farmer of Twinsburg and 
a prominent stock dealer and sptculator. 

Mr. Laudenslager engaged in the livery 
business in Ohio in 1886, in company wilh H. 
Wehner and Andrew May. Mr. Laudenslager 
and Mr. May bought out Mr. Wehner two and 
a half years later, and Mr. Laudensla'.;er 
bought out Mr. May in 1892 and became sole 
proprietor, and has since conducted the busi- 
ness. He has a well-equipped stable and 
keeps a first-class livery — one of the best in 
he county. Mr. Laudenslager is entirely a 
self-made man, having accumulated his prop- 
erty solely by his own exertions. In politics 
he is a stanch democrat and has been twice a 
member of the council of Hudson. He is a 



member of the German reformed church of 
Suffield township and assisted to build its 
church. Mr. Laudenslager is a man of straight- 
forward honesty of character among the peo- 
ple of the county, and as a businessman is ex- 
ceedingly popular. He has prospered by his 
thrift, industry and integrity. Mr. Lauden- 
slager has just bought, in company with E. W. 
Eby and Robert Adams, a large and first-class 
flouring-mill at Clinton, Ohio, but will still 
continue to reside in Hudson. He is a very 
publ.c-spirited man and takes an active inter- 
est in all public improvements. 



^>^ ICHARD LIMBER, a practical build- 

I /^r er and carpenter of Tallmadge town- 

l_^P ship. Summit county, Ohio, and an 

ex-soldier, is a son of Isaac and 

Nancy (Keller) Limber, and was born in 

Tallmadge, May 12, 1838. 

Isaac Limber was born in Columbiana 
county, Ohio, and is thought to have been of 
Irish ancestry, the surname being at one time 
in tlie past spelled Lambert. His wife, Nancy 
Keller, was of Pennsylvania-Dutch and Eng- 
lish descent. Isaac was a carpenter by trade, 
and caine to Tallmadge township from Mahon- 
ing county about 1835, and here passed the 
remainder of his life, dying at the age of six- 
ty-five years. He and wife were the parents 
of twelve children, viz: John, Alexander, 
Jefferson, Allen, Jesse, Otto, Richard, Hiram, 
Sarah A., Elizabeth, Fannie and Valentine 
who died at the age of three years. Five of 
these boys were soldiers in the Civil war, viz: 
Jefferson, Allen, Jesse, Otto and Richard. 
Of these, Jefferson was in the One Hundred 
and Sixty-fourth Ohio, 100-day service; Allen 
and Otto were in the three years' service in 
the Sixty-iourth Ohio infantry, and Jesse was 
in the One Huddred and Fourth Ohio infan- 
try, in the three-year service. Richard's mil- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



651 



itary record will be mentioned more fully. 
Isaac Limber was a skillful mechanic, was a 
man of good education and fine intellectual 
capacity and genial disposition, and was much 
respected by all who knew him. 

Richard Limber received a fair common- 
school education and was reared to farm labor. 
He enlisted at Tallmadge, August 22, 1862, 
and was mustered in at Massillon, Ohio, under 
Capt. Joseph W. McConnell, in company I, 
One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio volunteer 
infantry, Col. J. A. Lucy, to served three 
years or through the war, if sooner ended, 
and end it did before he received his honorable 
discharge at Cleveland, Ohio, July 5, 1865, 
having been mustered out at Murfreesboro, 
Tenn. — just two months short of three years 
from the date of his enlistment. His services 
in the army were rendered at Cincinnati, Oh'o, 
for about a year; thence his regiment was sent 
to Nashville, Tenn., where it was divided, 
part going to Murfreesboro, and to this part 
Mr. Limber was attached, and there he re- 
mained, guarding the military works and the 
city until discharged. His only time off duty 
was when he was laid up a month with typhoid 
fever in Cincinnati, and one month at Mur- 
freesboro. 

After the war Mr. Limber returned to Tall- 
madge, and learned carpentering, bricklaying 
and plastering, and is now able to construct 
all kinds of buildings, and building has since 
been his occupation. January 2, 1869, he 
married, in Tallmadge, Miss Hattie G. Ogle, 
the nuptial knot being tied by Rev. Benjamin 
F. Wade, a Methodist clergyman. Miss Ogle 
was born in Barrow Waterside, Lincolnshire, 
England, December 11, 1848, a daughter of 
Richard and Sarah (Thompson) Ogle. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Limber the following-named children 
have been born: Edward L. (who died at 
the age of three years). Perry R. , Philo E. 
and Clinton B. The surviving children have 



all been well educated, Philo E. being a grad- 
uate of the Tallmadge high school. 

Richard Ogle, father of Mrs. Limber, was 
a brick and tile foreman for his father in Eng- 
land. To his marriage with Miss Sarah 
Thompson were born George, Elizabeth, At- 
kin, William, Sarah, Hattie G. and Mary in 
England, and after coming to America, in 
185 1, there were born to him Richard, Henry, 
Charles, Thomas and Rebecca. After coming 
to America, Mr. Ogle located in Tallmadge 
township and engaged in farming; two years 
later he sent for his then family, who arrived 
in the spring of 1853, and here remained un- 
til 1868, when he removed to Clark, and then 
to Edgar county. 111., where he died at the 
age of seventy-one years. Two of his sons 
served in the Civil war — Atkin in the One 
Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio infantry for 
100 days; William was in the Ohio cava'ry, 
in the three-year service, acted as scout fur 
Sherman in his march to the sea, was captured 
by"the enemy, and eventually died from the 
effects of prison life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Limber and family are mem- 
bers of the Methodist church, and Mr. Limber 
is a member of Buckley post, G. A. R., at 
Akron. In politics he is a republican and has 
held the office of township supervisor, but has 
been content rather to pursue a profitable pri- 
vate business than to trust to the precarious 
profits of public position, and in this respect 
he shows the sound sense for which he is given 
universal credit, as well as for his many other 
good qualities. 



^-I-* GRAIN H. LOCKERT, of Richfield, 
I r Summit count)', Ohio, is one of the 
I ^ old soldiers of the Civil war, is a re- 
spected citizen and the head of an ex- 
cellent family. He was born in Richfield 
township, January 24, 1840, a son of James 



652 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and Minerva (Moon) Lockert, or, as the name 
was originally spelled, Lockhart. He received 
a common-school education, was reared as a 
farmer and enlisted August 29, 1864, in com- 
pany H, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh 
Ohio volunteer infantry, at West Richfield, 
Ohio, and was mustered in at Camp Cleveland, 
Ohio, and served until honorably discharged 
June 15, 1865, from the hospital at David's 
Island, New York harbor. He was in the 
battles of the Cedars, at Murfreesboro, Tenn., 
Fort Fisher, Town Creek, Wilmingion, and in 
the last of the Atlanta campaign, and at 
Goldsboro. 

Mr. Lockert was always an active soldier, 
prompt and cheerful in the discharge of his 
duty, and was in all the campaigns, battles, 
skirmishes and marches in which his regiment 
took part. He was not wounded, nor a 
prisoner, but at Raleigh, N. C, he was taken 
sick with camp fever and was in hospital at 
Raleigh and New Berne, N. C. , thence taken 
on a hospital boat to David's Island, New 
York harbor, and was in hospital altogether 
about seven weeks. After the war Mr. Lock- 
ert returned to Richfield township and re- 
sumed farming. He married, January 6, 1870, 
in Richfield township, Helen Andrew, who 
was born December 17, 1844, in Boston town- 
ship. Summit county, Ohio, a daughter of 
Emanuel and Eleanor (Moffit) Andrew — both 
natives of England, and who settled in Boston 
township at an early day, where Mr. Andrew 
died soon after arriving. Their children were 
Emanuel, Robert, Ada, Lydia and Helen, of 
whom Emanuel and Robert were both privates 
in the Eighty-second Ohio regiment during the 
Civil war, in the three years' service. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Lockert 
settled on their present farm of 116 acres. 
He has greatly improved his farm and built an 
attractive residence, and is a good, substan- 
tial farmer. To Mr. and Mrs. Lockert have 



been born Harley L. and Wilbur H. In 
politics Mr. Lockert is a republican and is a 
member of A. N. Goldwood post, G. A. R., 
at West Richfield, Ohio, and he has held the 
office of senior vice-commander and quarter- 
master. 

James Lockert, father of subject, was born 
in Galway, Saratoga county, N. Y., of Scotch 
origin, was a farmer and came to Summit 
county, Ohio, and settled in Richfield town- 
ship about 1830 or 1832 and bought a small 
piece of land in the woods, which he cleared 
up, and then bought the farm where Lorain 
H. Lockert now lives. He married, in New 
York state. Miss Minerva Moon, also of 
American extraction, and the children born to 
this union were Elizabeth, Julia, Mary, Mi- 
nerva, James, Alexander and Lorain H. The 
father, James Lockert, was a member of the 
Baptist church and a deacon many years. In 
politics he was a republican and a strong 
Union man. He went to David's Island, N. Y. 
harbor, when subject was sick, took care of 
him for about one v^^eek, secured his discharge 
and brought him home, as he was not ex- 
pected to live. Mr. Lockert was a well- 
known and much respected citizen, and was 
township trustee one year. Lorain H. has 
also been township trustee five years and 
holds the office at the present time. 



d 



HARLES M. LUSK, of Hudson, 
Ohio, an ex-soldier of the Civil war, 
but now a respected farmer, de- 
scends from pioneers of Summit 
county. 

His grandfather, Capt. Amos Lusk, came 
from Connecticut, settled in Hudson town- 
ship in 1 80 1, when it was a wilderness, and 
cleared up a farm. He was married in Stock- 
bridge, Conn., to Mary Adams, who was born 





1 




'^^^^^^^^1 

^^^H 






^^B 


' i^l 


^^^^^^^^^^^^Pl>' "' . ^:. iHi «■*.:-.'-!-'. " 


^Cdl 



/ 





t- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



653 



in Stockbridge May 15, 1768, a daughter of 
John Adams, who was a cousin of John Quincy 
Adams, the sixth president of the United 
States. They were the parents of nine chil- 
dren, of whom Diantha, born January 12, 
1801, was married to John Brown, of Osa- 
watomie, Kan., and Harper's Ferry fame, and 
by him she had five children — John, Jason, 
Ruth, Owen and Frederick. 

In June, 1812, the little settlement of 
Hudson was startled by the announcement of 
the war with Great Britain. A company was 
formed at Hudson and surrounding townships 
and Amos Lusk was appointed captain of the 
company. The news reached Hudson that 
Hull had surrendered Detroit, and that the 
French and Indians in great numbers were 
making their way down the lake. The settle- 
ment was much excited, and preparations 
were made for placing the women and chil- 
dren in a place of safety, and the militia com- 
pany was summoned to the place of rendez- 
vous, and on a Sabbath morning Capt. Lusk 
paraded his company on the green and was 
prepared to act on the first order, when a 
messenger from Cleveland announced that the 
forces approaching were paroled troops of 
Gen. Hull. Later Capt. Lusk's company was 
ordered to old Portage, was placed under Gen. 
Wadsworth's command, and afterward was 
ordered to Hudson and Sandusky, and served 
three months, but saw no battle. Capt. Lusk 
settled in Hudson township on the farm now 
occupied by Charles M. Lusk. He cleared 
up a good farm from the woods, became a 
substantial citizen, and died May 24, 18 1 3 — 
aged forty years — from the effects of a fever 
contracted during the war of 181 2. His chil- 
dren were Minerva, Lorin, Iildward, Milton 
A., and Sophia, who married a Mr. Clow. 

Milton A. Lusk, father of our subject, was 
born June 2, 1803, in Hudson, Ohio, on the 
homestead, received a pioneer education, was 



reared a farmer, and learned the hatter's 
trade. He married, at the age of twenty-three, 
Dency Preston, born in Canton, Mass., and 
their children were Henry, Lorin, Charles, 
Lucy and Amos. Mrs. Lusk died, and he 
married Sallie Secoy (nee Post), born Septem- 
ber 14, 181 5, in Westbrook, Conn., a daugh- 
ter of Joshua and Mollie (Dee) Post. She was 
the eleventh daughter of a family of thirteen 
children — all living to be over sixty years of 
age, with one exception. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lusk had one daughter, 
Dency. Mr. Lusk was a substantial farmer, 
owning the old homestead of 116 acres and 
was a respected and industrious man, and was 
a strict abolitionist. His house was a station 
on the Under Ground railroad and he assisted 
in carrying runaway slaves to places of safety. 
He was a member of the Congregational 
church, a teacher and superintendent of the 
Sunday-school, and his father, Amos Lusk, was 
one of the founders of the first Congregational 
church at Hudson, September 4, 1802. He 
lived to the venerable age of eighty-one years, 
and died at Macedonia, Ohio, a highly re- 
spected citizen. 

Charles M. Lusk, our subject, was born 
October 28, 1832, on the old homestead, re- 
ceived a common education and learned farm- 
ing, engineering and steam fitting. In Bed- 
iord, Ohio, at the age of twenty-seven years, 
in April, i860, he married Mary J. Snow, a 
native of Independence, Ohio, and by her he 
had one child — Nellie E. — the mother being 
now deceased. Mr. Lusk first settled in Bed- 
ford, Ohio, and then went to Newberg, where 
he was engineer at the State Lunatic asylum. 
He next returned to the home farm and en- 
listed, at Hudson, in December, 1863, in 
Capt. J. R. Sanford's company E, One Hun- 
dred and Twenty-eighth Ohio volunteer infan- 
try, to serve three years or during the war, 
and was honorably discharged at Columbus, 



654 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Ohio, July 5, 1865, the war having closed. 
Most of his service was on Johnson's Island, 
as guard at the celebrated prison for Confed- 
erate ofificers, and where there were at one 
time, 3,300 prisoners. Mr. Lusk assisted in 
calling the roll in the prison for eighteen 
months, and has a correct knowledge of the 
treatment of these men. He says that they 
were well supplied with United States blank- 
ets, and plenty of wood was furnished for fires. 
The prison was a stockade and barracks, and 
as good as was furnished for the guards. The 
food was good, with fresh bread daily and 
fresh meat was furnished three times a week, 
and other rations were abundant. They were 
furnished with tea and coffee until late in the 
war, when, as the Union prisoners were starv- 
ing in rebel prison-pens, these luxuries were 
shut off. Medical attendance was given them. 
Several plans were formed by the Confeder- 
ates for escape, but they were frustrated. 

After his service, Mr. Lusk returned to 
Newberg, and was an engineer a few years; 
then was first engineer for the city work-house 
four years, and then engaged in steam fitting 
in Cleveland for three years; was next janitor 
of the Central high school at Cleveland, and 
afterward did repair work for the Cleveland 
board of education and followed stationary en- 
gineering. In June, 1895, he came to his 
present farm of thirty-five acres, which he had 
purchased the year previous, and built an at- 
tractive residence. Mr. Lusk married, for his 
second wife, Mrs. Jane Louise Nelson (nee 
Giffin), born in Auburn, N. Y. , a daughter of 
William and Jane W. Giffin. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lusk had the following chil- 
dren: Nellie E., Rollin W. and Milton W. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Lusk and Nelhe, Rollin 
W. and Milton W. are members of the Con- 
gregational church, and in politics Mr. Lusk is 
a republican. He is a member of the Knights 
of Honor of Cleveland, and at one time held 



the office of financial reporter. He is also a 
member of Gen. W. T. Sherman post, 
G. A. R. 



>rj*OHN H. McCRUM, treasurer of the 
■ Akron Varnish company of Akron, 
m 1 Ohio, was born in Altoona, Blair 
county. Pa., July 3, 1865, and is a son 
of Ephraim B. McCrum, who was born at 
Mifflintown, Pa., October 7, 1833, and is a 




son of John H. and Margaret M. (Grier) Mc- 
Crum, also natives of Mifflintown, Pa. The 
McCrum family was one of the earliest to set- 
tle in Juniata county, Pa. The grandfather 
of J. H. McCrum was a farmer and miller. 
He was very prominent in the whig party, 
was twice elected under its auspices to the 
Pennsylvania legislature, and died in 1S54, at 
the comparatively young age of thirty-seven 
years. 

The Grier family was also among the early 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



655 



settlers of Juniata county, the maternal great- 
grandfather of the subject of this review hav- 
ing come from the north of Ireland. His wife 
bore the maiden name of Priscilla McClellan, 
and was a relative of the famous Houstons, of 
Texas, and also distantly related to a former 
president of the United States, James Bu- 
chanan. The grandparents of Mr. McCrum 
were members of the Scotch-Irish Presbyte- 
rian church, the father being a man of un- 
usual public spirit and active in all things that 
tended to the public weal. 

John H. McCrum was educated in the 
public schools of his native city, and shortly 
after his school days were over he entered an 
insurance company's office, where he per- 
formed clerical work for two years. In Janu- 
ary, 1882, he entered the office of the B. F. 
Goodrich company of Akron, Ohio, with 
which he held a position as clerk until the fall 
of 1883, when he accepted a situation as cor- 
responding clerk with the King Varnish com- 
pany, and in May, i886, was elected its secre- 
tary. In 1889, in conjunction with D. R. 
Paige, he bought out this company, which was 
later incorporated as the Imperial Varnish 
company, and Mr. McCrum became its presi- 
dent. January 27, 1897, the Akron Varnish 
company was incorporated, with a paid-up 
capital stock of $250,000, as successors to 
Kubler & Beck and the Imperial Varnish com- 
pany, and is officered as follows: E. G. Ku- 
bler, president; J. M. Beck, vice-president 
and general superintendent; J. H. McCrum, 
treasurer, and S. H. Kohler, secretary, its 
plants being Factory A, corner of Main and 
State streets, and Factory B, on North Canal 
street. 

Mr. McCrum has always been active in 
promoting the business interests of Akron since 
his residence in the city, has interests in its 
mercantile or manufacturing concerns, outside 
his interest in the Akron Varnish company, 



and is altogether a wide-awake, up-to-date 
young man of business. 

The marriage of Mr. McCrum took place 
January 14, 1891, to Miss Sarah E. Motz, 
daughter of Henry M. Motz, of Akron, and 
this happy union has been blessed by the birth 
of two children — Ralph and Helen. The resi- 
dence of the family is at No. 208 Adolph av- 
enue, and a happier one is not to be found in 
yVkron. In his politics Mr. McCrum is a 
stanch republican, but has never sought offi- 
cial preferment. 



,>^ OBERT ALEXANDER McKENZIE, 

I /«^ a respectable young farmer of North- 

I^^P ampton township, Summit county, 

was born in Holmes county, Ohio, 

April 25, 1861, a son of James and Nancy 

(Karr) McKenzie. His grandparents, Brodie 

and Jane (Young) McKenzie, were natives, 

respectively, of Scotland and Ireland, and were 

the parents of four sons and two daughters. 

Brodie McKenzie came to America in 181 8, 

and Jane Young came to America with her 

parents, William and Elizabeth Young, here 

married and settled in Holmes county, Ohio, 

about 1823. 

James McKenzie was reared a farmer and 
also learned the carpenter's trade. He served 
in the 100-day service in a Holmes county 
regiment of volunteer infantry during the Civil 
war, and in 1866 settled in Northampton, 
Summit county, where his death took place in 
1890. He had led an industrious, upright and 
honorable life, and had won the respect and 
good will of all his neighbors, without excep- 
tion. The nine children born to him and wife 
were named, in order of birth, Martha Jane, 
Mary Elizabeth, Sarah Ellen, Matilda Ann, 
Robert Alexander, William Gibson, Cle- 
menzie, Nora and John Calvin, of whom 



656 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the younger two were born in Northampton 
township. 

Robert A. McKenzie, whose name opens 
this sketch, remained at home with his parents 
until eighteen years of age, when he hired out 
on a farm; two years later he began working 
at the carpenter's trade, and this trade he has 
followed ever since in connection with farm- 
ing. March 6, 1888, Mr. McKenzie married 
Miss Irena May Wild, daughter of Frederick 
and Susan (Brumbaugh) Wild, of Northamp- 
ton township, and of whom more may be read 
in the memoir of Solomon C. Wild, a brother 
of Mrs. McKenzie, to be found on another 
page. Three children have blessed the mar- 
riage of Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie, viz: Nancy 
Leota, born August 17, 1891; Olan Alex- 
ander, born November 3, 1892, and Ruth 
Irene, born November 20, 1895. 

In 1896 Mr. McKenzie bought a good farm 
of forty acres, on which he has already made 
many notable improvements, his skill ns a car- 
penter coming into good play in this respect. 
As he had passed his early life on his father's 
farm, he is as well qualified for the calling of 
an agriculturist as he is for following his trade 
of carpenter, and his success in the former 
will be merely a matter of time. In politics 
Mr. McKenzie is a stanch republican, and 
with his wife is a member of the United Pres- 
byterian church. He is very popular in his 
township, is respected as an upright citizen, 
and esteemed as an industrious young man 
who has earned his property by his personal 
efforts. 



^Y^ RYAN MARTIN, one of the old sol- 
l/'*^ diers of the Civil war and a popular 
J^^J and careful official of Northfield town- 
ship. Summit county, Ohio, was born 
January 6, 1829, in county Meath, Ireland, a 
son of Patrick and Elizabeth (Kiernan) Mar- 



tin. Mr. Martin received his education in 
Ireland and came to America when a young 
man, embarking at Liverpool, England, March 
29, 1849, on the good ship Silas Greenwood, 
and landing in New York city May 4, 1849. 
Mr. Martin came directly to Ohio, via the 
canal and steamboat. He worked on the 
state boat three years, making repairs on the 
Miami & Erie canal, and also worked at farm 
work until July 5, 1854, when he married Miss 
Mary Howard, who was born in county \\'ick- 
low, Ireland, in March, 1834, a daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary (Highington) Howard. 
Benjamin Howard was an English soldier and 
was at the battle of New Orleans. He mar- 
ried in Ireland, and his children were Ben- 
jamin, Thomas, Edward, Catherine, Ann and 
Mary. Mrs. Martin's mother died when Mrs. 
Martin was about two years old and the latter 
was reared by her father until twelve years of 
age, when she came to America, in 1847, with 
her brother Thomas and her sisters Catherine 
and Ann, and settled in Northfield township. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Martin settled 
in Northfield township, and Mr. Martin was 
engaged in various kinds of work until 1865, 
when he enlisted, at Cleveland, February 15, 
1865, for one year or during the war, in com- 
pany B, One Hundred and Eighty-eighth regi- 
ment Ohio volunteer infantry, Capt. John H. 
McGrath, and served in Tennessee at Mur- 
freesboro and Tullahoma. Mr. Martin was 
company clerk, and after a month's service 
was detailed to be clerk at Gen. Dudley's 
headquarters, in Tullahoma, as he wrote a 
clear and beautiful hand, and served in this 
position until honorably discharged, Septem- 
ber 22, 1865. Mr. Martin then returned to 
Ohio and engaged in farming, bought his 
present premises in 1881, and now has a 
pleasant home. A republican in politics, he 
was elected assessor of Northfield township, 
in 1882, and has held this office to the satis- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



657 



faction of the people since that time. His 
books are very clearly and nicely kept in the 
plainest of old-fashioned handwriting. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Martin have been born Thomas, 
September 4, 1855; John, October 4, 1857; 
Mary E. , November 22, 1859; Bryan, Febru- 
ary 5, 1 861; Catherine, July 13, 1863; George, 
February 16, 1865; Ellen, July 14, 1869; 
Hattie A., October 14, 1870; Jeannette, No- 
vember 17, 1871, and Emma M., September 
4, 1874. Mr. Martin is a member of George 
L. Watterman post, G. A. R., at Peninsula, 
and has always been an industrious and 
respected citizen, well known for his straight- 
forward dealings and honest character. 



St 



'ILLIAM M. MARTIN, of West 
Richfield, Summit county, and an 
old soldier of the Civil war, who 
has reared an excellent family, 
springs paternally from sterling Irish ancestry 
and on the maternal side of sturdy Pennsyl- 
vania-Dutch stock. He was born May 7, 1839, 
in Wayne county, Ohio, on a farm four miles 
north of Wooster, on the old mud pike, a son 
of William D. and Abigail (Fetterman) Martin. 
He received a common-school education, was 
reared to farming, and enlisted when about 
twenty-one j'ears of age, at Marshallsvilie, 
Wayne county, Ohio, September 25, 1861, in 
company G, Sixteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
to serve three years or during the war, under 
Capt. Hamilton Richardson and afterward 
under Capt. Philip Smith, and was honorably 
discharged at C jlumbus, Ohio, November I,' 
1864, having served one month, five days, over 
time. In February, 1862, he was engaged in 
general reconnoiteringat Cumberland Gap, and 
August 6, 1862, had sharp fighting against a 
surprise force at Tazewell, Tenn. December 
27, 28, 29, was engaged in the battle at Chick- 
asaw Bayou, where the regiment lost very 



heavily in killed, wounded and missing. In a 
charge, December 29, Lieut. -Col. Kershner, 
eleven company officers and 139 men were 
taken prisoners. January 11, 1863, Mr. Mar- 
tin was at the battle of Arkansas Post; April 
29, he witnessed the bombardment of Grand 
Gulf; May i, he was engaged in the fight at 
Port Gibson; May 16, 1863, took part in the 
battle of Champion Hills; May 17, 1863, was 
in the battle at Black River Bridge; May 19, 
was in the first charge in the rear of Vicksburg; 
May 28, was engaged in a general and bloody 
charge on the enemy, Shotwell, at Vicksburg; 
July 6, left with the expedition in pursuit of 
Johnson, and arrived at Jackson, Miss., July 
10. Our subject was not in this battle, hav- 
ing been taken prisoner, with seventy-one of 
his comrades, while acting as guard near Clin- 
ton, Miss., but was paroled five days later, 
the rebels being surrounded at Brandon, Miss. 
Mr. Martin was sent to St. Louis, Mo., thence 
to Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, 
Ky. , and New Orleans, La., where he was ex- 
changed in November. 1863, and rejoined his 
regiment there. In April, 1864, he was on the 
Red River expedition, and was in many skir- 
mishes near Alexandria, while company G was 
engaged in constructing the famous dam across 
the Red River, after which they were in camp, 
most of the time on the Mississippi, until dis- 
charged. Mr. Martin was always an active 
soldier, was not sick in hospital and was 
prompt and cheerful in the discharge of all his 
duties. He was in all the battles, skirmishes 
and campaigns and marches in which his regi- 
ment took part, e.xcept when a prisoner on 
parole. 

After the war, Mr. Martin returned to 
Stark county, Ohio, and September 17, 1872, 
married Susan Miller, who was born at Bryan, 
Williams county, Ohio, July 10, 1855, a 
daughter of Henry and Mary (Taylor) Miller. 
Mr. and Mrs. Martin located in Stark county 



658 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Ohio, at Canal Fulton, and Mr. Martin engaged 
in drilling for coal and farming and threshing. 
In 1884 he came to Summit county and worked 
at Cuyahoga Falls in the rivet works three 
years, and in 1887 came to Richfield and 
farmed, and bought his present farm six years 
later. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have had born to 
them the following children: Adam I., Clifford 
D., Ethel M. and Edward W. In politics he 
is a republican, and is a member of Goldwood 
post. No. 104, G. A. R., at Richfield, in which 
he has held the office of senior vice-com- 
mander. He is also a member of the Knights 
of Maccabees. Mrs. Martin is a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 

William D. Martin, father of William M., 
was born in Lancaster county. Pa., a son of a 
native of Ireland, who came to Pennsylvania be- 
fore the war of the Revolution, in which he was 
a soldier. William D. Martin was a farmer and 
married in Wayne county, Ohio, where he 
came when a young man. He had been a 
soldier in the war of 18 12. His wife, Abigail 
Fullerman, was of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock, 
and a daughter of Peter Fullerman — a farmer 
of Wayne county. To Mr. and Mrs. Martin 
were born the following children: William M. , 
Francis M., Peter C, Susan and Lorinda. In 
politics Mr. Martin was a democrat. He died 
in Canal Fulton, aged seventy-seven years, a 
member of the Lutheran church. He had two 
sons in the Civil war. Francis M. was in the 
One Hundred and Fourth regiment, company 
A, Ohio volunteer infantry, in the three years' 
service and was wounded in battle, being in 
the Atlanta campaign and with Sherman to 
the sea. 

Mrs. William M. Martin is the daughter of 
Henry Miller, who was born in Lebanon 
county. Pa., and is from an old Pennsylvania- 
Dutch family. His children were Susan, 
Franklin, Nora, Mary J., Nathan and Edward 
C. Mr. Miller was a farmer and moved from 



Pennsylvania to Ohio and settled in Williams 
count}', where he married. He then made his 
home in Stark county, where he died, aged 
sixty-three years, and was a hard-working, in- 
dustrious man, respected by all who knew him. 



>Y*AMES E. MARQUITT, of West Rich- 
M field, Ohio, an old soldier of the Civil 
A J war and a prominent farmer and re- 
spected citizen, was born in Hinckley 
township, Medina county, Ohio, June 20, 
1835, ^ son of Zachariah and Susan (Seaton) 
Marquitt. He received a good common- 
school education and taught school six years 
in Berea. Hinckley and Brunswick. He en- 
listed at Brunswick, June 22, 1862, in com- 
pany K, One Hundred and Third regiment, 
Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve three years 
or during the war, served out his time and was 
honorably discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, 
August 22, 1865, having been mustered out at 
Raleigh, N. C. He was in the battles of Cov- 
ington, Ky., during Morgan's raid, shirmishes 
at Georgetown, Lexington, Frankfort, Louis- 
ville, Bowling Green, Danville, all in Ken- 
tucky, and at Stanford, Crab Orchard, Somer- 
set, and he was with Burnside on the moun- 
tains of east Tennessee, and during this raid 
every man carried fifteen days' rations. 
There was skirmishing at Knoxville, Tenn., 
and there the regiment struck the railroad, 
having marched between 300 and 400 miles, 
and Mr. Marquitt was much worn out and 
much weakened by dysentery. After de- 
stroying the railroad from Knoxville to Lou- 
don, Tenn., they went into Knoxville, guarded 
the city for about one month and were 
hemmed in by the rebels nineteen days on 
one-fourth rations and suffered greatly from 
hunger. They were in this vicinity until the 
spring of 1864 then went from Knoxville to 
Chattanooga, joined Gen. Sherman, and were 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



659 



all through the Atlanta campaign. He was in 
the battles of Dalton, Re?aca, Pumpkinvine 
Creek, Buzzard's Roost, Kenesaw Mountain, 
and in the battle in which Gen. McPherson 
was killed and saw him carried from the field, 
and he was also in the great general battle be- 
fore Atlanta and in the battle at Jonesboro, 
and then his regiment went after Hood, and 
was in the battles of Franklin and Nashville; 
they followed Hood to Clifton and took part 
in the battle, and then took transports to 
Louisville, Ky. Being transferred to Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, by rail, they went to Washington, 
D. C. , and Alexandria, Va., and saw at the 
latter place the hotel in which Col. Ellsworth 
was shot; they next took transports from 
Alexandria to Fort Fisher and were in the 
bombardment of that fort and were in a skir- 
mish at Smithville, N. C, where they captured 
400 prisoners and fought through to Wilming- 
ton, N. C. , which they captured. They had 
fighting at New Berne and shirmishing through 
to Raleigh, N. C. (Mr. Marquitt being color 
bearer by detail) and here his regiment cap- 
tured rebel Gov. Vance, whom Mr. Marquitt 
and four comrades and an officer, Lieut. 
Spencer, were detailed to take to Washing- 
ton, where they turned him over to Sec. -of- 
War Stanton. Gov. Vance gave each of the 
guards $20, Confederate money, and said: 
" Boys, if these were greenbacks I would see 
that you fared better." W'hen they turned 
him over to Stanton, the secretary, seeing the 
lieutenant in charge had a furlough home, 
said, "Boys, would you not like a furlough 
home.''" and gave them free transportation 
home and back to their command by any 
route they chose to take. Mr. Marquitt re- 
joined his regiment at Raleigh, N. C, but the 
war was closed. They took boat via the 
ocean to Baltimore, took train on the Pennsyl- 
vania Central, and eighteen miles from Altoona 
a car wheel broke and piled up several cars, 



and threw several cars full of soldiers sixty 
feet, down an embankment; fifteen soldiers 
were killed and many injured. Mr. Marquitt 
escaped serious injury. His car went down end- 
wise and several soldiers inside it were killed. 
Mr. Marquitt was on top and held on to the 
break, and his comrade, Hiram B. Floyd, of Me- 
dina county, was killed at his side. Mr. Marquitt 
served two years as color guard, a position of 
importance and great danger, and was mus- 
tered out of service with the rank of corporal. 
At the battle of Resaca, Ga., apiece of shell 
struck the " U. S. " in his belt and knocked 
him down, but he arose and valiantly took his 
place in the ranks. This happened while 
they were making the charge, and while in line 
of battle in the same action a niinie ball struck 
his blouse sleeve and tore it from wrist to el- 
bow while he was in the act of capping his 
Enfield rifle. At Frankfort, Ky. , his wife's 
cousin, James Abbott, of company E, took 
sick, and Mr. Marquitt attended him till his 
death, and his remains were sent home to 
Cleveland. 

After the war Mr. Marquitt returned to 
Hinckley and resumed farming. He married, 
April 16, 1859, in Hinckley township, Isabella 
Clyne, who was born at Westfield, Medina 
county, a daughter of John and Elizabeth 
(Norman) Clyne, natives of Scotland. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Marquitt have been born Eliza- 
beth, Charles J., Jessie J. and John N. In 
politics Mr. Marquitt is a republican and an ex- 
member of A. N. Goldwood post, G. A. R. 
He is an honored citizen, a substantial farmer 
and straightforward, industrious man. 



y^TX ARTIN H. MARQUITT. whose post- 
Ill o*^" address is West Richfield, 
\^ £ ^ Ohio, is one of the old soldiers of 
the Civil war and a re-pected citi- 
zen of Hinckley township, Medina county, 



660 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



where he was born March 17, 1839, on the 
old Marquitt homestead, a son of Zachariah 
and Susan (Seaton) Marquitt. The name was 
originally spelled Marquette, and is of French 
origin. He was brought up a farmer and en- 
listed, April 23, 1861, at Akron, Ohio, and 
was mustered in April 27, at Camp Jackson, 
Ohio, to serve in company K, Nineteenth reg- 
iment, Ohio volunteer infantry, for three 
months, Capt. A. J. Konkle. He served four 
months and fifteen days, and was honorably 
discharged at Columbus, Ohio, August 31, 
1 86 1. His service was in West Virginia, and 
he took part in the battle of Rich Mountain, 
and was in many skirmishes after the guerril- 
las — a dangerous and arduous service. He re- 
turned home after his term expired, and re-en- 
listed in Hinckley township as a member of 
Capt. Charles Cotter's company A, First regi- 
ment Ohio light artillery, was enrolled on the 
fourth day of September, 1861, at Columbus, 
Ohio, to serve three years, or during the war, 
and was honorably discharged December 31, 

1863, at Cincinnati, Ohio, by reason of re- 
enlistment as a veteran volunteer. He re-en- 
listed in the same organization, under Capt. 
W. F. Goodspeed, and was enrolled January 
I, 1864, to serve three years, and was again 
honorably discharged as corporal of company 
A, First Ohio light artillery, July 31, 1865, at 
Cleveland, Ohio, his captain being Charles W. 
Scoville — having served his country faithfully 
four years, three months and eight days — this 
being the longest service of any soldier from 
Medina county. He was promoted to cor- 
poral, for meritorious service, September 13, 

1864. He was in the battles of Pittsburg 
Landing, Shiloh, siege of Corinth, skirmish at 
Shelby ville, Lawrenceburg, Ky., Dog Walk, 
Perryville, Danville, Crab Orchard, Mill Creek, 
Murfreesboro or Stone River, Chickamauga, 
and on the famous Atlanta campaign, where 
the troops were under fire 120 days; at the 



battles of Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Dalton, Resaca, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Chattahooche River, Peach Tree 
Creek, battle in front of Atlanta from July 
22 to July 28, Lovejoy Station, Spring Hill, 
Franklin, and Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Marquitt 
was always an active soldier, was not wounded 
nor sick in hospital, but was in all the battles, 
skirmishes, campaigns and marches in which 
his regiment took part. In the rout of the 
right wing at the battle of Stone River, his gun 
was captured, and Mr. Marquitt motioned to 
the colonel of the Fourth Ohio cavalry, and 
he made a charge with his company, and they 
recaptured the gun. At the same battle Mr. 
Marquitt saved one gun of his battery and six 
horses, which had been abandoned. His 
comrades, William Gargett and John Marquitt, 
came across the gun on the retreat. William 
Gargett and John Marquitt rode off a team of 
horses each, and Mr. Marquitt rode the wheel 
team with the gun under an enfilading fire. 
He lay on the side of the horse and got away 
safely. The middle team were down and en- 
tangled when he came upon them, and he, 
assisted by his comrades, straightened up the 
team under fire. Battery A fired, on the At- 
lanta campaign, 3,680 rounds of ammunition, 
and lost in killed, captured and abandoned, 
1 19 horses. 

Zachariah Marquitt, the father, was born 
March 28, 1804, in Sodus Point, N. Y., a son 
of Daniel and Catherine (Tremper) Marquitt — 
an old New York state family, Daniel Mar- 
quitt being a farmer. His children were Cath- 
erine, Louisa, Maria, Betsey Lucinda and 
Zachariah. Daniel came to Hinckley town- 
ship, Medina county, Ohio, about 1835, set- 
tled in the woods and cleared up a good farm. 
He took great interest in the Methodist church, 
his house being the home of the pioneer Meth- 
odist preachers. He lived to be eighty-seven 
years of age. He was a man of excellent 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



661 



character and of kindly and mild disposition, 
was never angry and lived up to his profession. 
Zachariah Marquitt was married in New York 
state and two of his children were born before 
he moved to Ohio, in 1835, when he settled 
on 114 acres of land in Hinckley township, 
and by thrift and energy he increased this to 
300 acres of good land and was a substantial 
farmer. His children were Mary, Daniel, 
James, Martin and John. In politics he was 
an old-line whig and republican and served as 
township trustee. He lived to be eighty-five 
years old, and died December 23, 1889, at 
Wellington, Ohio, where he had retired to 
pass his days. He was a strong Union man 
during the war and all his sons were soldiers 
in the Union army. John A. was a private of 
battery A, First Ohio light artillery, enlisting 
in the spring of 1861, and was in all the 
marches and battles during 1862-1863. At 
the battle of Stone River he assisted his 
brother Martin and William Gargett in saving 
the gun from falling into rebel hands, as men- 
tioned above. He re-enlisted as a veteran, 
and while at home on veteran furlough died 
of consumption, April 12, 1862 — having taken 
a severe cold in Kentucky by fording streams 
in cold weather on his return home. Daniel 
J., another son, enlisted in an Ohio regiment, 
but saw no service. Zachariah Marquitt, 
father of subject, was a man of unblemished 
character, well known for uprightness and 
honesty. 

Martin H. Marquitt received a common- 
school education and attended, one year, 
Baldwin university, and when the war broke 
out he enlisted. After his return from the 
war, September 12, 1866, he married Maria 
B. Gargett, of Hinckley township, Medina 
county. She was born January 11, 1844, in 
Hinckley township, a daughter of John and 
Mary (Woodward) Gargett. John Gargett 
was born in England in 1804, a son of John 



Gargett, a farmer. John Gargett came from 
England when a young man and settled in 
Hinckley township, Medina county, Ohio. He 
was a stonemason by trade and farmer. 
He built the Perkins house in Akron and his 
stone residence on his hotnestead in 1840. 
He married, at Sharon, Medina county, Ohio, 
January r, t837, and settled in Hinckley town- 
ship, on 120 acres with good improvements, 
paying $4 per acre, although it was almost in 
the woods. He and wife were members of 
the Presbyterian church, and in politics he 
was first an old line whig and then a repub- 
lican. Their children were Mary, William, 
Maria, Robert, L;iura, Alice, James, Henry 
and Elizibeth. Two sons were in the Civil 
war — William and Robert. William J. was 
in battery A, First Ohio light artillery, and 
served through the war; Robert was in the 
Second Ohio cavalry, served one year and 
was in the ba'tle of Pea Ridge. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Marquitt 
settled on 160 acres of good land and have 
made many improvements. Their children 
are Dehio, Clifford and Lura. Mrs. Maiquitt 
is a member of the Methodist church in Rich- 
field, and in politics Mr. Marquitt is a repub- 
lican. He voted for A. Lincoln on his first 
nomination for the presidency, and was one of 
the original republicans of Medina county. 
He is a member ni Go'dwood post, G. A. R., 
at West Richfi Id, has served as township 
trustee two times, has been a member of the 
school board twenty years and reared an excel- 
lent family. 



(D 



INOTT L. NEWTON, a well-known 
farmer and stock raiser, was born 
and reared on the farm which he 
still owns and occupies in Richfield 
township. Summit county, Ohio, his birth hav- 
ing occurred March 6, 1845. 



662 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



John Newton, grandfather of subject, was 
born in Connecticut February 24, 1787, and 
came to Ohio in 1806, locating in Hudson, 
where he Hved about four years, then returned 
to his native state, where he married, in 18 10, 
Miss Laura Thompson, and in 1815 came back 
to Hudson, Ohio, with his wife and two chil- 
dren — Marcus and Lucius. A few years later 
he came to Richfield, where he soon rose to 
prominence as an agriculturist and statesman, 
becoming a member of the state legislature 
and an associate judge of the state supreme 
court. His death occurred in March, 1867, 
and that of his wife about four years previously, 
leaving a memory still held in honor through- 
out the county and state. Beside the two 
children, Marcus and Lucius, born in Connect- 
icut, two others were born in Ohio — John T. 
and Rebecca. Of these, Marcus was a farmer 
and a local minister of the Methodist church, 
and died in January, 1874, a pious and ear- 
nest Christian; Lucius will receive further men- 
tion in the following paragraph; John T. be- 
came prominent as a lawyer in Toledo, and 
Rebecca, now Mrs. Weld, is living in Richfield. 

Lucius Newton, father of subject of this 
memoir, was born December 19, 18 14, and 
began the battle of life at the age of twenty- 
two years, locating in Royalton, Cuyahoga 
county, Ohio, where he purchased 640 acres 
of timbered land, 200 of which are cleared and 
fenced, and devoted his attention to farming 
and stock-raising for about five years, and then 
came to Richfield township. Summit county, 
where he resumed the same calling, of which 
he made a decided success and followed until 
his death, which occurred on December 4, 
1896. He owned at onetime fully 1,000 acres 
of fine land, the greater part of which he di- 
vided among his children. He was married in 
May, 1838, to Miss Caroline Brockway, who 
was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, in 181 8, 
of Connecticut parentage. The children born 



were five in number, viz: John T. , an influ- 
ential farmer-citizen of Hudson township. 
Summit county; Homer E. , deceased; Minott 
L. , our subject; Laura, wife of J. M. McKin- 
stery, secretary of the Royal Arcanum of 
Cleveland, Ohio, and Virgil L., deceased. 

Minott L. Newton was educated in the 
district schools of Richfield township and at 
Oberlin college, and later went through a 
business course at Hiram college. April 15, 
1885, he married Miss Emma Ellas, a native 
of Summit county, Ohio, born February 21, 
1 861, a daughter of Louis P. and Amanda 
(Munday) Ellas, who was born in Tioga 
county, N. Y. , in 1834. Loren Ellas, father 
of Louis P., was a native of Vermont, was 
married in that state to Sarah Hardy, a native 
of Connecticut, and later went to New York 
state, where he was engaged in farming and 
lumbering until 1837, when he brought his 
family to Ohio and settled on a farm in North- 
ampton township. Summit county, where his 
death took place in 1867, when his widow 
removed to Steuben county, Ind., where she 
expired in 1874. 

Louis P. Ellas, when a young man, learned 
boat-building and carpentering in Boston 
township. Summit county, Ohio, and followed 
these trades about thirteen years, and then 
for two years kept a grocery in the same town- 
ship. Removing to Bath township, he kept 
hotel three years, or until April, 1863, when 
he settled in Richfield township, kept hotel at 
West Richfield a year, and then removed to 
the East Center, where he kept a popular and 
prosperous hotel and also engaged in buying 
and selling live stock until 1874. He then 
sold his hotel and bought a farm, which he 
cultivated three years, making a specinlty of 
raising stock on his land. Again he engaged 
in the hotel business, opening up a most 
favorite resort in Richfield, which he operated 
until April, 1881, when he retired. To his 




C4^-^^M^^i^i3^*^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



665 



marriage, in April, 1856, with Miss Amanda 
Munday, who was born in Tioga county, N. 
Y. , in 1 83 1, there were born three children, 
viz: Elmer C, Emma and Ella. Mrs. Ellas 
is now deceased, but Mr. Ellas still resides in 
Richfield, a most respected gentleman. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Newton was born a bright little 
daughter, March 15, 1891, now the sunbeam 
that shines the brightest in the household. 

Mr. Newton's splendid farm of 400 acres is 
one of the best in the township and is excel- 
lently well improved. He makes a specialty 
of raising Durham cattle and as a breeder his 
fame has spread far and wide. In politics he 
is a republican, but has never been ambitious 
to hold public office, but as a citizen he has 
always been public-spirited, and is greatly 
esteemed on account of his individual merits 
and progressive proclivities. 



aHARLES A. WIGHTMAN, district 
agent of the John Hancock Life In- 
surance company of Boston, Mass., 
with headquarters at rooms Nos. i 
and 2, Odd Fellows' temple, Akron, Ohio, has 
had the charge of his company's affairs in this 
city since the spring of 1893, when he suc- 
ceeded Frederick E. Smith, now vice-pres- 
ident of the Second National bank. The dis- 
trict over which Mr. Wightman holds control 
in the interest of the John Hancock Insurance 
company covers Summit, Portage, Medina, 
and parts of Cuyahoga and Wayne counties, 
and within the short time Mr. Wightman has 
been its agent, the business of the company 
has been increased over a half a million dol- 
lars — an instance of the wonderful energy and 
business ability of Mr. Wightman, who had 
previously been in the insurance business 
three years only, having before that time been 
a shoe dealer in Akron. 

Mr. Wightman was born August 5, 1852, 

27 



in Bedford, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, a son of 
Horace F. and Mary P. (Burgess) Wightman, 
of old Connecticut stock, his grandfather, 
John Wightman, having come from the Nut- 
meg state and having settled in Cleveland 
when it was little more than a village. John 
Wightman kept the first house for public en- 
tertainment in the embryo city, which house 
was known as the Old Red hotel. Of his five 
sons who came with him, one became sheriff 
of Cuyahoga county; one went south and be- 
came a planter near Natchez, Miss., one be- 
came a real estate dealer in Cleveland, and 
one sought his fortune in the west. The fifth, 
father of subject, settled down to farming, be- 
came very active in local affairs and died, an 
honored man, about 1869. His children were 
si.\ in number, and were born in the following 
order: .'\nna, the wife of Edward D. Bene- 
dict, of Bedford, Ohio, and with his filial 
daughter the venerable mother now makes 
her home at the age of seventy-eight years; 
George, a wholesale dealer in oysters on An- 
tonio" street, Cleveland; Permilia, who died 
at the age of four years; Frank A., in the 
oyster business with his brother, but residing 
on Harvard street, Newberg, Ohio; Charles 
A., the subject, and Minnie, wife of Theodore 
Lambson, with the Kinsley Paper company, 
of Newberg, Ohio. 

Charles A. Wightman was educated in the 
district schools of Bedford, Ohio, and at the 
age of seventeen years took a position in the 
Ohio Insane asylum as an attendant, and two 
years later, quitting the asylum, entered the 
employ of E. D. Sawyer, shoe dealer of New- 
berg, Ohio, with whom he remained two 
years; he next was employed for a year by 
George Sell, shoe dealer, at Ontario and 
Prospect streets, Cleveland, and then entered 
the Newberg wire mills, learned fine wire 
drawing and two years later was appointed 
foreman over a force of 300 men, which posi- 



666 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



tion he filled for three years; next, was em- 
ployed by N. O. Stone, of Cleveland, and 
then, in 1880, came to Akron and was em- 
ployed for five years by M. T. Cutter. He 
then opened a shoe store on his own account 
and conducted this with varying success until 
1892. In the spring of 1893 he associated 
himself with the John Hancock Insurance 
company, and has since devoted his entire 
time and attention to the advancement of this 
company's interests, with the magnificent re- 
sults noted in the opening paragraph of this 
article. 

Politically, Mr. \\'ightman is a stanch re- 
publican, and in his societarj- relations is a 
member of the Akron lodge. No. 547, I. O. O. 
F., and also of Akron encampment. No. 18, 
and canton Expeditus, No. 2. For three 
years he was a first lieutenant in battery F, 
Ohio national guard, but resigned, through 
business exigencies. 

Mr. \\'ightman was married February 15. 
1884, to Miss Alfretta Miller, daughter of 
George F. Miller, the result of the felicitous 
union being one child — Earl D. The residence 
of Mr. Wightman is at No. 934 East Market 
street, where, surrounded by many warm 
friends, they enjoy all the happiness that is 
vouchsafed to mankind. 



eLIAS MILLER, one of the most re- 
spected old-time farmers of Bath 
township. Summit county, was born 
in Stark county Ohio, March 12, 
1824, and is a son of Peter and Mary (Will- 
iams 1 Miller, the former of whom was born 
October 5, 1796, and was a son of George 
Miller, who was born November 7, 1763. 

Peter Miller married Miss Mary Williams 
February 13, 1823, and came to Bath town- 
ship, Summit county, in 1848, and settled on 
a farm one-half mile east of the center thereof, 



where he continued to follow his life-long vo- 
cation as an agriculturist and attained a con- 
siderable degree of popularity and influence 
with his fellow-townsmen, whom he served as 
township trustee, school director and justice 
of the peace, having been elected by the 
democratic party, of which he had been a 
member until a few jears before his death, 
when he became a republican. In religion he 
was from boyhood a convert to the Evangel- 
ical faith and was a consistent member of the 
church of that name. He lost his wife, Mary, 
in 1826. She had borne him two children — 
Elias, the subject of this biography, and 
Robert S. For his second helpmate he mar- 
ried Nancy Sprankle, who gave birth to three 
children — James, Joseph and Milton. Joseph 
died February 25, 1843, and the death of 
Peter Miller occurred March 31, 1870. 

Elias Miller was well educated in the dis- 
trict schools of Stark and Summit counties, 
and was reared by his father to the honorable 
and noble pursuit of agriculture. He married, 
April 16, 1848, Miss Sarah Sprankle, who was 
born June 16, 1827. a daughter of Jacob 
Sprankle, who was born in America in 1798. 
Mrs. Sarah Miller died May 10, 1895, the 
mother of the following-named children: 
Jacob S., who was born November 12, 1849, 
married Miss Mary E. Ball, of Copley town- 
ship, January i, 1874, and died at Canal 
Fulton, May 7, 1878; Elta Ann, who was 
born November 28, 185 1, was married to 
Wait Hopkins, and died January 13, 1896; 
Nancy, born December 18, 1854, now the 
wife of Daniel Mull, and a resident of Cleve- 
land; Mary A., who was born February 27, 
1857, is married to Newton Hockett and re- 
sides in Bath township, on the old homestead; 
Ema A., born February 19, 1859, died Octo- 
ber 3, 1 871; Sarah D., born June 13, 1864, 
was married to John Rothrick, and died July 
18. 1892, and Peter Milton, who was born in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



667 



Bath township February 6, 1867, and died 
October 22, 1885. Elias Miller, the slibject, 
married for his second wife, April 11, 1897, a 
widow, whose maiden name was Margaret A. 
Drushal, and his residence is at Hornersville, 
in Medina county. Mr. Miller has led a very 
active and industrious life, having cleared up 
nearly all of his 1 30-acre farm and made all 
the improvements, the buildings being sub- 
stantial and neat and tasty in appearance, 
while the farm itself, which is situated three- 
quarters of a mile east of Center, of Bath, 
presents an aspect of thrift and good manage- 
ment unsurpassed by any farm of its dimen- 
sions in Bath township. 

In politics Mr. Miller affiliates with the 
republican party, but has persistently declined 
to accept public office. He has long been a 
member of and class leader in the Evangel- 
ical church, and fraternally is a member of 
Richfield lodge. No. 266, F. & A. M., in 
which he has held the chair of senior deacon. 
He is now living in comparative retirement, 
having done no practical work for the past ten 
years, his ample means affording him the 
privilege of enjoying in ease the fruits of his 
early industry, although he keeps a general 
oversight in the management of his estate. 
He is an honorable and upright gentleman in 
every sense of these words, and holds with a 
lasting tenure the respect of his neighbors. 



(D 



L. MILLER, a prominent young 
farmer of Norton township. Summit 
county, Ohio, was born in Medina 
county, January 29, i860, and is of 
German descent. 

Joseph Miller, father of subject, was born 
in Lehigh county, Pa., June 3, 1823, and was 
there reared to manhood and married to Caro- 
line Steckle, who bore the following-named 
children: Alvin D. , Amos W. , Ellen E. (de- 



ceased wife of James Mohei), Joseph H. , 
Mary M. (wife of Charles Leiby, a farmer of 
Medina county), Sarah I. (widow of Samuel 
Hoaglin), and Martin L. , the subject of this 
memoir. The mother of this family died 
January 28, 1867, and the father chose for his 
second wife Rebecca J. Lower, daughter of 
Samuel Lower, and to this marriage have been 
born Alice V., wife of Peter Snyder; Cora A., 
wife of William Disher; Charles and Oliver. 
Joseph Miller, after his first marriage, came 
from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and located in 
Norton Center, Summit county, in 1846, and 
in 1848 removed to Sharon township, Medina 
county, where he became a prosperous farmer, 
owning 100 acres of well-cultivated land, im- 
proved with substantial buildings. He filled 
all the township offices, including that of 
trustee, and has always been prominent as a 
member of the Lutheran church. 

Martin L. Miller has been identified with 
agricultural interests since his childhood, and 
has also been a successful educator. After a 
proper preparation in the common schools, he 
attended Ada Normal college, and for seven- 
teen years after graduation met with unwonted 
success as a school-teacher. As a republican 
in politics, he served as township clerk of 
Norton township in 1885, and served as dea- 
con and elder in the Reformed church, in 
which he was for eleven years also superin- 
tendent of the Sabbath-school. 

The marriage of Mr. Miller took place on 
the 2 1st day of March, 1883, to Miss Alice L. 
Strobl, who was born in Norton township Jan- 
uary 13, 1 86 1, a daughter of Jacob and Maria 
(Reamsnyder) Strobl. The father of Mrs. 
Miller, Jacob Strobl, was a native of Lancaster 
county, Pa., born in 181 8, and while yet a 
single man came to Ohio and located in Stark 
county, where he married Miss Reamsnyder, 
who was born June 7, 1825. In 1848 Mr. 
Strobl came to Norton township, Summit 



668 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



county, bought sixty-five acres of land and 
made a good home for himself and family, 
which consisted of the following-named chil- 
dren: Sarah, wife of Jacob Smith; Lucy A., 
wife of J. W. Hall; Hattie, married to Henry 
Everhart; Melinda, now Mrs. Silas Strotter; 
Mary E., wife of William Fendenheim; Ma- 
haha A., wife of George Shook; Alice L. (Mrs. 
Miller); George A. ; Wellington, and Effie G., 
wife of Richard Lee. George A. died May 
13, 1894. The family were all reared in the 
faith of the Reformed church, of which the 
father was a deacon and pillar. The chil- 
dren born to Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Miller were 
seven in number and named as follows: Lu- 
cretia M. (deceased, Wadie E., GracieM., 
Maud A. (deceased), Ruth A., Guy E. and 
Fern A. 

Mr. Miller has an excellently improved 
farm of eighty-three acres, on which he has 
lived ever since he has been a resident of 
Norton township. He is a member of the 
Royal Arcanum lodge, No. 382, of Doyleston, 
Ohio, in which he has filled all the offices, and 
which he has twice represented in the state 
lodge. In politics he is popular not only with 
his party, but with the community at large, 
and is recognized as a worthy and public- 
spirited citizen. 



^I^ILAS PAYNE, a thriving and re- 
•^^^^ spected farmer of Richfield township, 

K^^_^ Summit county, Ohio, and an old 
soldier of the Civil war, was born 
July 9, 1839, in Copley township, Summit 
county, Ohio, a son of William and Frances 
(Carey) Payne, and springs from sterling 
English ancestry of Virginia colonial stock. 

Silas Payne received a common-school ed- 
ucation and was reared to farming. He mar- 
ried, in Bath township, in August, 1861, Mary 
B. Hogue, who was born in Northampton 



township. Summit county, July 22, 1833, a 
daughter of Samuel Hogue. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Payne was born one son, George E. Mr. 
Payne, on marrying, settled in Bath township 
and enlisted October 16, 1861, in Capt. 
Jonas Schoonover's company H, Twenty- 
ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve three 
years, but was honorably discharged on ac- 
count of disability February 18, 1863, at 
Dumfries, W. Va. He re-enlisted in North- 
ampton township in the One Hundred and 
Seventy-seventh Ohio infantry, in Capt. Sam- 
uel J. Tracy's company H, and was again 
honorably discharged at Greensboro, N. C, 
June 24, 1865, the war having closed." He 
was in the battle of Cedar Mountain, W. Va., 
Port Republic and several severe skirmishes. 
He was seriously sick about three months in 
hospital at Washington, D. C. , of typhoid 
fever, in 1862, but with this exception Mr. 
Payne was always an active soldier and was 
prompt and faithful in the discharge of every 
duty, and endured all the hardships of a 
soldier's life for two years and four months 
with fortitude and cheerfulness. Mr. Payne 
was in all the marches, campaigns, battles 
and skirmishes in which his company engaged, 
except the battle of Winchester, when he was 
in camp on guard duty. He considers his 
hardest march to have been from a point four 
miles north of W^inchester, coming south a 
distance of over thirty-two miles during a 
a heavy rain storm in the spring, the march 
lasting two days and one night, and, including 
the return to camp, making a distance of 
sixty-four miles. One comrade, Norman 
Salsberry, of West Bath, Summit county, died 
three days later from the effects of the fa- 
tigue and exposure of this march. 

After the war Mr. Payne returned to 
Summit county, Ohio, where he remained un- 
til his removal to Eaton county, Mich., in 
1880, where he settled on a farm, which he 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



669 



resided on for seven years. Here his first 
wife died September 17, 1887, a member of 
the United Brethren church and a woman of 
great amiability. Mr. Payne then returned to 
Summit county, Ohio, and married, Novem- 
ber 14, 1890, in Richfield township, Saman- 
tha J. Kemery, who was born November 9, 
1850, a daughter of Daniel and Susan (Yergin) 
Kemery. Mr. and Mrs. Payne settled on 
their present farm, which was the home of 
Mrs. Payne. 

Mr. and Mrs. Payne are members of the 
United Brethren church, called the U. B. 
Centennial, and Mr. Payne is trustee of sev- 
eral churches and parsonages, is a class leader 
and takes an active interest in church matters, 
as does his excellent wife. Mr. Payne cast his 
first presidential vote for Lincoln, and has 
always advocated the principles of the repub- 
lican party. 



*y ^ ERBERT A. PECK, one of the prom- 
|f\ inent and substantial farmers of 
^L.r Tallmadge township, Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, is a son of Anthony Peck, a 
pioneer of sterling English Puritan stock. The 
founder of the family in America was Joseph 
Peck, of Hingham, Norfolk county, England, 
who fled from England to America, on account 
of church persecution, in 1638, coming with 
his family in the good ship Diligence, John 
Martin master, Joseph Peck, his wife, three 
sons and a daughter, two men servants and 
three maid servants coming at the same time. 
He settled at Hingham, Mass., and was one 
of the founders of the town. The genealogy 
of the Peck family extends back from Joseph 
for twenty generations, and is certified to by 
the Heralds' college of the British museum, 
and descends from John Peck, of Belton, 
Yorkshire. The family is of noble origin and 
of sterling Saxon stock. Joseph Peck's chil- 



dren were Anna, Rebecca, Joseph, John, Nich- 
olas, Samuel, Nathaniel and Israel. After 
them came Joseph, Samuel and Heath; then 
Michael and Fenn. 

Capt. Fenn Peck, grandfather of subject, 
was born in Milford, Conn., and was a sea 
captain. He married Sarah Treat, a direct 
descendant of Gov. Treat, thirty years gov- 
ernor and deputy governor of the old colony 
of Connecticut. Their children were Anthony 
and Treat Fenn. Capt. Peck died at Gauda- 
loupe. West Indies, of yellow fever, in 1803, 
aged only about twenty-four years. 

Anthony Peck, father of subject, was born 
in Milford, Conn., 1799, and received a good 
education. He married, December, 1821, in 
Milford, Conn., Harriet Clark, of the same 
place, a daughter of Abraham and Mehitable 
(Peck) Clark. Abraham Clark was in the 
Revolutionary war when he was but fourteen 
years old, and with Capt. Samuel Peck, who 
served in Gen. Washington's army. The 
great-grandfather of subject, Anthony Peck, 
was a ship builder and well-to-do for his time. 
He lost his property, and came as a pioneer 
soon after his marriage, in 1822, in April, to 
the Western Reserve, making the journey with 
a two-horse covered wagon, and both of them 
walked most of the way, the road being very 
bad. They drove direct to Tallmadge, and 
Mr. Peck bought the land where our subject 
now lives, consisting of 160 acres, all in the 
wilderness. He cleared this up, and, by per- 
severing labor and industry, added to it until 
he owned about 200 acres, and erected a 
tasteful residence. His children were Sarah 
Treat, Charlotte Clark, Harriet Antoinette 
and Herbert Anthony. Mrs. Peck was a mem- 
ber of the Congregational church, and Mr. 
Peck was a member of the Congregational so- 
ciety and church trustee for many years, and 
assisted to build the Tallmadge church. Mr. 
Peck was township trustee and assessor and 



670 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



an honored citizen. He prospered by his 
sterling thrift, and educated his children well 
— his daughter Sarah at New Haven, Conn., 
and his daughter Charlotte at Canandaigua, 
N. Y. Mr. Peck died at the age of forty- 
seven, in 1845, killed by accident. He was a 
conservative and a stout whig and a great ad- 
mirer of Henry Clay. His daughter Sarah 
married H. B. Eldred, who recently died in 
in Cleveland. Mr. Peck's daughter Charlotte 
married Volney Acer, of Medina, N. Y., and 
has four sons, all prominent men. 

Herbert A. Peck was born November 13, 
1842. He received a good education in Tall- 
madge academy, and has always been a farmer. 
Mr. Peck is an honored citizen, has been a 
township trustee, and has been treasurer of 
the Summit county Agricultural society five 
years and secretary six years, and was re- 
elected to both offices unanimously, but re- 
signed. 

Mr. Peck has prospered like his father 
before him and has a splendid farm af 300 
acres, part of which is the old homestead. 
His beautiful lawn, ornamented with fine ever- 
greens and other shade trees, is one of the 
most attractive in the county. Mr. Peck is a 
man of excellent business capacity, is well 
read, and keeps up well with the times. His 
pleasant homestead is presided over with grace 
and dignity by his sister, Antionette, and his 
residence shows the taste of cultivated and re- 
fined people. Mrs. Anthony Peck reached the 
great age of eighty-nine years, and died May 
•9> '893, a woman of high character and many 
virtues. 



'AMUEL W. PERRY, a greatly re- 



CC 

•^^11 spected citizen of Northfield township, 

Ky^_^ Summit county, Ohio, was born in 

Deckertown, Sussex county, N. J., 

November 17, 1838, a son of David and Sarah 



A. (Benjamin) Perry, and is a descendant of 
an English family which was among the early 
colonial settlers of New England. He re- 
ceived a fair common-school education, was 
reared to farming, and in September, i860, 
left his home for the west, stopping for a 
month with an uncle in New York state and 
then working a short time at East Sharon, 
Potter county. Pa. June 17, 1861, he arrived 
at Brandywine, Ohio, and August 7, 1862, 
married, in Akron, Miss Laura M. Barnhart, 
daughter of William and Luna (Chaffee) Barn- 
hart, and born in Peninsula, Ohio, May 15, 
1839. Mrs. Perry's father was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and was reared as a mechanic 
and builder of boats. He was educated in the 
common schools, then emigrated to the west 
in an early day, when the city of Cleveland 
was almost a hamlet. In politics he was a 
republican, and fraternally was a Mason. He 
was born in 1812 and died March 19, 1879; 
the mother of Mrs. Perry was born in Boston 
township, Summit county, of Puritan stock, 
about 1820, and died in 1849. The remains 
of these parents are interred in the village 
cemetery at Boston, where a beautiful monu- 
ment stands sacred to their memory. There 
were four children in the family, one son and 
three daughters — all living — and of whom Mrs. 
Perry is the eldest. William H. Barnhart, a 
resident of the city of Akron, is a painter by 
trade. He married Miss Cornelia Coe, a na- 
tive of Summit county. They had four chil- 
dren, of whom two sons are deceased. Helen 
A., wife of A. Curtis, resides at Springer, 
Colfax county, N. M. Mr. Curtis is a stock- 
raiser, and was formerly sheriff of Summit 
county, from 1869 to 1873. They had two 
children, both deceased. Luna v»'as one of 
the honored teachers of Summit county, and 
is now engaged as an accountant in the Buck- 
eye Manufacturing Co.; Harold A., a resident 
of Akron, Ohio, is a graduate of Akron 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



671 



high school, and is now a bookkeeper in the 
Goodrich Rubber Co.; Mary M., wife of Les- 
ter Crittenden, is a resident of Burton, Geauga 
county, Ohio. Mr. Crittenden is a contractor 
and builder and is now postmaster at that 
place. They have three sons: William H., 
Arthur C. and Roy L. 

Seven days after his marriage Mr. Perry 
enlisted, August 14, 1862, at Northiield, Ohio, 
in company C, One Hundred and Fifteenth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years, and 
served until mustered out at Murfreesboro, 
Tenn., June 22, 1865, on account of the close 
of the war, and was honorably discharged at 
Cleveland, Ohio. His service was chiefly 
rendered in Tennessee, and in November, 
1864, at LaVergne, had a skirmish with 
Wheeler's cavalry; one month later he and 
fifty comrades, while guarding the railroad at 
LaVergne, were surprised and captured by 
cavalry and artillery under Gens. Forrest, 
Burford and Jackson. They were taken to 
within five miles of Nashville and kept in the 
woods five days, receiving for rations two-thirds 
of a pint of corn-meal and a piece of raw 
beef, two or three inches square. They were 
eventually taken to Columbia and confined in 
the upper story of the court house, but two 
days later James Cassidy and David Thomas, 
both of Summit county, together with Mr. 
Perry, managed to escape, and were eight 
days in making their way to Murfreesboro, 
which town they reached December 22, 1864. 
There being but twenty-two of Mr. Perry's 
company left alive, they were detailed to lay 
out the cemetery on the battle field of Stone 
river and to inter the dead. 

After the war, Mr. Perry, who had bought 
a piece of land in Tennessee, traded it for his 
present farm of eighty-two acres in Northfield 
township, which he has greatly improved and 
placed under a high state of cultivation. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Perry have been born two chil- 



dren — Helen M. and Sadie E. Mr. Perry is 
a republican in politics, and cast his first 
presidential vote in the ranks for Mr. Lincoln, 
is a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, and a good and useful citizen. He still 
suffers from the hardships he endured during 
the war; although never wounded, he was at 
one time confined in hospital at Camp Den- 
nison with typhoid fever, and although his 
wife went there to nurse him, it was seven 
weeks before he recognized her. He and his 
two comrades, who escaped from the rebels at 
Columbia, and who reside in Summit county, 
have been in the habit of holding a yearly re- 
union, at the first of which there were but six 
attendants — the three prisoners and their 
wives — now there are twenty attendants, in- 
cluding their children. 

The eldest child, Helen M. , is the wife of 
Marvin L. Berry, who is engaged in a manufac- 
tory in the city of Cleveland, and they have 
one child, by name Alvin P.; Sadie E. is at 
home" with her parents; she is an artist of more 
than ordinary skill, having graduated from 
the Cleveland School of Art, in 1895, and her 
specimens of oil, crayon, pastel and water 
colors, which are displayed in her parents' 
home, are gems. She has some specimens from 
nature taken in New Mexico, where she resided 
for five years, which would find favor in any 
studio. She has taught her profession for 
some years. 



Vj— rf ENRY PETTINGELL, an honored 

•^"X citizen of Hudson township. Summit 

I P county, Ohio, was born in the city 

of London, England, January 24, 

1843, a son of William and Julia (Fosett) 

Pettingell. 

William Pettingell, the father, was also 
born in London, and was a habit-maker, or 
tailor, by trade, and there married. Mr. Pet- 



672 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



tingell came to America in 1843, landed at 
New York, came through to Painesville, Lake 
county, Ohio, and bought a farm of 1 1 7 acres, 
improved it and made a good home. He 
finally sold his farm, lived in Painesville two 
years, then came to Hudson. Ohio, in 1853, 
as secretary and treasurer of the Western Re- 
serve college, and held this position for more 
than thirty years with credit to himself and 
greatly to the advantage of the college. He was 
a well educated business man, a careful and 
skilled accountant, very accurate, and wrote a 
clear and beautiful hand. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Pettingell were born William, Eliza, Alfred, 
Charles E., Henry, and Julia M. Mr. and 
Mrs. Pettingell were members of the Congre- 
gational church, of which he was a deacon 
several years. In politics he was a republican 
and a strong abolitionist. He was an honored 
citizen of Hudson, was its mayor one term, 
and was noted for his integrity of character 
and sterling worth. He was a strong Union 
man during the Civil war, in which he had 
two sons — Charles E. and Henry — both in the 
same company and regiment. Mr. Pettingell 
reached the advanced age of eighty-three years 
and died in Hudson. 

Henry Pettingell was about a month old 
when he was brought to America by his par- 
ents. He was educated in the public schools 
of Hudson, and here learned the carpenter's 
trade. He enlisted, during the Civil war, in 
company B, Eighty-fifth Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, to serve three months, but served four, 
and was honorably discharged at Camp Chase, 
Columbus, Ohio. His service was at Camp 
Chase, and on the Mississippi river, on a 
steamer, as guard of rebel prisoners on their 
way to be exchanged at Vicksburg, Miss., and 
during this trip the boat was fired on several 
times. After being mustered out, Mr. Pettin- 
gell returned to Hudson, and married, June 
21, 1 87 1, Dency S. Lusk, who was born at 



Hudson, Ohio, July 31, 1847, a daughter of 
Milton Adams and Sallie Maria (Seacoy) Lusk. 
Mrs. Sallie M. Lusk was a widow and a 
daughter of Joshua and Mollie (Dee) Post, 
and by her marriage to Chester Seacoy was the 
mother of several children, of whom Lester, 
Mary J. and Pinkey P. grew to maturity. 

Joshua Post was born in Seabrook, Conn., 
and was a soldier in the war of 1812. The 
Dees were an old Connecticut family of Rev- 
olutionary stock. Joshua Post came to Ohio 
in 1 8 10 and settled in Boston township, Sum- 
mit county, where he bought a farm of 400 
acres, on which his son, Joshua Post, had built 
a log house, having previously come to select 
land. Mr. Post cleared up a large part of his 
farm and built a bridge across the Cuyahoga 
river, being a most public-spirited man. His 
children were Joshua, Polly, Deborah, Han- 
nah, mily, Diana M., Juliet, Ann, Jerusha, 
Mercy B., Belinda, Sallie and Philo. Mr. 
Post died a member of the Congregational 
church. 

Since marriage Mr. and Mrs. Pettingell 
have resided in Hudson and built an attractive 
and pleasant residence. To them have been 
born four children — Harry M., Bessie L. , 
Joseph W. and Raymond O. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Pettingell are members of the Congrega- 
tional church in Hudson, and in politics Mr. 
Pettingell is a republican, and cast his first 
presidential vote for U. S. Grant. He is a 
member of the G. A. R. , Gen. W. T. Sher- 
man post, No. 68, at Hudson, and has filled 
the offices of adjutant, chaplain, senior and 
vice-junior commander, and is now com- 
mander. Mrs. Pettingell is a niece, by mar- 
riage, to the famous John Brown, of Harper's 
Ferry fame. John Brown married for his first 
wife Diantha Lusk, a sister of Mrs. Pettin- 
gell's father, Milton A. Lusk, who had previ- 
ously married Dency Preston, and they were 
the parents of Henry, Lorin, Charles, Lucy 




A. A. VIALL. 




MRS. A A VIALL. 



i 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



677 



and Amos. Mrs. Lusk had one son, two 
step-sons and a son-in-law in the Civil war. 
Her son, Lester Seacoy, was a private in the 
Second Ohio cavalry, served four years and 
three months, and was in hiany battles; the 
other soldier boys were Charles and Amos, 
sons of her husband, by his first wife, and 
son-in-law — Charles Robinson. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lusk had but one daughter, Dency S., who 
married our subject. Milton A. was a son of 
Amos Lusk and his wife, Nancy Adams. 
Amos Lusk was a pioneer of Hudson, Ohio, 
from Vermont, and came to Summit county 
among the first. His son, Milton A., was the 
second male child born in Hudson. Amos 
Lusk was a captain in the war of i8i2, and 
contracted a fever from which he died six 
weeks after returning home, before the con- 
clusion of the war. The children of Capt. 
Amos Lusk were Dr. Lorrin, Amos, Edward, 
Julian, Milton, Julia, Sophia, Diantha, (who 
married John Brown), Maria and Minerva. 



HLBERT A. VIALL, the well-known 
saw-mill proprietor and lumber dealer 
at Tallmadge, Summit county, Ohio, 
and one of the youngest of the vol- 
unteers of the late war, was born in East 
Akron November 29, 1849, a son of Emory D. 
and Orpha L. (Wilcox) Viall, the Viall family 
being descendants of old New England col- 
onists of Connecticut and Vermont. 

Emory D. Viall, a lumberman, married, in 
Stowe township. Miss Wilcox, a daughter of 
L. H. and Hannah (Porter) Wilcox, who were 
from New England. The children born to 
this union were Albert A., Frank H., Arthur 
J. (deceased), Alfred C. (deceased), Carrie M. 
(a practicing physician of Cleveland), Nellie 
(deceased), and Cynthia E. Mr. Viall con- 
ducted an extensive business for many years, 
was a highly respected gentleman, and was 



killed in a railroad accident December 16, 
1888. 

Albert A. Viall received a good district- 
school education, and was but twelve years of 
age when the first shot of the Civil war was 
directed against Fort Sumter. This fired his 
youthful patriotism, which grew with the 
growth of the war. Finally, with the consent 
of his parents, who, in fact, could not restrain 
him, he enlisted at Alliance, Ohio, January 
26, 1865, in company F, One Hundred and 




Eighty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, for one 
year, unless sooner discharged on account of 
the war being brought to an end. He was a 
large lad, stood five feet seven and one-half 
inches high, weighed 167 pounds, and but a 
little over fifteen years of age at the time, and 
but twenty-seven days older than the youngest 
enlisted soldier, as reported at the reunion of 
the Grand Army of the Republic at Buffalo, 
N. Y., in 1897. He served in Ohio, at Nash- 
ville and Chattanooga, Tenn., Bridgeport, 



678 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Ala., Edgefield, Tenn., and Lookout Moun- 
tain, his duty being principallj' in guard, patrol 
and garrison service, and pursuit of bush- 
whackers. He was much exposed during a 
march from Zollicoffer Barracks to Missionary 
Hill, Nashville, Tenn., during a cold rain in 
May, 1865, and contracted rheumatism, but 
he served cheerfully and faithfully, and was 
honorably discharged September 20, 1865, the 
war having been brought to an end the previous 
April. 

After his return from the army to Ohio, 
Mr. Viall worked for his father some time in 
his saw-mill at Monroe Falls, then worked by 
the month for some years for other parties, 
and in 1875 engaged in the saw-mill business 
on his own account in Tallmadge, this being 
now the largest of its kind in the township. 
October 27, 1879, he married, in Tallmadge, 
Miss Helen J. Carruthers, who was born in 
Northampton township, in 1848, a daughter of 
John A. and Julia E. (Merrick) Carruthers, 
and to this union has been born one daughter 
— Anna Trowbridge Viall. 

John A. Carruthers, father of Mrs. Viall, 
was born in Tallmadge and was a son of John, 
a soldier of the war of 181 2 and a pioneer of 
Tallmadge township. John A. was a prominent 
business man in his day, was engaged in the 
lumber business, and was also a manufacturer 
of apple butter, making as high as 1,000 gal- 
lons per day, and was the largest shipper of 
of this article in the country. To his marriage 
with Miss Julia E. Merrick were born Helen 
J., Lucy M., and Clarence D. Mr. Carruthers 
was greatly respected by his fellow-townsmen, 
and died at the age of sixty-eight years. 

Albert A. Viall and wife are members of 
the Congregational church at Tallmadge, and 
fraternally Mr. Viall is a member of Cuyahoga 
Falls lodge, No. 6^, I. O. O. F., of the Tall- 
mage grange, P. of H., and of Buckley post, 
No. 12, G. A. R., of Akron. He is also a 



Freemason, and a member of Starr lodge, No. 
187, at Cuyahoga Falls. In politics he is a 
republican, and is a member of the board of 
education at Tallmadge. He has always been 
an energetic business man, and his fortune is 
of his own making, as he began his business 
life absolutely with no capital, saving his 
hands and brains. Beside his mill in Tall- 
madge, which he erected in 1879, at the same 
time he erected his dwelling, he owns a mill in 
Portage county, and has been extensively en- 
gaged in the lumber business for twenty years. 
He is a true patriot, and on decoration day, 
1897, presented to the township of Tallmadge 
a beautiful silk national flag, with staff, in 
commemoration of the heroes of 1776, 1812 
and 1 86 1, and is now interested in furthering a 
movement looking to the erection here of a 
monument to the memory of the soldiers of the 
Civil war. 



*y* AWRENCE B. PIERCE, a well- 
I J known nurseryman of Tallmadge 
I A township, Summit county, Ohio, and 
one of the soldiers of the Civil war, 
was born in Tallmadge township, April 30, 
1840, a son of Nathaniel and Minerva (San- 
ford) Pierce. The Pierces were of English 
Puritan stock and the name was originally 
spelled Pearcy, and of the old English family 
of the name. The name has been corrupted 
to Pearce — formerly Percy — until the last few 
generations, a member of the family finally 
changed the name to Pierce. Our subject re- 
ceived a good education in the academy at 
Tallmadge, and later attended school in Con- 
necticut; he became a farmer and also ac- 
quired a good knowledge of the carpenter's 
trade. He enlisted, in 1862, at the age of 
about twenty-two years, in the Ohio national 
guards, in company B, Fifty- fourth battalion, 
to serve five years, and was enrolled at 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



679 



Cleveland, Ohio, May 2, 1864, as a member 
of company D, One Hundred and Sixty- 
fourth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, 
try, to serve 100 days, and was honorably dis- 
charged August 27, 1864, at Cleveland, Ohio. 
His service was in Virginia opposite George- 
town, D. C, on guard duty. He was always 
an active soldier and prompt and cheerful in 
the discharge of his duty. He was sick with 
erysipelas and in hospital at Fort Strong about 
one month and came near death. Mr. Pierce 
returned to Tallmadge township and engaged 
in the nursery and fruit-growing business. He 
married, May 14, 1873, at Kent, Ohio, Miss 
Emeline M. Bradley, who was born in Kent, 
Ohio, February 16, 1848, a daughter of Ran- 
som and Mary (Tyson) Bradley. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Pierce have been born Robert C. and 
Roger B. Mr. Pierce is a member of H. Day 
post. No. 115, of Kent, and in politics is a re- 
publican. He was a member of the board of 
education in Tallmadge township one term 
and he is a member of the First Congregational 
church at Tallmadge. Mr. Pierce is a sub- 
stantial citizen and well known for integrity of 
character. 

Nathaniel Pierce, father of subject, was 
born at Woodbury, Conn., August 27, 1809, 
a son of Simon and Thankful (Hunt) Pierce. 
Nathaniel Pierce came to Ohio in September, 
1838, via the lakes, and settled on the farm of 
160 acres where our subject now lives, of 
which he cleared about one half. His children 
were Minerva S., Susan L., Frances (deceased) 
and Lawrence B. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce were 
both members of the Congregational church. 
In politics he was an old-line whig and repub- 
lican, and a stanch abolitionist, and was one 
of the early and leading temperance advocates 
of Connecticut, being an early member of the 
Sons of Temperance, and his wife was a nearly 
member of the Washingtonian society — the 
first American temperance organization. Mr. 



Pierce was at one time mobbed in Connecticut 
on account of his anti-slavery utterances. He 
reached the venerable age of eighty-seven 
years and was a man of sterling integrity. 

Lawrence B. Pierce, our subject, is a gen- 
tleman who is widely known as a writer for 
the press, especially the leading agricultural 
and horticultural papers, and, in his early days, 
was an occasional story writer. He is a clear 
thinker and reasoner, and writes from actual 
experience, and his letters are widely read. 
Mr. Pierce is a practical gardener and horti- 
culturist, having passed his life in these pur- 
suits, and for years he has been a leading ex- 
hibitor at agricultural society displays, in 
which he takes a wide interest. 



* m ^ ENRY T. PORTER, of West Rich- 
1^"^^ field, Summit county, Ohio, and one 
I ^ P of the old soldiers of the Civil war and 
a respected farmer, springs from ster- 
ling English ancestry and was born in Rich- 
field township, January 9, 1843, a son of 
Charles and Mary (Neuman) Porter. He re- 
ceived his education in the district schools, 
was reared to farming, and enlisted at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, in November, 1862, in company I, 
Forty-second Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve 
nine months, but was discharged while sick in 
hospital at Cleveland, Ohio, with quinsy — 
having served four months on guard duty at 
that city. He was sick in hospital one month, 
when he hired a substitute and returned home. 
He then re-enlisted at Wooster, Ohio, in com- 
pany I, One Hundred and Third regiment, Ohio 
volunteer infantry, in March, 1865, for one 
year, or during the war, and was placed on 
guard duty at Raleigh, N. C, where he served 
until honorably discharged at Salisbury, N. 
C, in July, 1865. He was sick in hospital 
with measles at Goldsboro, N. C, but out- 
side of this he was prompt and cheer- 



680 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ful in the discharge of every duty. He was 
transferred at Raleigh to company E, One 
Hundred and Eighty-third regiment Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry, and was with this regiment 
when discharged. After the war, Mr. Porter 
returned to Ohio and married, April 8, 1868, 
at Hinckley, Lydia Smith, who was born in 
Medina county, at Granger, a daughter of Will- 
iam J. and Lydia (Ingram) Smith. Mr. and Mrs. 
Porter first located in the north part of Hinck- 
ley township, where Mr. Porter bought a farm 
of seventy-five acres; he bought his present 
farm in 1876, and has a well-stocked farm of 
138 acres — advantageously adapted to stock- 
raising. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Porter are Minott E. and Pearl. In politics 
Mr. Porter has been a republican since Lin- 
coln's second term. 

Mr. Porter has always been an industrious, 
hard-working man, and is an honored citizen. 
He has held the office of township trustee, and 
has been a member of the school board three 
years. His son Minott is a graduate of the 
university of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and is 
now in the government employ in the naval 
observatory, Washington, D. C, being an ex- 
cellent mathematician. 

Charles Porter, father of subject, was born 
at Hadharn, Cambridgeshire, Eng. , was a 
farmer, and to his marriage with Mary Neu- 
man there were born the following children: 
Martha, Charles, John B., Mary, Henry T. , 
Robert, Alice and Harriet. Mr. Porter came 
to America in March, 1837, coming from Liv- 
erpool to New York, and being six weeks on 
the voyage. He settled in Richfield township. 
Summit connty, Ohio, and finally bought land 
in Hinckley township, Medina county, Ohio, 
consisting of seventy-five acres, and improved 
it, building a good dwelling and making a 
good home. He is a member of the Meth- 
odist church and in politics is a republican. 
He had two sons in the Civil war — Robert, 



who was in the One Hundred and Third 
regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, com- 
pany I, one year, and Henry T. William J. 
Smith, father of Mrs. Porter, was born in 
Lincolnshire, Eng., in 1 8 10 or 181 1, came to 
America when a young man and married Lydia 
Ingram at Granger, Ohio. Mr. Smith was a 
farmer, owning 1 56 acres of land in Hinckley 
township. His children by a first wife are 
Harriet, Mary, Sarah, Lydia and Rose. After 
her death he married Emma Damon, and their 
children are Jasper, George, Frank, Fred, Al- 
bert and Lucy. Mr. Smith is yet living, aged 
eighty-seven years. He has always been an 
industrious, respected citizen. 



HDAM RUBBINS, a farmer of Hudson 
township. Summit county, Ohio, and 
an ex-soldier of the Civil war, was 
born in Cambridgeshire, England, 
August 31, 1830, a son of John H. and Sarah 
(Foster) Rubbins. He was reared to farming 
when young, and came to America when about 
twenty years old, with the family, sailed from 
Liverpool, England, in the good ship Universe, 
of the Black Star line, in October, 1850, and 
was six weeks on the passage to New York 
city, all the family coming except Mr. Rubbins, 
the father, who had come two years previously. 
Adam at once went to Little Falls, Herkimer 
county, N. Y., where his father had settled, 
and worked at farm work until he enlisted, in 
April, 1861 — the Tuesday after the fall of Fort 
Sumter — in company G, Thirty-fourth regi- 
ment New York volunteer infantry — Capt. 
Brown, of Oneida, who was afterward killed 
at Malvern Hill. Our subject enlisted for two 
years or during the war and served until hon- 
orably discharged at Albany, N. Y. , July 3, 
1863, having served faithfully for twenty-one 
months. He was in the battles of Edward's 
Ferry, Harper's Ferry, Fredericksburg, White 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



681 



House Landing, Cold Harbor, Spottsylvania 
Court House, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, York- 
town, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Bull's 
Run, Fredericksburg (second battle). Saint 
Mary's Heights, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Sandy 
Hook, and many other battles not remem- 
bered and many skirmishes. Mr. Rubbins 
was wounded in the nose, sustained several 
slight wounds, and several balls passed through 
his clothing. He was sick in field hospital six 
weeks after the battle of Antietam, with trou- 
ble in his head, falling to the ground on the 
march from Alexandria to the battle of Antie- 
tam, and was also troubled with rheumatism. 
Mr. Rubbins was always an active soldier, was 
always prompt and cheerful in the discharge 
of his duty, and was a good, efficient soldier. 
After an honorable discharge," Mr. Rubbins 
returned to New York state and was employed 
at farm work. He married, July 4, 1867, at 
Little Falls, N. Y., Mary Esther Kent, who 
was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., a daugh- 
ter of Jacob Kent, of Scotch parentage. He 
was a farmer and married Mary Widrick, and 
his children were named David, Sylvano, 
Charles, Alden, Mary E., John, Isemar, Alice 
and Isaac. Mr. Kent died in New York state, 
an aged man, respected by all. He was a 
soldier in the Civil war. One Hundred and 
Twenty-first regiment. New York volunteer 
infantry, in the three years' service, was in 
many battles and wounded at the second 
battle of Fredericksburg, but served out his 
time. He also had two sons in the Civil war 
— Charles and David — Charles in the navy 
and David in the One Hundred and Twenty- 
first New York infantry. Mr. Rubbins lived in 
Herkimer county until about 1868, when he 
came to Hudson, Ohio, and worked at farm 
labor until he bought his present farm in part- 
nership with his father, in 1869, and has since 
lived here. He has improved his property 
and built a good residence. His children are 



Jennie M. , John W. and Charles Foster. Mr. 
Rubbins is a member of the Disciples' church, 
and in politics is a republican. He is a mem- 
ber of W. T. Sherman post, No. 68, G. A. R., 
at Hudson, Ohio, and has always been an 
industrious, hard-working man and straight- 
forward in all his deals. 

John H. Rubbins, father of subject, was 
born in Cambridgeshire, England, was a 
farmer, married Sarah Foster and reared a 
large family. He came to America about 
1848, and sent for his family about 1850, set- 
tled at Little Falls, N. Y. , and moved to Hud- 
son, Ohio, in 1863, and bought a place in the 
village in conjunction with his son, Adam, as 
has already been mentioned. He reached the 
great age of ninety-five years and seven days, 
having always been a hard-working and re- 
spected man. He had four sons in the Civil 
war, John, Adam, William and Foster, all 
four in company G, Thirty-fourth New York 
volunteer infantry, in the two years' service. 
William was killed in the battle of Antietam, 
Foster was killed in the battle of P'redericks- 
burg, John re-enlisted in the Sixteenth New 
York heavy artiller}' and was wounded in front 
of Petersburg, but he served to the close of 
the war. This family has a splendid military 
record — having fought many battles for the 
preservation of the Union. 



HLEXANDER C. RUPEE, a well- 
known contracting carpenter of Rich- 
field, Summit county, Ohio, and a 
veteran of the late Civil war, descends 
from colonial New Jersey ancestors of German 
extraction and of patriotic instinct and im- 
pulse. His great-grandfather, Baltus Ruple, 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; John 
Ruple, his grandfather, was a soldier in the 
war of 181 2, and his grand-uncle, James, was 
a colonel in the same war, when, for the 



682 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



second time, imperious, arrogant and perfidi- 
ous Albion was compelled to lay down her 
arms before the conquering Americans. 

Alexander C. Ruple was born in East 
Cleveland, Ohio, August I3, 1832, ason of Seth 
and Jane (Beers) Ruple, received a good com- 
mon-school education, and was there taught 
the carpenter's trade. February 20, 1856, he 
married, at Richfield, Ohio, Miss Caroline E. 
Bailey, who was born in Goshen, Conn., Janu- 
ary II, 1834, a daughter of Asahel and Mary 
(Humphrey) Bailey, and on his marriage settled 
in East Cleveland, where he worked until his 
enlistment, July 18, 1862, at Cleveland, in 
company K, Second Ohio volunteer cavalry, 
under Capt. John Clapp, who was accident- 
ally killed by being thrown from his horse be- 
fore reaching the front, his place being sup- 
plied by Capt., afterward Gen., Nettleton. 
Private Ruple was soon promoted to be second 
sergeant, and in September, 1862, was trans- 
ferred to the Twenty-fifth Ohio independent 
battery, with the rank of second lieutenant; 
was again promoted, for meritorious conduct, 
to a first lieutenancy, and resigned his com- 
mission March 20, 1865, having fought at the 
battles of Newtonia, Mo., September 30 and 
October 4, 1862; Kane Hill, November 29, 
1862; Prairie Grove, Ark., December 7, 1862; 
Van Buren, December 28; Brownsville, August 
25, 1863; Bayou Metse, August 27, and Little 
Rock, September 10, all in Arkansas, and in 
all the other battles of which record is made 
in the sketch of John Mott. 

Lieut. Ruple was always promptly at his 
post of duty, took part in all the campaigns 
of his regiment, but escaped all injury, except- 
ing a slight fiesh wound in his left hand. He 
made an excellent military record, having left 
his wife and three small boys at home when 
he enlisted, and rising from the ranks to be a 
commissioned officer. On his return from the 
army he resumed his trade in East Cleveland, 



where he owned a nice little residence and 
three acres of land, and lived there until 1868, 
when he came to Richfield, continued to work 
at his trade, and in 1878 purchased his present 
home, which is one of the most pleasant in 
Richfield. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Ruple 
were born eight children, viz: Will, Dudley, 
Orian, Alvah, Asahel, May, Glen and Mark, 
who are settled in different parts of the United 
States. The mother of these children was 
called from earth October 4, 1895, a member 
of the Congregational church and a woman of 
many christian virtues. 

John Ruple, grandfather of Alexander C. 
Ruple, was born in Trenton, N. J., where his 
father had lived in the days of the Revolution. 
John married Betsey Craft, and had born to 
him the following-named children; Baltus, 
Cyrus, Lawrence, Samuel, Abraham, James, 
Seth, Sarah, Anna, Nancy and Mary. He 
came to Ohio in 1805 and settled in Euclid 
township, Cuyahoga county, where he had 
purchased 320 acres of land in 1803, all in 
the woods, but which he cleared up and con- 
verted into a comfortable home. He served 
in the war of 1812, held many township offices 
and died at the age of ninety-three years, a 
deacon in the Presbyterian church and a highly 
respected citizen. 

Seth Ruple, father of Alexander C, was 
born in Euclid township, Cuyahoga county, 
Ohio, in 1807, was reared a farmer, married 
Jane Beers, and to this marriage were born 
John, Alexander C, Dudley and Jane. Two 
of these sons served in the Civil war — Dudley 
being a private in the One Hundred and Sev- 
enty-second Ohio infantry, and serving three 
years. Seth Ruple died on his farm in 1885, 
a substantial and greatly esteemed citizen, and 
in politics a democrat. 

Alexander C. Ruple was one of the found- 
ers of the republican party, cast his first pres- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



683 



lential vote for John C. Fremont, and has 
Dted for every republican nominee for the 
residency ever since. He is a member of 
le A. N. Goldwood post, No. 104, G. A. R. , 
[ West Richfield, of which he has been com- 
lander, as well as filled all the other offices, 
nd stands deservedly high in she estimation 
f all the good citizens of Richfield township. 



aEYLON F. RUSH, of Hudson town- 
ship. Summit county, Ohio, springs 
from an old New York state family 
of German ancestry. He was born 
pril 7, 1846, at Titusville, Crawford county, 
a., a son of Isaac W. and Mary M. (Drown) 
lush. 

Ceylon F. Rush received a limited common- 
;hool education. He enlisted January 10, 
862, at the age of about fifteen years, and 
as the youngest soldier in his regiment. He 
as assigned as a drummer to company F, 
ifty-eighth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteer 
ifantry, to serve three years or during the 
■ar. His services as a drummer were for but 
iree or four weeks, and the remainder of the 
me he carried the musket as a private. He 
'as honorably discharged, by reason of re- 
nlistment, as a veteran of the same organiza- 
on, January i, 1864, at Little Washington, 
[. C, and served until honorably discharged 
■om the general hospital, Philadelphia, Pa., 
.ugust 25, 1865, by reason of wounds received 
1 battle. He took part in the battles of 
ortsmouth and Newton; Gosport Navy Yard, 
lay, 1862; Zuni, October 24, 1862; Black 
Vater, 1862; skirmish at Cove Creek, March, 
863; Gum Swamp, May 22, 1863; Batchelor's 
Teek, May 23, 1863; Arrowfield Church, 
lay 9-10, 1864; Dewey's Bluff, May 14, 
864; Bermuda Hundred, May 18 to 26, 1864; 
^old Harbor, June I to 12, 1864; assault on 
'etersburg, June 15 to 19, 1864; before 



Petersburg, June 15, 1864, to April 2, 1865; 
Chapin's Farm, September 29 to 30, 1864; 
Fair Oaks, October 27 to 28, 1864; F"all of 
Petersburg and Richmond, April 2, 1865, and 
in many smaller battles and skirmishes — 
twenty-two general engagements in all. He 
was thrice wounded September 29, 1864, at 
the battle of Chapin's farm, and once at Fort 
Harrison — shot through the left shoulder — and 
was in hospital at Fort Monroe, Washington 
and Philadelphia. He rejoined his regiment 
before he had fully recovered, and was at the 
fall of Petersburg and was sent back to hos- 
pital. His left shoulder was struck twice and 
he was also shot in the foot — this ball being 
from the rear, the first ball turning him com- 
pletely around. Of his company of forty-two 
men at Chapin's farm, but four men escaped 
alive. The order for this charge was counter- 
manded, but the company did not hear the 
countermand and charged in a desperate place. 
Mr. Rush was always an active soldier, and 
was in all the marches, battles, campaigns and 
skirmishes in which his regiment took part. 
He was but nineteen years old when he was 
discharged. After the war he returned to 
Pennsylvania and sold the first history of the 
rebellion (that was published), for one year, in 
Clarion and Armstrong counties. Pa., and did 
a good business. He was in Pennsylvania 
during the early oil excitement, and was per- 
sonally acquainted with Col. Drake, who 
drilled the first oil well. 

Mr. Rush came to Ohio in 1867 and 
worked at carriage work at Wood, Portage 
county, one year. He married, in Lake 
county, Ohio, October 13, 1868, Marie A. 
Tyler, who was born May 29, 1843, at Char- 
don, Geauga county, Ohio, a daughter of Miles 
and Sallie (Tyler) Tyler. Miles Tyler was 
the son of Jacob and Fannie Tyler. Jacob 
Tyler was born in Broome, Scoharie county, 
N. Y. , was of Scotch descent, and was a 



684 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



soldier in the war of the Revolution. He was 
a farmer and moved to Geauga county, Ohio, 
at an early day, cleared up a good farm and 
became a substantial citizen and lived to be 
an aged man. Of his children, Hiram, Polly 
and Miles are the only ones who are remem- 
bered. 

Miles Tj'ler was born in Boome, N. Y. , was 
a farmer and was married in New York, and 
came to Geauga county, Ohio, among the pio- 
neers. His children were David, Franklin, 
Elisha, Wheeler, Tammy, George, Adaline and 
Maria. Mr. Tyler died in Concord, Lake 
county, Ohio, aged about eighty years, a 
member of the Methodist church, and in poli- 
tics a republican. He was a strong. Union 
man and a captain, when a young man, in the 
old New York state militia. He had two sons 
in the Civil war — Franklin and George — the 
former a private in a Massachusetts regiment, 
and George was in an Ohio regiment and lost 
his left arm in battle. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rush settled in Lake county, 
Ohio, after marriage, and later moved to 
Wood county, and afterward to Portage 
county, Ohio, and afterward moved to Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. Rush followed carpentering 
and the oil business in Pennsylvania, and came 
to Ohio in the spring of 1872 and settled in 
Lake county. In 1875 they came to Summit 
county, settling in Akron. In 1882 he bought 
his present residence property in Hudson. 
Mr. Rush now follows his business of a car- 
penter and is a skillful and reliable workman. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Rush two sons have been 
born: Adelbert Bruce, June 14, 1872, in 
Concord, Lake county, Ohio, and Raymond 
Clare, August 8, 1875, at Chardon, Geauga 
county, Ohio. Mr. Rush in politics is a re- 
publican; fraternally he is a Mason and a mem- 
ber of the lodge at Hudson, Ohio. 

Isaac W. Rush, father of subject, was born 
in Genesee county, N. Y. , and married, in 



Michigan, Mary M. Drown, of Owasso, Shia- 
wassee county, a daughter of John and Lydia 
(Calhoun) Drown. Mr. Rush was a shoe- 
maker and farmer, at one time owning a farm 
in Clarion county. Pa. His children by his 
first wife were Polly, Irena, Laura A., Ira W. , 
Ceylon F., Manley B. , Mary, Charlotte, Fanny, 
and Zelina. Mrs. Rush died, and Mr. Rush 
next married Mrs. Catherine Russell (a widow), 
and their children were Freelove and one who 
died an infant. Mrs. Catherine Rush also 
died, and the third marriage of Mr. Rush was 
to Clarissa Hine, and their children were Lina 
L. , Ella, James, Jennie, Isaac, John, Flora, 
Almeda, Hattie, and one died an infant. Thus 
Mr. Rush was the father of twenty-two chil- 
dren. Two sons — Ceylon and Manley — were 
soldiers in the Civil war — both in same com- 
pany and regiment. Manley enlisted later 
than Ceylon, and when he also was but fifteen 
years old. Thus these two patriotic boys were 
among the youngest soldiers of the Civil war. 



BREDERICK W. WOODBRIDGE, 
one of the oldest and one of the 
best-known business men of Ra- 
venna, Ohio, was born in Manches- 
ter, Conn., in 1824, and is a son of Frederick 
and Clarissa C. (Pitkin) Woodbridge, the 
former of whom was also a native of Manches- 
ter, Hartford county. Conn., was there mar- 
ried, and to his union with Miss Pitkin were 
born three children, viz: Frederick W. , Eliza- 
beth P. (now the widow of James W. Cone, 
of Kent, Ohio) and Charles D. , of Cleveland — 
both families being of English descent. 

Diodate Woodbridge, the paternal great- 
grandfather of Frederick, was a patriot of the 
Revolutionary war and fought in the memora- 
ble battle of Breed's Hill, better known as 
Bunker's Hill. Dudley Woodbridge, paternal 
grandfather of subject, was a native of Con- 




F. W- WOODBRIDGE- 




n-o^- 



/^ 




>!! 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



689 



necticut, married Betsey Pitkin, became the 
father of twelve children, and died in his na- 
tive state at about the age of sixty years. 
Joseph Pitkin, the maternal grandfather of 
subject, also was a native of Connecticut, was 
one of the first cotton manufacturers of that 
state and died at an advanced age in New York. 

Frederick Woodbridge, father of Frederick 
W. , was at one time a wealthy merchant in 
the east, but lost his all in the panic of 1837, 
and in 1839 brought his family to Ohio, and 
died in Cleveland at the age of seventy-two 
years, having some years previously lost his 
wife, who died in Wisconsin, but whose re- 
mains were interred at Kent, Ohio. 

Frederick Wells Woodbridge, the subject 
proper of this memoir, received a very fair 
academical education in his youth, and in 
1 841 began clerking for Clapp & Spellman, at 
Akron, Ohio, and later was employed by Zenas 
Kent, of Ravenna. He, with filial affection, 
presented to his father all his early earnings to 
aid in buying a farm, but was able, in 1846, 
to enter into business on his own account, in 
which he continued in Ravenna until 1853 — 
a part of the time with his father-in-law, Capt. 
Isaac Brayton, and then removed to Cleve- 
land, where, with others, he built the Cleve- 
land Powder mills, which he operated with 
success for several years and then re-entered 
mercantile life, in connection with the Cleve- 
land Rolling Mill company, in which he con- 
tinued until 1873, when he returned to Ra- 
venna and resumed mercantile business. 

The marriage of Frederick W. Woodbridge 
took place in Ravenna, in 1847, to Miss Mary 
A. Brayton, then about seventeen years of 
age, and a daughter of Capt. Isaac Brayton. 
She was a native of the island of Nantucket, 
and in after years became famous as a leader 
in the cause of the Women's Christian Tem- 
perance union. To the marriage of Frederick 
W. and Mary A. Woodbridge were born four 

28 



children, viz: Mary Alice, who became the 
wife of Dr. M. L. Brooks, physician and sur- 
geon of Cleveland, whose father is also a 
physician and is the oldest practitioner of that 
city; to Mr. and Mrs. Brooks were born two 
children, Thomas H. and Martin Luther, who 
died in childhood. The father. Dr. Brooks, 
met with an untimely death by an accident in 
1895. Martha Mitchell, the second child born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Woodbridge, was married to 
W. E. Way, who for twenty-seven years wa.s 
bookkeeper and paymaster of the Cleveland 
Rolling Mill company and died in 1891; to 
this marriage were born three children, of 
whom two are still living— Edith and Anna. 
Frederick W., the third child of subject and 
wife, died at the age of one year, and George 
Brayton Woodbridge, the youngest, married 
Miss May Sharp; they have one child, Fred- 
erick Wells, and reside in Cleveland, where 
his father is bookkeeper for a manufacturing 
company. 

The late lamented mother and grandmother 
of the above children, Mrs. Mary Ann (Bray- 
ton) Woodbridge, was called from her philan- 
throphic cares and toil of benevolence October 
25, 1S94. She was born April 21, 1830, the 
daughter of Capt. Isaac and Love (Mitchell) 
Brayton, who were married, by the Quaker 
ceremony, July 25, 1825. Mary A. was of 
the sixth generation born in America, and her 
ancestry can be traced back in England for a 
period of 800 years. Her father. Isaac Bray- 
ton, was born in Nantucket, in 1801, and early 
in life became captain of a whaling vessel, 
and April 28, 1833, landed the largest cargo 
of oil (2,824 barrels) ever before brought to 
the island of Nantucket. He also landed 
probably the first missionary that ever visited 
the Sandwich Islands, and was alwaj's a friend 
of that devoted band of evangelists, mention 
of which fact is made in the history of the 
Sandwich group by Rev. Hiram Bingham, who 



690 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was himself a missionary there for twenty-five 
years under the auspices of the American 
board. Even in those early days Capt. Bray- 
ton was a strictly temperate man, never using 
even tobacco, and was one of the few sea- 
captains who daily led the crew in religious 
worship. He was gifted with a high order of 
eloquence and a tact for the management of 
public affairs, was recognized by his fellow- 
citizens as a leader among men, and by them 
was sent to the Massachusetts legislature in 
the days when Edward Everett was governor. 
On coming to Ohio, he served the common- 
wealth as associate justice with Ben Wade, 
later was a member of the Ohio legislature, 
and was the father of the law by which the 
charitable institutions of this state are still 
governed. He lived to the great age of eighty- 
six years, and his memorj' is still cherished 
with respect in his native as well as his adopted 
state. His talented wife Love Mitchell, was a 
sister of William Mitchell, who as an astrono- 
mer and geographer, with his daughter Maria, 
won a world-wide reputation. Mrs. Wood- 
bridge was the mother of three children be- 
fore she was twenty-one years of age; the 
fourth was born thirteen years later. Not- 
withstanding her maternal cares she never 
lost her enthusiasm for her religious convictions 
and her philanthopic efforts to redeem the 
world from the curse of rum, nor her love for 
books, nor the study of botany and love of 
flowers,' with which her home was always 
decorated with the rarest growths; and so 
gracious was personality and her hospitality 
so spontaneous, that her home was constantly 
filled with admiring friends. 

The great work that Mrs. Woodbridge ac- 
complished as a member of the Women's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union must be confined to 
a brief excerpt from a memento written by the 
famous Frances E. Willard, confining it, as it 
was written, to the present tense: "She has 



risen to her present eminence by sure and reg- 
ular gradation, being at first president of the 
local union of her own hometown at Ravenna, 
then for years president of her state, and in 
1878 she was chosen recording recretary of the 
National Women's Christian Temperance 
Union, a position which she fills with unrivaled 
ability, her minutes being almost never sus- 
ceptible of improvement by even the slightest 
verbal change. This is, indeed, a fact ' sig- 
nificant of much,' for only the quickest ear, 
keenest perception and readiest hand could so 
' keep the run ' of proceedings to the last de- 
gree intricate, rapid and changeful. Upon 
the resignation of Mrs. J. Ellen Foster (at the 
St. Louis National W. C. T. U. convention, in 
October, 1884) Mrs. Woodbridge was unani- 
mously chosen national superintendent of the 
department of legislation and petitions. She 
is now in the field addressing large audiences 
at leading centers of influence, and is received 
with the consideration due to her character, 
talents and influence. But the crowning work 
of Mrs. Woodbridge thus far was her consum- 
mate conduct of the constitutional amendment 
campaign, especially when the stage of sub- 
mitting the prohibitory clause had been suc- 
cessfully passed. Her wonderful alertness of 
mind, facility of leadership, patience and far- 
reaching wisdom had here a splendid field. 
Political leaders in Ohio said ' they were out- 
worked, out-witted and out-generaled.' Al- 
most unaided by the partisan press, with faith- 
lessness in camp and field, the parties making 
a promise to the ear only to break it to the 
hope, this steadfast nature still held on its way, 
trusted by the people of Ohio and devoutly 
trusting them. But in God were the hidings 
of her power. Whether she edited the Amend- 
ment Herald, which under her leadership at- 
tained a weekly circulation of 100,000 copies, 
or directed the appointments of the temperance 
workers who were ' out campaigning, stirred 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



691 



the zeal of her local workers by letter and tel- 
egram, or pleaded for the sinews of war, her 
faith failed not,' and words of prayer were 
ever on her lips, or promises of God from the 
Book with which she has so great familiarity. 
What wonder that more than 300,000 voters 
responded by 'Yes' ballots to such earnest 
workers as the White Ribbon women of Ohio, 
under such splendid leadership. Later on, 
when the amendment was counted out, Mrs. 
Woodbridge has taken positions so far ad- 
vanced as to the safe conduct of prohibition 
movements, that many good people have been 
unable 'to see light in her light," but she 
goes bravely forward, undaunted, undeterred, 
'with firmness in the right as God gives her to 
see the right,' exhibiting in this the choicest 
quality of her noble character, viz: Fidelity 
to her convictions at cost of comfort and of 
praise." 

Frederick W. Woodbridge has been a last- 
ing honor to the generation in which he lives, 
and has shown in his life the characteristics 
of the man and the true-born gentleman. His 
business integrity has never been questioned, 
his high moral character ever precluding the 
shadow, even, of such a thought. His domes- 
tic life has been supremely blessed in all re- 
spects, and has been marred only by the irre- 
parable loss of the companion to whom he was , 
so deeply devoted. 



* m ^ ENRY BARHOLT, a respected citi- 
I^^^V zen of Hiram, Ohio, and a veteran of 
M. . r the Civil war, was born in Prussia, 
August 27, 1838, a son of Benjamin 
and Caroline Barholt, and was seven years old 
when his parents brought him to America, 
about 1845. His father settled in Cleveland, 
Ohio, but Mrs. Barholt, died soon after reach- 
ing America, and young Henry received but 
little education. He began to work in a 



tobacco factory when a small boy and some- 
times worked until twelve o'clock at night; he 
next went to Orange, Ohio, when he was six- 
teen years old, and worked at farm work. He 
enlisted at Hiram, Ohio, September 20, 1861, 
in Col. Garfield's regiment, Capt. A. F. Wil- 
liams, company A, Forty-second regiment 
Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve three years or 
during the war, and was honorably discharged 
at Camp Chase, Ohio, September 30, 1864, 
by reason of expiration of service. He re- 
enlisted in Wayne township, Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, in company G, Sixth United 
States veteran volunteers, April 6, 1865, to 
serve one year or during the war, and was 
honorably discharged at Washington, D. C, 
April 5, 1866, thus serving a little over four 
years. He was in the battles of Middle Creek, 
and Pound Gap, Ky. , and in several skir- 
mishes at Cumberland Gap and at Big Springs. 
He was in the battle of Grand Gulf, Thomp- 
son's Hill, or Port Gibson, Raymond, Cham- 
pion Hill, Black River, Chickasaw Bayou, 
Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Jackson, Miss., and 
in skirmishes too numerous to mention. Mr. 
Barholt was not a prisoner, nor was he in the 
hospital, but was always an active soldier and 
prompt and cheerful in the discharge of his 
duties. He was in all the battles, skirmishes, 
campaigns and marches, in which his regiment 
was engaged, and had but one furlough home 
for thirty days. 

Mr. Barholt thinks his hardest battles to 
have been those of Champion Hill and Vicks- 
burg. His hardest march was in September, 
from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio river, 
which required nineteen days. The troops 
had no rations, and the weather was very hot. 
The corn had just glazed, and Mr. Barholt 
lived on this corn during the march. He had 
saved a little coffee, and this was of the great- 
est value to him. 

After the war Mr. Barholt returned to 



692 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Ohio and engaged in farm work at Hiram. He 
married August 5, 1872, at Cleveland, Ohio, 
Mary Seebolt, who was born March 9, 1842, in 
Baden, Germany, in the Black Forest. Her 
father came with his family to America, about 
1850, arriving in New York. Mr. Seebolt was 
a blacksmith, and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, 
where his wife died the first year. Their chil- 
ren, beside Mary, were Lee, Antoinette, John 
(a soldier of the Civil war), Caroline, Eliza- 
beth and Hannah, the last-named remaining 
in Germany. Mr. Seebolt lived to be sixty- 
four years old, and died in 1871 in Cleveland. 
He was a hard-working and industrious man. 

After marriage Mr. Barholt settled in 
Hiram township, where he had bought a farm 
of fifty-si.\ and one-half acres, three-fourths of 
a mile west of Hiram. By his thrift and en- 
ergy, he has improved his place with good 
buildings, and has a pleasant and comfortable 
home. Mr. and Mrs. Barholt have one son, 
Edward P., born November 3, 1879. In poli- 
tics he is a republican and cast his first vote 
for Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Barholt is a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church and of the G. A. 
R. , formerly affiliating with Bentley post at 
Mantua, Ohio. 

Benjamin Barholt and wife, the parents of 
our subject, came to America about 1845, sail- 
ing from Bremen to New York in the good 
ship Eagle. Mr. Barholt was a weaver by 
trade. He lived in Cleveland until his death 
at the venerable age of about eighty. He was 
a hard-working and honorable man. His 
children were Charles, Henry, Frederick and 
Fredrica. Three sons were in the Civil war, 
viz: l-^rederick was in the Thirty-seventh Ohio 
volunteer infantry, three years' service and 
veteranized, and in all served four years and 
was in many battles. He was wounded at 
Lookout Mountain, and is now deceased. 
Charles was a private of the Twenty-third 
regiment veteran volunteer infantry, served 



four years, and was in many battles. He was 
wounded and now resides in Cleveland. The 
three brothers, Henry, Frederick and Charles, 
were in the service altogether about twelve 
years. 

Henry Barholt has always been an indus- 
trious and frugal farmer, and has fully earned 
the reputation he enjoys as a good citizen and 
an upright man. 



>T^AMES B. BARNARD, mayor of Gar- 
M rettsville. Portage county, Ohio, and 
A 1 now serving a second term, is a native 
of Chautauqua county, N. Y. , was born 
April 29, 1838, and is a son of Benjamin and 
Gracie (Bucklin) Barnard, natives, respect- 
ively, of New Hampshire and New York states. 
In 1853 the Barnard family came to Ohio 
and first located in Trumbull county, whence 
they removed to a farm in Franklin township, 
and later went to Stowe township. Summit 
county, where the parents passed the re- 
mainder of their days. The father had been 
a farmer all his life, was a republican in poli- 
tics, and was honored with the office of jus- 
tice of the peace, as well as with several minor 
township offices. They were the parents of 
eleven children, who all grew to maturity, and 
were named as follows: Jane, who was first 
married to William Southwell and next to 
Ransford Easton, and now lives in Illinois; 
Emily, deceased, who was first married to 
Dewey Nichols, then to George Baker, and 
next became Mrs. Freeman, and died in 
Jamestown, N. Y. ; Nancy is the widow of 
Charles Curtis, and resides in Joliet, 111. ; 
Martha is the wife of S. P. Merrill, of Earl- 
ville. Portage county, Ohio; Sophia is married 
to Frank Stowe, of Lockport, 111.; James B. , 
subject, is next in order of birth; Elizabeth 
died unmarried; Julia married Seldon Barker, 
afterward became Mrs. Mansfield, and resides 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



693 



in Jamestown, N. Y. ; Laura is the wife of 
William Stowe, of Lockport, 111.; Daskum F. 
is a farmer near Kent, Ohio; Fred is also a 
farmer, and lives in Stowe township. Summit 
county. 

James B. Barnard attended school until 
fifteen years of age and assisted on his father's 
farm until his enlistment, in 1861, in the 
Second Ohio volunteer cavalry; served in the 
western army nearly two years as bugler, and 
was mustered out under an order from the war 
department. He next enlisted in company H, 
One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio volunteer 
infantry, for 100 days, did guard duty at John- 
son's island, as second lieutenant, fought at 
Kellar's Bridge, Ky. , was held in service fully 
a year, and was mustered out with the rank 
of captain. 

After his return from the war, Capt. Bar- 
nard traveled for twenty years as a salesman 
in the eastern and middle states, mostly on 
his own account, but while thus employed 
established his home, in 187.^, in Garrettsville. 
In 1890 he purchased an interest in the granite 
business, which is still carried on under the 
firm name of Barnard & King, who own their 
business block and \ards and are very pros- 
perous in their trade, commanding a very ex- 
tensive business. 

Mr. Barnard was married, in i860, to Miss 
Philinda Lee, who was born in Trumbull 
county, Ohio, a daughter of Seth Lee, a prom- 
inent farmer. To Mr. and Mrs. Barnard has 
been born one son — Jay L. , who is married 
to Mary Levitt, and is office manager, book- 
keeper and statistician for the Ohio Steel com- 
pany at Youngstown. Mr. and Mrs. Barnard 
have also reared an adopted daughter — Edith. 

In politics Mr. Barnard has always been 
an ardent republican, is very popular with his 
party, has twice been elected to the town 
council and has twice been elected mayor of 
the village of Garrettsville, and is now serving 



his second term. During his excellent adminis- 
trations Main street has been paved with brick, 
and the electric light system thoroughly im- 
proved and perfected, and many other important 
improvements made for the public benefit. 
Mr. Barnard was one of the three commission- 
ers appointed to build the Hiram Free turn- 
pike or macadamized road in 1883, of which 
commission he has served ever since as presi- 
dent of the board. 

In his fraternal relations, Mr. Barnard 
has advanced to the encampment in Odd P'el- 
lowship and is a past chief patriarch, and still 
affiliates as a member of the local lodge, and 
is also a member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. He is entirely "self-made", and 
his residence on North street is one of the best 
in the village. 



BREDRICK W. BOIES, of Peninsula, 
Ohio, one of the old soldiers of the 
Civil war and a respected citizen, was 
born in Stowe township. Summit 
county, Ohio, September 17, 1842, a son of 
Fredrick N. and Elizabeth (Lewis) Boies. 
The Boies family were of French and Irish 
ancestry and settlers, in colonial times, of 
Massachusetts. 

John Boies, grandfather of subject, was 
born in Boston. Mass., September 27, 1760. 
and married July 31, 1788, Mary Parker, born 
at Litchfield, N. H., daughter of John Parker 
and granddaughter of Rev. Thomas Parker, 
the first minister of Dracut, Mass. In the 
year 1805, they settled in Maine as pioneers 
of Madison and Skowhegan. Their children 
were Thomas, James, Bartholomew, Broadus, 
Fredrick, John, Mary, Nancy, Mehitable. 
Eliza and Fannie Neil — none of them now 
living. 

In the history of Bedford, N. H., published 
by the town in 1851, the name of John Boies 



694 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



appears as one of the lOO men who signed 
"The Association Test" in April, 1776, indica- 
ting his loyalty to the cause of the colonies. 
He was a soldier of the war of the Revolution, 
enlisting in March, 1777, in his sixteenth year, 
and his service record has been fully verified 
from authentic sources. On July 7, 1777, he 
was engaged at the battle of Hubbardston, and 
October 7, following, at the second battle of 
Stillwater, where he was wounded in the arm. 
The following winter he was with Washing- 
ton's army at Valley Forge, and June 28, 1778, 
took part in the battle of Monmouth. In the 
summer and fall of 1779 he was with the ex- 
pedition organized under the direction of 
Washington, and commanded by Gen. John 
Sullivan, against the si.\ nations of Indians. 
This army did some severe fighting and march- 
e4 over 700 miles through an almost unbroken 
wilderness, in New York, New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania. 

In the fall of 17S0 he was taken prisioner, 
put on board a vessel and carried first to Lim- 
erick, Ireland, and thence to Mill prison, 
Plymouth, England. \\'ith a number of others 
he made his escape, put out to sea in an open 
boat, and was picked up by a French vessel 
and carried to within sight of New York city, 
where the vessel was captured by the British 
man-of-war and the soldiers were transferred 
to the ship Essex, June 16, and committed to 
Mill prison again June 2 I, 1781. As a punish- 
ment for trying to escape, Mr. Boies was com- 
pelled to wear sixty pounds of iron si.xty days. 
To vary the monotony of prison life he kept a 
diary and completed a book of sums. After 
his return to America he was offered quite a 
large sum of money for these books — the mem- 
ories of prison life — but he refused to part with 
them, and they were afterwards destroyed by 
fire in a school-house in Derryfield, now Man- 
chester, N. H. After the surrender of Corn- 
wallis in October, 1781, he was released and 



returned to America. A bronze tablet has 
been recently erected to his memory in the 
memorial room of the Skowhegan public li- 
brary as a tribute to his worth. The tablet 
bears the inscription: 

In memory of John Boies, a soldier of 
the Revolution, born in Boston, Mass., Sep- 
tember 27, 1 760, enlisted in the Sixth company, 
Third New Hampshire regulars, March, 1777 
— serving three years; imprisoned one year at 
Mill prison, Eng. As a token of affection and 
esteem this tablet is placed here by his grand- 
children. 

Fredrick Nelson Boies, father of subject, 
was born at Bedford, N. H., February 14, 
1800, and had the limited common-school ed- 
ucation of his day. He left home early, was 
a lumberman in Maine and Canada, and mar- 
ried at Portland, Conn., Elizabeth Lewis, 
January 6, 1831. They settled in Summit 
count}', Ohio, Northampton township, in 
1836-7, east of the Center, and bought 150 
acres in the White Oaks woods, where Mr. 
Boies, who had come out the spring before, 
had built a log cabin. He cleared up his farm 
from the woods, and, although a small man, 
weighing but 130 pounds, was very tough and 
hardy, and could outwork most men. He 
made a good pioneer, and about 1 840 he moved 
to the center of Stowe, and remained there 
till 1844, when he bought and removed to a 
farm in Boston township, on which he lived 
the remaining acti\e years of his life. He 
suffered from a stroke of apolexy seven years 
before death and was blind for seven years, 
and finally retired to Peninsula, where he died 
February 12, 1882. He and wife were mem- 
bers of the Episcopal church at Peninsula. 
In politics he was a democrat, served as justice 
of the peace three years and also as assessor. 
His children were Ann L. , Herbert W. , Helen, 
Mary P., Charles E. L. , Fredrick C. and Effie 
L. He had two sons in the Civil war, viz: 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



695 



Charles E. L. , who was in company C, Twen- 
tieth regiment, Connecticut volunteer infantry, 
in the three years' service, and was color ser- 
geant. Of the above-named children, Ann L. 
is the widow of Edmund H. Cole, who was a 
merchant in Peninsula. They had four 
children — three sons and one daughter living, 
of whom the eldest. Dr. A. M. Cole, is a prom- 
inent business man and banker in the city of 
Akron; he was educated in the high school at 
Peninsula, and a business college at Cleveland, 
and is a graduate of a medical college at Cleve- 
land, and the College of Physicians & Sur- 
geons in New York city. He married Miss 
Lucy Truscott. Herbert W. is general man- 
ager of the Star Drill Co. and the Silver Plate 
Co., at Akron, Ohio. Helen is the wife of 
Dr. W. N. Boerstler, of Peninsula; Fredrick 
C. is assistant manager of the Silver Plate Co. 
of Akron, and Effie L. is the wife of a Mr. 
Worthington, of Connecticut, who is a seaman. 
Fredrick W. Boies, subject of this sketch, 
received a common-school education and en- 
listed August 20, 1862, at Peninsula, in com- 
pany C, One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry, for three years or during the 
war, and was honorably discharged at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, July 5, 1865. He was appointed 
coporal on the organization of the company 
and promoted sergeant for meritorious conduct. 
He was first stationed at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
Dayton, Ohio, and Murfreesboro, Tenn., on 
guard duty, and was detailed to the One Hund- 
red and Fifteenth regimental band in 1864, and 
served as a musician until mustered out. He 
was present at Dayton, Ohio, when George L. 
Waterman was shot by a mob. After the 
war, Mr. Boies returned to Peninsula and was 
engaged in the boat yard as boat carpenter 
three years; then bought a canal boat and ran 
it for six years and did a good business. In 
company with Charles E. Boies, he bought a 
grist mill at Peninsula in 1878 and ran it three 



years, and then ran a meat market several 
years. He is now notary public and owns 
valuable real estate in Peninsula. In politics 
he is a democrat; he has served as township 
trustee and mayor of Peninsula. He is a 
member of the Episcopal church; a member of 
the Knights of Maccabees, and Good Templars, 
and of the George L. Waterman post, No. 272, 
G. A. R., at Peninsula, of which he has been 
commander and now is quartermaster. 



HLEXANDER BREWSTER, one of 
the oldest residents of Summit coun- 
ty, which has been his home for over 
eighty-five years, may certainly claim 
especial mention in this volume, as being one 
of the very few still living who have seen the 
county develop from a wilderness into the 
blooming agricultural district it now is, and its 
mineral resources utilized for the benefit of his 
fellow-men. He was born in Augusta, Oneida 
county, N. Y., September 10, 1808; came 
with his parents to Ohio in 1812, settling in 
Coventry township, where he lived the life of 
the pioneer, assisting his father to redeem from 
the forest a home. His early life was a busy 
one, and well he remembers of the game that 
abounded in the forest and of the numerous 
days of pleasure that he experienced hunting 
same. His education was limited to the com- 
mon schools of that day. He remained under 
the parental roof until -he arrived at his ma- 
jority, having learned the carpenter trade with 
his father, which he followed only a short time, 
when he gave his attention to agricultural 
pursuits, following this vocation through his 
long life. 

In the year 1848 coal was discovered un- 
derneath his land and he gave some attention 
to the mining of same in a limited way for a 
few years. In 1850 he with several others 
from that locality made an overland trip to 



696 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



California, and for a year had the experience 
of a miner and was one of the few that were 
fortunate in accumulating wealth rapidly, and 
during the year 185 i he returned to his home 
and resumed farming; also engaged in coal 
mining, which he has followed up to within 
a few years, since which time he has been 
enjoying the fruits of his earlier life. Mr. 
Brewster has been a careful business man and 
has prospered year by year, which has enabled 
him to enjoy comforts to-day which only the 
frugal may enjoy. 

In 1865 a stock company was formed with 
a capital stock of $100,000, under the name of 
theBrewster Coal company, ofwhich Mr. Brew- 
ster was made president, and his two sons, Al- 
fred A. and Austin K., were named respect- 
tively general agent and secretary and treas- 
urer — the company mining and handling 
between 200,000 and 300,000 tons of coal 
for years. 

Mr. Brewster was married January 9, 1830, 
to Miss Margaret Ann Ivinney, who also was a 
native of New York, and came to Summit 
county, Ohio, with her parents, in 1813, being 
reared to womanhood in Springfield township, 
that county. By this marriage five children 
were born, four of whom grew to manhood 
and womanhood, viz: Alfred A. ; Austin K. ; 
Louisa, wife of J. F. Meacham, and Mary 
Melissa, wife of Russell H. Kent. Mrs. Brew- 
ster died in November, 1854, and Mr. Brew- 
ster married in December, 1857, Mrs. Minerva 
A. (Darrow) Brown, who is a native of Cuya- 
hoga county, Ohio, and died June 27, 1873. 
In September, 1877, Mr. Brewster married for 
his third wife Mrs. Lucy Jane Chamber- 
lain, widow of John H. Chamberlain and 
daughter of Col. Justus Gale, who settled in 
Akron, in 1831, and became one of its sub- 
stantial citizens. 

Mr. Brewster has done his full share in aid- 
ing to dot the county over with the hives of 



industry that send forth their hum of machin- 
ery in producing numberless articles of im- 
proved labor-saving implements and utensils, 
and in spreading the benefits of the church and 
the school the land over also, and now, verg- ' 
ing on his ninetieth year, can look back with \ 
complacenc}' on his long and well-spent life. 



>Y»OHN ALLMAN, of Streetsboro town- 
M ship, Portage county, Ohio, is one of 
A J the most respected citizens of the town- 
ship, for the reason that he served in 
the Civil war in the defense of his adopted 
country, he having been born in Switzerland 
February 28, 1838, a son of Conrad and Annie 
Allman, whose name was originally spelled 
Alleman, which is equivalent to the French 
word, Allemand, meaning German, Switzer- 
land being a country in which many of the 
continental languages are fluently spoken. 

Conrad Allman, also a native of Switzer- 
land, was a shoemaker by trade, and he and 
wife had born to them, in that little republic, 
eight children, who were named Conrad, Jacob, 
John, Ulrich, Frederick, Mary, Annie and 
Maria. In the spring of 1852, he, with his 
family, sailed from Antwerp for America, and 
after a voyage of seven stormy weeks landed 
in the city of New York in the month of June. 
The family all came at once to Ohio, and, 
passing through Cleveland, located in Stark 
county, where, the same year, the father, 
mother and two sons — Conrad and Jacob — died 
of cholera within two weeks. They were 
members of the German Reformed church, and 
were all noted for their probity and general 
excellence of character. 

John Allman, who was but fourteen years 
of age when bereft of his parents, had already 
learned to read and write the German language, 
and was bound out to Andrew Sweihart, a far- 
mer of Tuscarawas county, with whom he lived 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^IH 


■ 


^^^^^^^^^^^^K^ •*■" ~ iH 


^^^^^^^^^^^^H 


^^^^^^^^HRV^^Ir "^'^ ^^ 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 




H^^^^H 


^^^B 

^^^^^^K 


^B 


^^^^^^^^E m 


^J 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^K ^^^^H 


^ 


^^^^^HP^^ J^^Hk|^^|«^-''3|^:<'-' ^^^^B 


1 




'/^RkA^ 







G^l^j/aJt^', J^ a/l£^.^^a-^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



701 



four years, and was further educated by attend- 
ing school two months each winter — doing his 
farm work for Mr. Sweihart the remaining part 
of the year. He then worked awhile for other 
farmers, in the same neighborhood, and in the 
spring of 1859 came to Portage county, work- 
ed here at the same class of labor until August, 
1861, when, with about twenty others, he set 
out from Ravenna as a teamster for the vol- 
unteer service in West Virginia, and in this 
capacity served with the Seventh Ohio volun- 
teer regiment until March, 1862, when he re- 
turned to Portage county. In August, 1862, 
he enlisted, at Streetsboro, in the Ninth in- 
dependent Ohio liglit artillery, under Capt. 
Wetmore, a West Point graduate, and with 
this company he served two years and ten 
months, being honorably discharged at Chat- 
tanooga, Tenn., in June 1865, the war having 
been brought to a close. The service, of the 
Ninth was principally rendered in the pursuit 
of guerrillas in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, 
and Georgia, but was also in many skirmishes 
with the rebels, in which a large number of the 
members of the battery were either killed or 
:aptured. Mr. Allman, however, passed 
:hrough the war unscathed, with the exception, 
:hat he contracted rheumatism from exposure 
ivhile on duty, and still suffers from that dis- 
Drder. Ulrich, his brother, of the Nineteenth 
Dhio volunteer infantry, was badly wounded, 
liowever, at Shiloh. 

Immediately after his return from the army, 
Mr. Allman was married in June, 1865, in 
streetsboro, to Miss Mary L. Dewey, who was 
Dorn in Kent, Portage county, June 22, 1840, 
1 daughter of Henry Dewey, a well-to-do farm- 
er of Franklin township, and a pioneer from 
Vermont, there being but three houses in 
Cleveland when he passed through that now 
magnificent city on his way to his former farm 
in Portage county. The children of Henry 
Dewey were named as follows: Jerusha, Cla- 



rissa, Eli, Mary Lovina, George E., Lydia, 
Laura L. — and Henry. Of these, George was 
a member of a Wisconsin regiment of volun- 
teers, and was killed in battle during the Civil 
war. Henry Dewey, the father, had removed 
to Sauk county. Wis., prior to the breaking 
out of the war, and there died at the age of 
eighty years. 

After marriage, Mr. Allman rented his 
present farm for five years; he then, through 
his industry, was able to purchase 200 acres, 
and soon after, through further good manage- 
ment, was able to add forty acres, and now 
owns as fine a farm of 240 acres as there is in 
the township. To the marriage of Mr. and 
Mrs. Allman have been born five children, viz: 
Carrie M., Orna Ernest, Byron Frederick 
(who died at the age of fifteen and a half years), 
Charles and Henry. Mr. and Mrs. Allman 
have given their children good practical edu- 
cation, being sent to the Streetsboro high 
school. In politics Mr. Allman is a republican 
and cast his first vote for Lincoln; fraternally 
he is an ex-member of A. H. Day post. No. 
185, Grand Army of the Republic, at Kent. 
He has always been a hard-working man and 
still is, as far as his infirmity permits, and is 
an honored, straightforward, steady-going and 
useful citizen. Mrs. Allman was educated in 
the common schools of Sauk county, Wis., was 
also a student in the Reedsburg academy, and 
was a successful teacher in that county, and 
passed her girlhood days till she was nineteen 
years of age in Wisconsin. Her brothers and 
sisters are as follows: Jerusha, widow of Frede- 
rick Leonard, who was a soldier in the Civil war. 
His trade was that of a shoemaker and later 
in life he became a merchant. Mrs. Leonard 
now resides in Virginia. Clarissa; Eli, resides 
in Boone county, la., is a retired farmer and 
also owns a blacksmith shop. Mrs. Allman is 
next in order of birth. Lydia is the wife of 
Henry Young, a farmer by occupation and a 



702 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



resident of Reedsburg, Wis. Laura L. is the 
wife of Wilfred Mason, also of Reedsburg, 
Wis. Henry died in 1894, in the state of 
Washington. He was a farmer and his widow 
now resides in Reedsburg, \Ms. 

Mr. Allman came to America when but a 
lad, and was afterward bereft of his parents. 
He began life with not a dollar to his name, 
but by dint of industry, economy and enter- 
prise, aided by his faithful wife, he stands to- 
day as a living e.xample of what a man can do 
when he possesses that fortitude and persever- 
ance which makes a successful life. He and 
wife expect to make Streetsboro township 
their future home, where they have erected a 
beautiful and comfortable dwelling modern in 
style, and where they are surrounded by many 
warm-hearted friends. 



BENRY I^RIGGS is one of the old 
soldiers of the Civil war and a re- 
spected citizen of Mantua Station, 
where he was reared to manhood, 
having come here with his parents when about 
twelve years of age. He was born in Arling- 
ton township, Bennington county, Vt. , Feb- 
ruary 10, 1839, the son of Nelson and Jane 
(Seeley) Briggs, who were of English Puritan 
stock, and they became early settlers of north- 
eastern Ohio, where they lived to rear their 
families and become well known. 

Henry Briggs had just begun going to school 
when he left his native home and came to 
Ohio and here finished his common-school 
education in Mantua township during the win- 
ter seasons. He was reared a farmer and 
thus spent a very active life during the sum- 
mer season, assisting his father upon the farm, 
where he remained until arriving at early 
manhood. At the breaking out of the war he 
enlisted on September 17, 1861, at Mantua, 
and was mustered into the United States army 



at Camp Chase, September 25, 1 861, in com- 
pany A, Forty-second regiment Ohio volunteer 
infantry, with Capt. F. A. William's company 
under Col. James A. Garfield, and forming a 
part of the Thirteenth army corps, which 
division participated in the following battles. 
Their first engagement was at Middle Creek, 
Ky. , January 10, 1862, followed by the battle 
at Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Thomp- 
son Hill, Raymond, Champion Hill, Big 
Black River Bridge; siege of Vicksburg, being 
in the first assault on May 19th, and was there 
until it closed on July 4, 1863; siege of Jack- 
son; Opelousas, La., October 21, 1863, 
beside many hard skirmishes and doing guard 
and picket duty. He was honorably discharged 
at Columbus, Ohio, September 18, 1864, at 
the expiration of his enlistment, having served 
under Copt. J. L. Ross and Col. L. A. Sheldon. 

Mr. Briggs considers his hardest campaign 
to be that of Vicksburg, and he suffered much 
from hardships and exposure during this time. 
The hardest battle that he engaged in was at 
Thompson Hill, where his comrade, G. G. 
Striker, was shot down by his side, and the 
hardest charge was at Vicksburg. Mr. Briggs 
was one of the brave and active soldiers, and 
during the three years' time that he served 
his country, he was neither taken prisoner nor 
wounded nor sick in hospital, and at all times 
answered to roll-call, unless out on detail 
duty. He participated in all the campaigns, 
marches, battles and skirmishes in which his 
regiment was engaged, and during the three 
years' time had only a two-weeks' furlough 
home. He was a faithful soldier and prompt 
and cheerful in the discharge of all his duties 
as such, and is now one of the many that are dis- 
abled from the exposure of army life, and the 
same has resulted in rheumatism, which makes 
life almost a burden. 

Mr. Briggs returned to his earlier home at 
Mantua and the following year, on November 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



703 



18, 1865, was united in marriage with Miss 
Sarah Roberts, who was born March 27, 1846, 
the daughter of Joseph P. and Lavina (Spen- 
cer) Roberts. The Roberts and the Spencers 
were of sterling Puritan New England stock 
and descended from old colonial families. 
Joseph Roberts, the father, was born at East 
Haddam, Conn., September 14, 1821, and 
when but a small boy his father died, he 
being thrown upon his own resources, and at 
the age of fourteen years came to Ohio, lo- 
cating at Mantua, where he learned the black- 
smith's trade, and here married Miss Spencer, 
the daughter of Hiram Spencer. 

The Spencers were of old Connecticut 
stock. Hiram Spencer, the maternal grand- 
father of Mrs. Briggs, was born in Suffield, 
Hartford county. Conn., June 13, 1805, and 
here married Elizabeth Grover, to whom was 
born one daughter, Levina. Mr. Spencer came 
to Ohio and settled in Mantua township as a 
pioneer, cleared up a farm from the woods 
and became a substantial farmer and good citi- 
zen. He died November 12, 1864, at Hiram, 
Ohio. 

Henry Briggs, after his return from the 
war, settled on his present farm in Mantua 
township, where he lived an industrious life 
and is known as one of the good citizens of 
the vicinity, where he has lived nearly half a 
century. He is the parent of the following 
children, viz: Lena and Carl. Politically he 
is independent, though ever since the war has 
usually voted with the republican party, though 
during the campaign of '96 was an advocate 
of free silver. Socially he is a member of the 
G. A. R. , Bentley post, Mantua Station, and 
holds the office of senior vice-commander. 
He has always been an industrious and re- 
spected citizen. 

Mrs. Jane Seeley, the mother of Mr. Briggs, 
was first married to a Mr. Stone, and to this 
marriage two children were born: Malissa 



and Edward, and Edward was a soldier in the 
late war, serving in a Vermont regiment and 
was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. 

Nelson Briggs, father of our subject (Henry 
Briggs), was born in Vermont and was the son 
of Carmi Briggs. His children were Hiram, 
Nelson, Abel, Carmi, John, Esther, Mary and 
Alonzo. Carmi Briggs moved from Vermont 
to Michigan, where he became a pioneer in 
Eaton county, and cleared up a good farm 
from the woods and reared a large family, to 
whom he gave all a good start in life. His 
son, John, was a soldier in the Civil war, asso- 
ciated with a Michigan regiment. Nelson 
Briggs, the father, was born in Arlington, Vt. , 
and there married Jane Seeley, and to this 
marriage were born the following children: 
Henry, Carmi, George, Eveline, Morton and 
Nelson. Mr. Briggs left his native state and 
located in Mantua, Ohio, m 1852, where he 
.resided until 1866, when he removed to Eaton 
county, Mich., and purchased land in the for- 
est, and there lived until the age of eighty-four 
years. Politically he was a democrat and a 
much respected citizen. 



ai 



ARREN BOWER, one of the vet- 
eran soldiers of the Civil war, and 
a respected citizen of Hiram, Ohio, 
was born in Mesopotamia, Trum- 
bull county, Ohio, January 7, 1841, a son 
of Jacob and Hannah (Boyer) Bower, and is of 
sturdy Pennsylvania-Dutch ancestry. Warren 
Bower received a good common-school educa- 
tion at Mesopotamia and enlisted August 20, 
1 86 1, at Farmington, Trumbull county, in 
Capt. J. B. Burrough's Fourteenth battery, 
Ohio volunteer light artillery, to serve three 
years or during the war, but was honorably 
discharged before the expiration of his time, 
to permit of his re-enlistment as a veteran in 
same organization to serve a like term, and 



704 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was finally discharged at Camp Dennison, 
Ohio, as a corporal, August 9, 1865, having 
been promoted to corporal September 17, 
1864, for meritorious services. He was in the 
battles of Shiloh, Tenn., April (>-"]. 1862; was 
on garrison duty at Jackson, Tenn., from 
April until June 2, 1863, and took part in the 
raid after Forrest. He was on the great At- 
lanta campaign, in which the Union troops 
were under fire for nearly four months; was 
in the battles of Resaca, Ga. , Ma)' 13-15 to 20, 
1864; Dallas, Ga., May 28; Big Shanty, June 
12 and 20, for thirty hours; Kenesaw Moun- 
tains, June 21 and July 22, forty hours; Ruff's 
Mill, July 4; Chattahoochie river, July 7-9, 
eight hours; Nancy Creek and Decatur, Ga. , 
July 7 to 19; east of Atlanta, July 22; west of 
Atlanta, July 28 to August i ; west of Atlanta, 
August 2 to 9, twenty hours; west of Atlanta, 
August 10 to 16; west of Atlanta, August 17 
and 25, forty hours, and was also at the battle 
of Jonesboro. He took part with Gen. 
Thomas at the battle of Nashville and the 
battle oi Franklin, and was in man}' skir- 
mishes in the chase after Hood, and in all 
others in which his battery took part, and was 
prompt and cheerful in the discharge of all his 
duties. 

During the battle on Kenesaw Mountain, 
he was ordered by Gen. McPherson to fire on 
a rebel flag-staff in the distance. Mr. Bower 
was sick with camp diarrhea, but was attend- 
ing to his duty, when the blacksmith of the 
company stepped up and offered to release 
Mr. Bower; he had previously been numbered 
No. I on gun No. 2, of which Mr. Bower was in 
charge, and understood how to manage it. 
He loaded, fired, and fired a second time 
without wetting thespongeon the rammer, and 
the gun became hot, and he was cautioned to 
wet it. He said he would do so the next 
time, and rammed home the charge, but 
the gun exploded and tore off his right hand. 



Mr. Bower then took his place and continued 
the firing. That summer this battery fired 
five tons, 832 pounds of ammunition. Mr. 
Bower thinks the battle of Shiloh to be the 
hardest battle in which he was engaged. His 
batter)' was engaged but thirty minutes, hav- 
ing four men killed and twenty-eight wounded, 
and seventy-seven horses killed. His next 
hardest battle was on the 22d of July before 
Atlanta, fighting four hours, and firing 654 
rounds of ammunition. His hardest march 
and campaign was marching four days and 
nights in succession, in the campaign after 
Hood, and having scanty rations, one time, on 
this campaign, lived seven days on parched 
corn and coffee. He was sick ten days in 
hospital with measles, in Camp Dennison, 
Ohio, in 1S62, and was home on furlough 
thirty days. His hearing in the right ear was 
destroyed by the measles, and concussion 
from the discharge of the guns during the bat- 
tles of the Atlanta campaign, and the hearing 
of the left ear much impaired. 

After the war, Mr. Bower returned to 
Ohio and followed farming. He married, in 
Auburn, Geauga county, September 8, 1868, 
Sarah A. Nooney, who was born November 
19, 1848, at Mantua, Portage county, a 
daughter of Hezekiah A. and Caroline (John- 
son) Nooney. Hezekiah A. Nooney was the 
son of Capt. Hezekiah and Sarah (Hawkins) 
Nooney. The captain came from Vermont, 
and was a pioneer of Mantua township, clear- 
ing up his farm of 500 acres from the woods. 
His children were Ruby, Henrietta, Sallie 
and Hezekiah. He was in religion a Method- 
ist and in politics a republican. He was a 
soldier in the war of 18 12, and died at a ven- 
erable age, a highly respected pioneer. 

Hezekiah A. Nooney, the father of Mrs. 
Bower, was born in Mantua township, De- 
cember 4, 1817. He was a farmer, and mar- 
ried Caroline Johnson, who was born in Tol- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



705 



land, Conn. The children were Nettie R. , 
Henry, Eliza, Sarah A. , James, Thomas C. 
and Rhoda. The death of Hezekiah A. 
Nooney occurred August 13, 1892. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bower 
located near Ravenna, Ohio, and then moved 
to Auburn, Ohio, and rented a farm of 235 
acres, on which they lived for two years; then 
went to Trumbull county, where Mr. Bower 
carried on farming and the dairy business, 
until the fall of 1875, when he moved to Man- 
tua township and lived on a farm until the 
fall of 1891. He then came to Hiram, in 
1 89 1, and bought his present property. Mr. 
and Mrs. Bower have one daughter, Leila O. 
Bower, a gtaduate of the musical department 
of Hiram college. Mr. and Mrs. Bower are 
members of the Disciples' church, and in poli- 
tics Mr. Bower is a republican and as such 
served as marshal of Hiram three years. He 
is a member of the G. A. R. , Mark Horton 
post, at Garrettsville, was formerly a member 
of Bentley post, at Mantua, and held the 
offices of junior vice-commander and assistant 
adjutant. Mr. Bower has always been an 
honorable citizen and well known for his 
good character. 

Jacob Bower, father of Warren Bower, 
was born at Little York, Pa., January 2, 
1808, a son of Joseph and Barbara (Smith) 
Bower, who descended from sturdy Dutch 
ancestry, and who were ^mong the early set- 
tlers of Pennsylvania. Jacob Bower was 
reared a farmer in Mesopotamia, Ohio, where 
he came when a boy, with his father, who 
took up about 500 acres, about 18 14. Jacob 
Bower remained on this farm all his life, and 
was a substantial citizen. His children by 
Hannah Boyer, his first wife, were Herman 
and Warren, both soldiers in the Civil war. 
Herman was in the Fifteenth Ohio battery, 
light artillery, and served three years. By 
his second wife, Nancy Huffman, Jacob Bower 



became the father of Reily, Dallas, Samantha, 
Charles, John, Morton, Jay, Bert and Jerry. 
Mr. Bower reached the venerable age of 
eighty-five years, and until eighty-three years 
old had never undressed and gone to bed sick. 
He was a substantial citizen and owned about 
235 acres of land, was a township trustee, and 
was well known for his h(jnorable character. 



^>^^ELSON S. BARTHOLOMEW, one 

I m °^ 'he old soldiers of the Civil war and 
I y a respected citizen of Mantua, Portage 
county, was born in Auburn, Geauga 
county, Ohio, November 9, 1830, a son of 
Jonathan and Mary (Wilson) Bartholomew. 
He received a common-school education and 
was reared to farming. He went, when young, 
to Vienna, Genesee county, Mich., and mar- 
ried Elizabeth Webster, who was born in Au- 
burn, Geauga county, Ohio. Mr. Bartholo- 
mew bought a farm in Genesee county and 
cleared up a part from the woods, and then 
traded for another farm near by, and this he 
also improved. 

Mr. Bartholomew enlisted at Maple Rapids, 
Mich. , and was mustered into the United 
States service, August 28. 1862, in company 
G, Fifth Michigan volunteer cavalry, Capt. 
William McGoffin, to serve three years or dur- 
ing the war, and was honorably discharged on 
account of the close of the war, at Detroit, 
Mich., in August, 1865. He was promoted for 
meritorious conduct to be corporal and then 
first sergeant, and was detailed to Harper's 
Ferry four months as guard for government 
property in the United States arsenal, in 1864. 
He was wounded at Smithfield, \'a., in the 
left leg and was four months in hospital in 
Alexandria, Va., and was wounded in the shoul- 
der at Dinwiddle Court House, April i, 1865. 
He was in the battle of Gettysburg three days, 
his regiment being dismounted and serving as 



706 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



infantry. He was in Kilpatrick's raid in the 
rear of Vicksbiirg;, battles of the Wilderness 
and Gordonsville, and served against Gen. 
Early when he made his famous raid on Wash- 
ington, and served under Gen. Philip Sheri- 
dan and Gen. Russell A. Alger, then colonel 
of the' Fifth Michigan cavalry. In the Shen- 
andoah valley he was in the battle at Winches- 
ter when Sheridan made his famous ride, Gen. 
Carter being the division commander. He 
was in the battles of Smithfield, Flint Hill, 
Fisher's Hill, and four months was engaged in 
many minor skirmishes after Gen. Early, until 
the latter was driven out of the valley. The 
valley of the Shenandoah was the granery 
of the rebels, and the United States cavalry de- 
stroyed its entire production. This campaign 
lasted nearly one year. At the battle of Din- 
widdle Court House, Mr. Bartholomew was 
shot in the left shoulder and was in hospital 
at Mount Pleasant, Washington, D. C. , for 
two months, and still suffers from his wounds. 
Gen. Sheridan's forces fought between thirty 
to forty engagements, including the battles of 
Opequon, Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill, with 
a total loss of 1,938 killed and 1 1,893 wounded. 



and 3,121 missing 



On August 10, 



1864, 



Sheridan marched out from Halltown, for 
Winchester; on the iith there was fighting at 
Sulphur Springs Bridge and White Post, and 
on the 15th, fighting at Fisher's Hill; on the 
1 6th at Front Royal; on the 17th at Winches- 
ter; August 19, a detachment of the Fifth 
Michigan cavalry, was overpowered at Snick- 
er's Gap by Mosely'sguerrillas, who put to death 
the wounded and prisoners; soon after this 
Carter's men captured some of the guerrillas, 
and shot down sixteen of them in retaliation. 
There was fighting at Martinsburg, Berry Hill, 
Summit Point, Halltown, Sheppardstown and 
Smithfield, and here Mr. Bartholomew's horse 
was shot from under him and killed. On 
September ist the battle at Front Royal pike 



was fought. Mr. Bartholomew was always an 
active soldier and did his full duty promptly 
cheerfully and well, and was in some of the 
hardest fought battles of the war, and cam- 
paigns, and was in all battles, skirmishes, 
campaigns and marches in which his regiment 
was engaged, except when he was in hospital 
with his wounds. He was not a prisoner, and 
had no furlough home, except when he was 
wounded in the shoulder. He was a good and 
faithful' soldier. 

At the seven days' battle of the Wilderness, 
he was detailed as a sergeant to company B, 
and carried the guidon in this batt'e; this was 
an honorable, but very dangerous office, as the 
colors were always selected to fire on. The 
hardest battle in which Mr. Bartholomew was 
engaged was that of Gettysburg. His hardest 
campaigns were in the Shenandoah valley and 
the Wilderness fight of seven days. Beside 
his two severe wounds, he was slightly wounded 
by a shell splinter in his right thigh. 

' After the war, Mr. Bartholomew returned 
to Michigan and resumed farming. He and 
wife were the parents of Henry D., Emma E. 
and Mary E. In 1866, Mr. Bartholomew 
returned to Geauga county, Ohio, and bought 
his father's old homestead. This consisted of 
I 16 acres, and by his good management, 
coupled with his great industry, he has added 
to it, until he has a fine farm of 167 acres. 
This he has greatly improved with substantial 
buildings. His wife died in April, 1870, and 
he next married, in Auburn, Ohio, Amy War- 
ren, a widow, nee Brown, but there were no 
children by this wife, who was also called away. 
His third marriage took place December 9, 
1 89 1, at Charlestown, Portage county, to Mary 
A. Phelps, widow of Isaac Phelps. This lady 
was born in Ontario county, N. Y. , September 
9, 1832, a daughter of Lucius and Sallie 
(Canfield) Redfield. Lucius Redfield was born 
in Hopewell, N. Y. , and descended from an old 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



707 



colonial Vermont family. He married, in New 
York state, Sallie Canfield, and their children 
were William, Eliza J., Henry, Mary, Julia 
M., Sallie A. and Helen E. Lucius Redfield 
was a skillful carriagemaker, moved to Auburn, 
Ohio, about 1832, but died in Niles, Ohio, in 
1876, a member of the Disciples' church. In 
politics he was a democrat and an upright and 
respected man. Mrs. Bartholomew, the wife 
of subject, was well educated in a select school 
at Canandaigua, N. Y. She was married, the 
first time, to Jerome Hinckley, a merchant of 
Auburn, Ohio. Mr. Hinckley died in 1870, and 
she was next married to Isaac Phelps, a 
wealthy speculator of Ravenna, Ohio. Mrs. 
Bartholomew is a member of the Disciples' 
church and is a lady of fine social qualities and 
of much culture and refinement, and takes an 
active interest in horticulture and kindred sub- 
jects. She is a member of the Horticultural 
society and daughter of Rebekah, I. O. O. F. 
Mr. Bartholomew in politics is a republican. 
He has always been a farmer and owns a pleas- 
ant residence, and also owns eight and one- 
half acres at Mantua Crossing. He has been 
a respected man, straightforward and honest 
and of noted energy and ^industry. Frater- 
nally he is an Odd Fellow and in politics a 
republican. 



HNDREW BUEHRLA, a native-born 
farmer of Randolph township. Port- 
age county, Ohio, was born February 
23, 1870, a son of Lucas and Mary 
Ann (Kelbly) Buehrla, natives of Baden, Ger- 
many. 

Lucas Buehrla was born October 18, 1827, 
and in his early days learned the mason's 
trade. He was married in the old country, 
came to the United States in 1869 and March 
19 settled in Randolph township, and here 
followed his trade as long as his health would 



permit, and then bought the farm on which 
his son, Andrew, now resides. To his union 
with Miss Kelbly were born ten children, of 
whom eight are still living, viz: August; 
Paulina, married to John Heim; Albert; The- 
ressa, wife of Frank Kuntz; Frank, Andrew, 
William and Edward. The two deceased 
were Adolph, who died at the age of twenty 
years and two months, and Mary, who was 
married to Jacob Bettling, and died June 20, 
1890, at the age of twenty-nine years. 
Mr. and Mrs. Buehrla, the parents of this 
family, were both devoted members of the 
Catholic church, and in this faith the mother 
called to rest July 21, 1891, at the age of fifty- 
eight years, and the father May 2, 1897, when 
si.xty-nine years, si.x months and fourteen days 
old — both greatly respected by their many 
friends for their sterling merits and steady- 
going habits of life. 

Andrew Buehrla, the subject of this biog- 
raphy, was educated in the district school of 
his neighborhood, and was reared to manhood 
on his father's farm. On reaching his major- 
ity he went to Cleveland, where he found em- 
ployment as a conductor with the Electric 
Street Railroad company, with which he re- 
mained about si.x years. During the year 1895 
he made a trip to the west, paying a visit to 
his brother in Montana, and traveling through 
other states, being gone, in all, about eight 
months. 

The marriage of Mr. Buehrla took place in 
Cleveland, December 31, 1895, to Miss Maggie 
C. Weber, daughter of Frederick and Julia 
Weber, and this union has been blessed with 
one child — John A. In 1897, Mr. Buehrla 
settled on the old homestead in Randolph 
township, and is now prosperously engaged 
in agricultural pursuits. Frederick Weber, 
father of Mrs. Buehrla, is a native of Prussia, 
as is also his wife, who has borne him five 
children, viz: Regina, wife of Williard Scott; 



708 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Gottleib; Maggie C, now Mrs. Buehrla; Lizzie 
and Henrietta. By trade Mr. Weber is a 
molder, and this calling he followed until 1897, 
when he bought land and engaged in farming. 
Andrew Buehrla and his wife are devout mem- 
bers of St. Joseph's Catholic congregation, 
and are very liberal in their contributions to 
its support and active in the good gook of the 
church. 



EARVEY BALDWIN, one of the pio- 
neers of the Western Reserve and a 
substantial farmer of Aurora town- 
ship, Portage county, Ohio, and a re- 
spected citizen, is a son of Harvey, who was a 
son of Samuel Baldwin, who came to Cleveland 
in 1806, and was a member of the famous 
Baldwin family of Connecticut, who were 
among the early founders of that state. Sam- 
uel, the original pioneer of the family of Aurora 
township, was a farmer, and married, in Con- 
necticut, Hannah Camp, who was born in the 
same state. The children born to his mar- 
riage were Smith, who was one of the first 
sheriffs of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and under 
his administration the first hanging — that of 
an Indian — in Cuyahoga county, took place; 
Caleb, James, Elicam, Harry, Harvey and 
Alanson, and also four daughters. Samuel 
Baldwin made the journey to Ohio with horses, 
part of the way on the ice on the borders of 
lake Erie, and at one point he broke through. 
He settled, in 1808, in Aurora township. Port- 
age county, having lived in Newburg, Cuy- 
ahoga county, about two years previously. He 
bought about 400 acres of land just east of 
Aurora Center, all woods, and he cleared it up 
and made a good farm, most of which he di- 
vided with his sons, although a part of the land 
was laid off into town lots in Aurora. Samuel 
Baldwin was an honored pioneer citizen and a 
member of the Baptist church. He died, aged 



about eighty-one years, on his farm, February 
30, 1829. 

Harvey Baldwin, son of Samuel and father 
of Harvey, was born in Connecticut, at Dan- 
bury, December 31, 1796, and was a boy of 
about twelve years when the family came to 
Ohio. He received a common-school educa- 
tion and was always a farmer and cheese mer- 
chant, and the pioneer of the cheese manu- 
facture in Portage county, selling the first large 
lot of cheese ever shipped from the county, 
about 1820, the shipment consisting of five 
casks of cheese and two barrels of cranberries. 
He hauled them through to the Ohio river, 
bought a skiff and took them to Louisville and 
sold them. He had previously been to New 
Orleans, when a young man, and saw cheese 
sold at $1 per lb. At New Orleans he found 
his brother James, and they both went to New 
York and James died on Staten Island and Mr. 
Baldwin returned home and continued in the 
cheese trade for thirty years. Ir; early times 
he would buy the cheese and wagon it across 
the state and then ship by way of barges or 
keelboats to New Orleans. He had associated 
with him different parties — Samuel, Granger, 
Alanson Baldwin and a Mr. Kent, but he did 
the traveling and selling. He first settled in 
Bainbridge township, and later moved to Au- 
rora and Streetsboro. 

Mr. Baldwin first married, in Bainbridge 
township, Lora Kent, born March 23, 1797, 
daughter of Gamaliel and Deborah (Hunting- 
ton) Kent. The Huntingtons were a prom- 
inent Connecticut family, and Gov. Hunting- 
ton, of Ohio, owned 500 acres of land where 
Henry Baldwin, now lives, and from whose 
heirs Harvey Baldwin, bought his farm. Har- 
vey Baldwin's second marriage was to Lucinda 
Brown, of Louisville, Ky. , in 1832. He was 
laid up there with his boat during a great flood, 
during which Mr. Brown's house was rendered 
untenable; he took the family on board and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



713 



finally married the daughter. The first wife's 
children were Laura A., Henry, Philander and 
Oscar O. The serord wife's chiidren Ellen, 
Belle, Esther A. and Lester. Mr. Baldwin 
was a Methodist and class leader and a prom- 
inent man ir his church; he was one of the 
founders of the Methodist church in Streetsboro 
and the principal builder, paying $400 towards 
its erection. He was a man of integrity of 
character, much respected, and died on his 
farm in Streetsboro township at the age of 
eighty-five years. 

Harvey Baldwin was born April 14, 1823, 
in Bainbridge township, received the common 
education of his day and has always been a 
farmer. He married, December 23, 1847, in 
Aurora township. Portage county, Emily Car- 
ver, who was born November 8, 1823, in Au- 
rora township, a daughter of Chester and 
Anna (Eldridge) Carver. Chester Carver, a 
pioneer of Solon, Ohio, was a descendant of 
the New England family of that name — the 
founder of the family in America, having come 
over in the May Flower to Plymouth in 1620. 
Chester Carver was born about 1800, came to 
Ohio with his parents when a boy, and was a 
carpenter by trade. He married Anna El- 
dridge, who was born, about 1 800, in New York 
state, a daughter of Sylvanus and Alice (Fisk) 
Eldridge. Sylvanus Eldridge's family were 
pioneers of Aurora township, the father dying 
on the way about 18 16. His children were 
Betsy, Daniel, John I., i\nna and Caroline. 
Chester Carver and wife, parents of Mrs. Bald- 
win, settled on 100 acres of land in the south- 
east part of Aurora township and partly cleared 
up their farm, and he died three years later, 
about 1827. His children were Chester and 
Emily. Mr. Carver was a young man when 
he died of malarial fever, and Mrs. Baldwin, 
although then a child of four years, remembers 
the sad event. Her mother lived to be an old 
lady of eighty-eight years and died January 7, 

29 



1 89 1. She was married, the second time, to 
Oliver Spencer, and they were the parents of 
Sally, who died young, Melinda, Matilda, and 
Russell O. Harvey Baldwin settled on a farm 
in Streetsboro township after marriage, and ran 
a dairy of sixty cows for I. C. Dow, in the 
good old way, making the cheese and butter 
by hand, and selling the cheese for four cents 
per pound and butter from nine to twelve cents. 
Two years later Mr. Baldwin went overland 
to California, starting March 14, 1850, with 
a company of men from northeastern Ohio, 
shipping by steamer their wagons and effects to 
St. Joseph, Mo., where they bought horses and 
crossed the plains, being eighty-one days from 
St. Joseph, Mo., to Eldorado county, Cal., 
where Mr. Baldwin engaged in gold mining 
and remained three years, did fairly well and 
brought his gold home with him. While still 
a resident of California, he volunteered in the 
state militia and served against the Digger In- 
dians. He returned via the isthmus of Panama 
in 1853, and bought a farm in southeast Au- 
rora township, adjoining his present farm, con- 
sisting of 130 acres. He resided there but 
two years, then bought his present place of 142 
acres, which he has greatly improved, and has 
a pleasant home. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin have been born 
the following children: Ella F., wife of Er- 
skine R. Merrill, resident of Aurora township; 
he is engaged in the roofing business, and has 
been an active business man all his life. They 
have three sons, Ernest B. , Richard K. and 
Gilbert H. Mrs. Merrill was educated at the 
ladies' seminary of Painesville, Ohio, and 
highly trained in music. Alice M. is the wife 
of T. A. Gould, who is also engaged in the 
roofing business. They have two children: 
Lee H. and Carrie E. Carrie E. died at the 
age of fifteen years; Hattie E. is the wife of W. 
M. Heinly, who is the manager of Mr. Baldwin's 
estate. Anna L. resides mostly with her 



714 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



parents. Minnie C. was the wife of T. H. 
Warren, who is a member of the Burton Stock 
Co. of Boston, Mass. She died March i, 1891, 
and her remains are interred in Aurora ceme- 
tery, where the beautiful family monument of 
Quincy granite marks the last resting place. 
December 23, 1897, marked an event in the 
lives of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin which will ever 
be cherished by them and their children. It 
was the celebration of their "golden wed- 
ding. " They sent out numerous invitations to 
their many friends, with the injunction "No 
presents," but this injunction was not heeded. 
In their comfortable and pleasant home is 
found a beautiful and elegantly engraved gold- 
headed cane, a beautiful ebony and gold-plated 
cathedral gong clock, also a superb delph 
parlor lamp, an exquisite hanging lamp, and 
gold coin and other beautiful souvenirs. Mr. 
and Mrs. Baldwin are members of the Congre- 
gational church of Aurora, and in politics Mr. 
Baldwin is a democrat and cast his first pres- 
idential vote for James K. Polk. Mr. Baldwin 
is an honored citizen, has been elected town- 
ship trustee three terms. He is a man of un- 
doubted integrity of character and has always 
been industrious and energetic. 



^V^ AVID D. CARSON, the popular drug- 
I I gist of Deeriield, Portage county, 
/^^^ Ohio, and a justice of the peace and 
notary public, was born in Mahoning 
county, Ohio, July 23, 1843, and is a son of 
George and Catherine (Gross) Carson, of whom 
further mention will be made at the close of 
this biographical notice. 

David D. Carson received a sound educa- 
tion in the common or district schools of his 
neighborhood and at Hiram institute, and was 
reared on his father's farm until twenty-one 
yoars old, when he enlisted in company G, 
One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Ohio volunteer 



infantry, and served about five months, hold- 
ing the rank of sergeant, and being slightly 
wounded. After being honorably discharged, 
he returned to his home at Berlin, Mahoning 
county, where he remained until April, 1866, 
when he went to Missouri and located near 
Union, in Franklin county, where he lived 
seventeen years, teaching school, serving as 
justice of the peace, and filling other positions 
of trust. 

The first marriage of Mr. Carson took 
place at Berlin, Ohio, in 1864, to Miss Sarah 
Achsah Buck, but this lady died, on his farm 
in Missouri, in September, 1880, at the age of 
thirty-five years. Two sons were born to this 
union, both of whom died in infancy. After 
this sad event, Mr. Carson again taught school 
in the district where he had previously taught 
in Missouri, and then started on his return to 
Ohio, but stopped at St. Louis, having been 
offered a position by an iron firm in Tennes- 
see he had already worked for in Missouri. 
In 1 88 1 he reached his old home in Berlin, 
Ohio, taught school one year near Warren, 
Ohio, and in 1882 married Mrs. Sarah A. 
Diver, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Cline) 
Gross. In the spring of the same year Mr. 
Carson came to Deerfield and engaged in the 
hotel business for one year, and in the spring 
of 1883 formed a partnership with E. J. 
Shively in the mercantile business at Palmyra. 
In December of the same year Mr. Shively 
retired and Mr. Carson carried on the business 
alone until May, 1884, when G. R. Diver be- 
came his partner, and for three years they 
continued together, carrying a stock of drugs, 
dry goods, groceries, boots, shoes, hardware, 
etc., valued at $12,000. In 1887, F. P. 
Schultz was admitted to the firm, and until 
1 89 1 a flourishing business was carried on 
under the style of Carson, Diver & Schultz. 
On the dissolution of the firm, Mr. Carson 
again came to Deerfield and entered into the 




^ /^^tA^A^^-^^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



717 



drug trade on his own account, and in the 
spring of 1897 added a large line of miscel- 
laneous merchandise. 

In politics Mr. Carson is a republican, and 
cast his first vote at the second nomination of 
Abraham Lincoln for the presidency of the 
United States. He has served as township 
assessor one term, and has been a justice of 
the peace since 1892. Fraternally he is a 
member of lodge No. 530, F. & A. M., of Pal- 
myra; of lodge No. 136, K. of P., of the same 
city, and has been an Odd Fellow since 1868. 
He is also a member of the Maccabees and of 
the G. A. R. 

George Carson, father of David D., was 
born in Dauphin county. Pa., August 19, 181 2, 
a son of John and Catherine (Wentz) Carson, 
who came to Ohio in 1832, and located in 
Trumbull county, in that part now known as 
Mahoning county. They were the parents of 
eleven children, of whom five are still living, 
viz: George, Jacob, Samuel, Robert, and 
Susan. The deceased were named John, 
Sarah, Sophia, Harriet, William, and David. 
David D. Carson has had a rich and varied 
experience in life and has always been a 
prominent figure wherever he has resided and 
is a man of quiet but effective influence; he 
stands to-day an honored citizen of Deerfield 
township, and holds a business reputation that 
has never yet been tarnished. 



■^T* AMES CASSIDY, an enterprising farmer 
fl and an old soldier of the Civil war, is 
/I 1 a son of James and Margaret (Glancey) 
Cassidy, and was born January 27, 
1837, in Boston township. Summit county, 
Ohio, where he still resides. He was reared a 
farmer, and enlisted, in August, 1862, at Bos- 
ton, in company C. One Hundred and Fifteenth 
regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, Capt. John 
A. Means, to serve three years or during the 



war, and was honorably discharged July 5, 
1865. at Cleveland, Ohio. His services were 
in Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. He was 
taken prisoner by John Morgan's cavalry at 
LaVergne (Tenn.) block house, December 5, 
1864, and held for nine days. He and two 
comrades — S. W. Berry and D. J. Thomas, 
both of Summit county and of the same com- 
pany — made a daring escape at night from 
the court house at Columbia, Tenn., and after 
many adventures arrived several days later 
within the Union lines. They were aided by 
a negro they found chopping in the woods, who 
brought them a haversack of cornbread and 
pork, and assisted them to cross the Duck 
river by getting his master's horses after dark, 
on which they swam across. They traveled 
by night and slept in the woods during the 
day. They were hotly pursued in the night 
several times and narrowly escaped capture. 
The comrades who did not escape were taken 
to Andersonville and many died ; some of them, 
on the return homeward, were blown up on the 
ill-fated Sultana on the Mississippi river after 
being exchanged. With the exception of four 
weeks' confinement in Woodraft's hospital in 
Cincinnati, and the brief period of his impris- 
onment, Mr. Cassidy was always at his 
post of duty, and this duty he performed 
bravely and cheerfully. 

After the war Mr. Cassidy returned to Bos- 
ton township, and married. May 2, 1871, Miss 
Elizabeth Hynton, of Independence, Cuyahoga 
county, Ohio, where she was born February 
7, 1853, a daughter of John and Elizabeth 
Hynton, who were of Irish nativity. John 
Hynton came to America at least sixty years 
ago, directly after marriage, and settled in 
Independence, where he became a prosperous 
farmer, owning over 300 acres of land. He 
lived to be about fifty-five years old and died 
a devout Catholic. His children were Mary, 
Catherine, John and Elizabeth. Mary is the 



718 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



wife of Henry Doubler, a merchant of Cleve- 
land; Catherine is married to Terrence Walsh, 
also of Cleveland; John is a farmer and stock 
raiser at Independence, Ohio, and is married 
to Ann Cassidy; Elizabeth (Mrs. J. Cassidy) 
is the youngest. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Cassidy set- 
tled on their present farm, which they have 
greatly improved, clearing a good share of it 
from the forest, and now have a fine property 
of 2IO acres of fertile land, and are in pros- 
perous circumstances. Their children are 
Gilbert, James, Mildred, Hugh, Merwin and 
Marvin (twins), and Mary. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cassidy are both members of the Catholic 
church at Peninsula, in which he has been 
councilman for many years. In politics Mr. 
Cassidy is a democrat and has served as town- 
ship trustee seventeen years. He cast his first 
presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas. 

James Cassidy, Sr., father of subject, came 
from county Donegal, Ireland, when a young 
married man, having married, in Ireland, Mar- 
garet Glancey. They first went to Canada 
and lived one year, and in 1835, came to 
Summit county, Ohio, and settled in Boston 
township, where he and his brother Patrick 
bought a farm of 160 acres. James was the 
father of John, Mary, James and William. 
He was killed while felling a tree in 1841, and 
later Mrs. Cassidy married Patrick Cassidy, 
brother of James, and their children were 
Andrew, Hugh, Catherine and Anna. 



(D 



ATTHEW D. CLARK, one of the 
old soldiers of the Civil war and one 
who lost his left leg at the battle 
of Dinwiddie Court House, was 
born in Ireland at Stammullin, county Meath, 
August 15, 1844, son of Michael and Jane 
(Sands) Clark. His father was a shoemaker 
and came to America in 1857, and sent for his 



family, who came in 1864 and settled in Farm- "^ 
ington, Trumbull county, Ohio. The children * 
were Patrick, Matthew, John, Mary, Kate and I 
Ann. Michael Clark was born Septem- t 
ber 20, 1 8 19, and his wife was born in 
1822. Mr. Clark enlisted in Trumbull county, 
Ohio, early in the war of 1861, company D, 
Sixth Ohio cavalry, to serve three years, and 
after serving two years he was honorably dis- 
charged on account of disability. He was in 
several battles, among them the first two bat- 
tles of Bull Run, and was an active soldier 
with his regiment and proved to be faithful in 
the discharge of his duties. 

Matthew D. Clark, our subject, began 
when young in Ireland to learn the trade of a 
barber, and when he came to America he en- 
listed in the same company and regiment in 
which his father had served. He enlisted at 
Warren, Ohio, P^ebruary 4, 1864, as a private 
of company D, Sixth Ohio cavalry, Capt. 
Fenton, to serve three years or during the 
war. At the battle of Dinwiddie Court House, 
Va. , March 31, 1865, he was shot while 
mounted on his horse and in a charge, the ball 
striking his thigh bone lengthways and lodging 
in the knee-cap. He was taken from the field, 
and rode in an ambulance one day and night, 
and at Mead's Station was put on a railroad 
train and taken to Washington, where his leg 
was amputated April 6, 1865, in Army Square 
hospital, by the celebrated Dr. D. W. Bliss, 
surgeon in charge, afterwards the physician 
who waited upon Gen. Garfield during his 
last sickness. Before this, Mr. Clark had 
been in the battle of Hatchie's Run, Mead's 
Station,and Yellow House, Va., andhadbeenin 
many cavalry skirmishes. After the amputation 
of his limb, he remained in hospital at Washing- 
ton about three months and was honorably 
discharged July 15, 1865, and returned to 
Farmington, Ohio. He then attended school 
for one and a half years, and acquired a com- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



719 



mon education, and then went to Newton 
Falls, Ohio, and followed his trade as 
barber until June 14, 1867, when he came to 
to Garrettsville, Ohio, and here he has since 
lived and followed his trade until four years 
since. He married in Garrettsville, Ohio, 
October 18, 1866, Elvira E. Johnson, who was 
born in Summit county, Ohio, at Copley, March 
14, 1850, daughter of D. L. and Elizabeth 
(Robertson) Johnson. The Johnsons and 
Robertsons were of old Connecticut stock. 
The Robertsons had Holland-Dutch blood in 
their veins. Mr. Johnson was a cooper by 
trade.' He was born in Connecticut and came 
when a young man to Summit county, Ohio, 
with his parents, William and Susan (Taylor) 
Johnson. The Taylors were of French ancestry. 

Mr. Johnson and wife were the parents of 
Ira D., Elvira E., Perry, Flora A. and Celia E. 
Mr. Johnson died, aged fifty-one j'ears, in Gar- 
rettsville, Ohio, where he moved in i860. He 
was a respected and industrious citizen, and a 
democrat in politics. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Clark settled 
in Garrettsville, and here have since lived. 
To them have been born one daughter, Maud 
J., born April 14, 1873, and educated in Gar- 
rettsville public schools. She is now the wife 
of Dr. B. S. Higley, of Washington, D. C, 
United States army surgeon, ranking as first 
lieutenant. Mr. Clark is a member of I. O. 
O. F., Garrettsville, Ohio, and has passed all 
the chairs, including that of noble grand, and 
is also a member of the Modern Foresters, of 
which he is past chief ranger. Mrs. Clark is a 
member of the Daughters of Rebekah, I. O. 
O. F. and Mr. Clark is an honored member of 
the G. A. R. , Mark Horton post, and has held 
all the offices except commander. Mr. Clark 
is a man of independent views, is a strong 
republican, and has always been an industrious 
and honored citizen. He lost his leg doing 
battle for his country and is a sturdy patriot. 



He had two uncles by marriage in the Civil 
war, Patrick and Thomas Floody. Mr. Clark 
was always an active soldier and not a prisoner 
and not in hospital except with his wound. 
He was always on duty and prompt and cheer- 
ful. He was in all the battles, skirmishes 
campaigns and marches of his regiment while 
he was with it. and was a good soldier. 



*-|-» EONARD S. CORBETT, one of the 
I r oldest and most respected citizens of 
^I^Ji Palmyra township. Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Worcester, Mass. , 
March 6, 18 19, a son of Chiron and Sarah 
(Bosworth) Corbett, who came to Ohio in 
1822 and settled about three-quarters of a 
mile west of the now present center of Pal- 
myra township, then a dense wilderness. 

After clearing up his farm, Chiron Corbett 
engaged in the hotel business at Palmyra for 
ten years, and also conducted a general store. 
To his marriage with Miss Bosworth were 
born twelve children, of whom ten reached 
the age of maturity, but of these three only 
now survive, viz: Charles, Leonard S. and 
Abijah". Of the other nine, two died in 
infancy, and the deceased seven who attained 
maturity were named, in order of birth, 
Alonzo; Julia, the wife of C. P. Gilbert; Jane, 
wife of John Lewis; Waldo; Artemon; Olive, 
wife of Stephen Trowbridge, and Ora. The 
father of this family died in 1842 and the 
mother in 1845, both in the faith of the 
Methodist church. 

Nathaniel Corbett, father of Chiron, also 
a native of Massachusetts, was one the earliest 
settlers of Portage county, and was a manu- 
facturer of cotton goods, owned a large fac- 
tory, and was also a manufacturer of shoes. 
To his marriage with Miss Huldah Holbrook 
were born eight children, named Chiron, Na- 
thaniel, Moses, Stephen, Lucy (who was mar- 



720 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ried to John Rider), Julia (wife of Naham 
Smith), Ruth (wife of Nelson Westover) and 
Nancy, wife of Joseph Shirtliff. Nathaniel 
Corbett and wife were most highly respected 
residents of the township and both died in 

>834- 

Leonard S. Corbett received as good an 

education as the pioneer schools of his youth- 
ful days afforded. In his early 'teens he as- 
sisted in the cultivation of the home farm, 
but, at the same time, was noted for his skill 
as a hunter, and it is reported of him that he 
has killed more deer, foxes and wild turkeys 
than any youth whoever lived in Portage 
county, and it is further stated that he killed, 
after he reached his majority, the last wild 
deer, wild fox and wild turkey known to exist 
in Palmyra township. 

At the age of twenty-one years, Leonard 
S. Corbett started farming life on his personal 
account, and in November, 1844, married Miss 
Louisa Lewis, daughter of John and Polly 
(Bacon) Lewis, which marriage was blessed 
with six children, one of whom died in infancy; 
of the survivors, E. B. Corbett married Maria 
Jewell; Ellen is the wife of John Robinson; 
Waldo married Mertie Clark, and Charles and 
Artimon are still under the parental roof. In 
1852, Mr. Corbett settled on his present farm, 
which is now one of the best in Palmyra town- 
ship. Here Mr. Corbet had the misfortune to 
lose his wife, June 4, 1870, her age being 
forty-nine years. The parents of this lady 
were natives of Connecticut, and in his early 
life the father was a school teacher, but on 
coming to Portage county, Ohio, became a 
farmer. To his marriage with Miss Polly 
Bacon, daughter of William and Polly (Thur- 
ber) Bacon, were born Mrs. Corbett; Mary, 
wife of Johnson Bigelow; Emeline, wife of 
Thomas Jones; Edward and Frances, all now 
deceased, as are also the parents, who passed 
their declining days in Indiana. 



Mr. Corbett has passed nearly all his life 
in farming, but has also been largely engaged 
in the live stock trade, and for fifteen years in 
the butchering business. He has always been 
an honored citizen and has served as constable 
and township trustee, and in his ripe years 
has not a peer in the esteem of his fellow- 
townsmen. 




HE CRANE FAMILY is of Welsh ex- 
traction and has been identified with 
America since the early settlement 
of the New England colonies, whence 
sprang the entire Crane family, members of 
which are now found in all parts of the United 
States. Ezra Crane was born in Saybrook, 
Conn., where his wife was passed. He reared 
a family of eleven children, of whom three 
sons, Simeon, Beldon and Calvin, came to 
Ohio in 1801 and first located at Canfield, 
Trumbull county. The journey from Connec- 
ticut to Ohio was made with an ox-team and 
occupied forty days, they bringing a horse and 
a cow with them. In 1808 they came to 
Portage county, purchased land in Shalersville 
township, and built two log houses; then re- 
turned to Canfield, and in the spring of 1809 
removed to their home in their permanent 
home in Portage county. 

Simeon Crane was born in Saybrook, 
Con., February 14, 1773, and then married 
Feb. 8, 1796, Rachael Catlin, born, August 
30, 1774; she was also a native of Saybrook. 
They had three children born unto them be- 
fore migrating to Ohio. Siemon Crane died 
in Shalesville September 14, 1846, and here, 
also, Mrs. Crane died in April, 1848. They 
were the parents of five children, of whom 
four attained their majority, viz: Harmon, 
born in 1797, married and was a farmer in 
Shalersville until 1867, when he removed to 
Paw Paw, Mich., where his death occurred; 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



m 



James, born in August, 1798, was a farmer in 
Shalersville until advanced in life, when he 
removed to Painesville, Ohio, and there died 
in 1 871; Anganette, born in February, 1800, 
was twice maried — first to Erastus Chapman, 
and second, to Sheldon Farnham, and died in 
Warren, Ohio; Edward Manley Crane was 
born June 14, 18 10, being the first white male 
child born in Shalersville township; Simeon 
Crane, while in his native state, was superin- 
tendent of The Connecticut iron works at 
Saybrook, but after settling in Ohio gave his 
attention to agriculture pursuits. 

Edward Manley Crane was reared on the 
farm and received such school advantages as 
were afforded the children of early pioneers. 
He was of a studious turn of mind and intend- 
ed to go to college, but his father's health be- 
coming impaired he was obliged to abandon 
the idea and assist in the support of his par- 
ents. When twenty-five years of age he was 
united in marriage with Lucinda Streetor, 
daughter of Charles Streetor. She died Jan- 
uary I, 1842, leaving him three sons, viz: 
Frank C, born June 18, 1836, was a teacher 
for some time, then married Ellen M. Burnett 
and settled in Cleveland, being employed in 
the general office of the L. S. & M. S. R. R. 
He died in Cleveland in March, 1890. Charles 
Simeon, born April 20, 1828, is a tinner, and 
is married to Laura Sanford, and resides at 
Mantua. Seneca L. , born in July, 1840, 
married Addie M. McGowan and resides in 
Kansas City, where for many years he has been 
weighmaster at the stock yards. December 
8, 1842, Edward M. Crane married a second 
time — Sylvina Streator becoming his wife. 
She was born in Portage county, October 21, 
1820, a daughter of Jason Streator, who was 
born in Rutland county, Vt., in 1799, and 
Nancy (Perkins) Streator, born in the same 
county in 1795. Mr. and Mrs. Streator were 
married in Rutland county, Vt., in 18 19, and 



within a few days after marriage loaded their 
household goods into a wagon, and with a 
team of horses moved to Ohio, making their 
settlement in Windham township, Portage 
county. Mr. Streator being a carpenter, he 
built a frame house for their own occupancy 
and then pursued his trade and hired help to 
clear his farm, as he was unfamilair with farm 
work. He was a man of more than ordinary 
intelligence and served as member of the legis- 
lature in 1 840- 1 84 1, and as justice of the 
peace in his township. In politics he was a 
stanch supporter of the whig party, and during 
the campaign of 1840 wrote a number of popu- 
lar campaign songs. He resided in Windham 
township until about 1850, when he removed 
to Cleveland, where, associated with his son, 
he was engaged in the grocery trade. He 
died in 1857, and afterward his widow re- 
turned to Portage county and passed her re- 
maining years in Shalersville. Mr. and Mrs. 
Streator reared nine children, of whom Syl- 
vina is the eldest: Lydia married Dr. Osmon 
Ferris, and, dying left one son — O. S. Ferris, 
of Garrettsville, Ohio; John Wesley, also 
resides in Garrettsville; Earl Perkins resides 
at North Amherst, Lorain county, Ohio; Mar- 
cus H. is a retired merchant in Denver, Colo. ; 
Jason resides in Hiram, Ohio; Harriet Lu- 
cinda married twice — first, Peter Dutter. and, 
second, a Mr. Caldwell; she died in Michigan; 
Clarissa married Samuel Price, and died in 
Shalersville, Ohio. ; Julia N. married N. H. 
Smith, and resides in Los Angeles, Cal. 

Mr. Crane prospered in farming, and, being 
an enterprising citizen, endowed with excel- 
lent judgment, was counted one of the lead- 
ing men of his township. He was a whig in 
politics until the formation of the republican 
party, when he became one of the stanch 
supporters of the latter. He was three times 
elected justice of the peace, also held other 
local offices; was a trustee in the first bank 



722 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



established at Garrettsville, and, at the sug- 
gestion of James A. Garfield, influenced the 
organization of the First National bank. His 
death occurred January 19, 1890, and he is 
remembered as an upright man, whose judg- 
ment and opinion were received with respect. 
His widow is now making her home with her 
son, Cassius M. Mr. and Mrs. Crane reared 
six children, viz: Cassius M., born September 
29, 1844, married Marcella Bennett; Arthur 
Edward, born April 24, 1846, married Ella 
M. Beardsley; Frederic J., born April 13, 
1848, married Ella J. Pratt; Aganette married 
Col. C. O. Risdon, and is now a widow, resid- 
ing at Ravenna; Clarice, born August 13, 
1 85 I, married J. S. Tilden, cashier of the First 
National bank of Garrettsville, and Elton P. 
was born June 26, 1854. .-VIl the family reside 
in Garrettsville, except Mrs. Risdon, and are 
recognized as among the most respectable peo- 
ple of Portage county. 



aLARKE E. BARNES, a native of 
Tallmadge, Ohio, born August 12, 
1842, was one of the soldiers of the 
Civil war and is still much disabled 
through his services. 

Phineas Barnes, the grandfather of Clarke 
E., was from Tolland, Mass., where he was 
born October 8, 1770. He was descended 
from an old colonial Massachusetts family, the 
founder of which came from England during 
the early history of the colony. Phineas 
Barnes was a farmer, and married Abigail 
Smith, who was born June 10, 1780, a daugh- 
ter of Ebenezer and Abigail Rose (Warner) 
Smith. Phineas Barnes first settled in Trum- 
bull county, Ohio, about 181 5, cleared up a 
farm from the woods, and became a substan- 
tial pioneer farmer. His children were born 
in the following order: Dennison, Salmon, 
Sylvester, Isaac N., Abigail, John, Lorenzo 



D., Emeline, Phineas, Lovewell, Ebenezer 
and Corrintha. Salmon died at Fort Gibson, 
Ark., aged twenty-two years, in 1824. He 
was a soldier in the regular United States army. 
Lorenzo Dow embraced Mormonism and be- 
came a noted missionary to England, where 
he was an active worker until his death. 
Phineas Barnes was a member of the Methodist 
church, was a whig in politics, lived to the age 
of eighty-six years, and died in Norton town- 
ship. Summit county, Ohio, March 2, 1855. 

Sylvester Barnes, father of Clarke E., was 
born in Tolland, Mass., and came with his 
parents to Ohio in 181 5. He received a com- 
mon-school education and was brought up in 
a very careful manner to habits of strict econ- 
omy and industry. He learned the carpenter's 
trade when young and also the cabinetmakers' 
trade. He married in Tallmadge, Ohio, Oc- 
tober 27, 1 83 1, Esther Treat, daughter of 
Maj. John and Esther (Clark) Treat. Maj. 
John Treat, her father, was of the old Treat 
family of colonial times and a descendant of 
Gov. Robert Treat, for many years governor 
of the Connecticut colony. John Treat died 
a farmer December 3, 1807, in Connecticut. 
His children were John, Elizabeth, Jeremiah, 
Andrew, Richard B. and Esther, the mother 
of our subject. 

Sylvester Barnes was a very hard-working 
and energetic man, entirely self-made. His 
children were Sidney O., Sylvester E., Leroy 
A. (died aged fourteen years), Francis N., 
Clarke E., and Esther T., who died aged seven 
years. Mr. Barnes was a member of the Meth- 
odist church, and for many years a class lead- 
er and recording steward. He was very prom- 
inent in his church, assisted it liberally with 
his means and was really the main stay of his 
church in Tallmadge throughout his life. Mrs. 
Barnes was a member of the Congregational 
church. Mr. Barnes was a man of great force 
of character, and excellent merits, and lived 




^X^ S. t^^'^^- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



725 



the life of a good Christian. He was well 
known for his honored worth, and died August 
28, 1888, being killed while crossing the rail- 
road track at Tallmadge. He was an honored 
citizen of Tallmadge, and township trustee for 
several years, having been in politics first a 
whig and later a republican. Mr. Barnes was 
a very frugal and careful man, and brought up 
his children to strict morality, and assisted 
them all to a start in life. Mrs. Barnes died 
March 10, 1889. 

Clarke E. Barnes attended the excellent 
academy at Tallmadge for four years, so that 
he received a good education, and he further 
broadened his mind by widely reading solid 
standard literature and freely subscribing to 
the daily press. He was reared to farming, 
and when he was about twentj'-one years old 
enlisted in the Ohio national guards in 1863 
for five years, under Capt. Norman Keller, and 
was mustered into the service of the United 
States by Gov. Brough, enlisting May 2, 1864, 
at Camp Cleveland, Ohio, for 100 days, served 
out his time, and was honorably discharged 
at Camp Cleveland, Ohio, August 27, 1864. 
His services were at Arlington Heights, Va., 
on guard duty. He was present when Gen. 
Early made his raid on Washington, and in 
full view of the engagement. He was sick 
with measles in hospital at Fort Strong, Va., 
ten days, and also contracted typhoid fever at 
Camp Cleveland, and was prostrated with this 
fever on reaching his home in Tallmadge town- 
ship. He was dangerously sick for some 
weeks, and for some time unconcious, and never 
recovered from the effects, as it resulted in 
partial paralysis, and finally in the complete 
loss of the use of the lower limbs. He has 
not been able to walk for twenty years and 
propels himself by means of a wheeled chair. 
Mr. Barnes is a gentleman of marked in- 
telligence, is a good business man, and spends 
much of his time in reading. He was engaged 



in horticultural pursuits for several years, and 
is still interested in horticulture, in which he 
is very skillful. 

Mr. Barnes was married, March 14, 1889, 
in Tallmadge, Ohio, to Ottellia J. Lippholdt, 
who was born September 3, 1867, in Akron, 
Ohio, a daughter of Henry and Magdalene 
Lippholdt. Henry Lippholdt, her father, was 
born July 9, 1842, in Germany, and came to 
America in 1865. He was a silk weaver in 
Germany, and married Magdalene (Batchelett) 
Winkleman, widow of John Winkleman, a 
soldier of the Civil war, who died at Chatta^ 
nooga. Mr. Lippholdt was a machinist at 
Akron. He moved to Missouri, in 1889, and 
settled on a farm where he is now living. The 
children are Ottelha J., Charles F. , Bertha E. 
Amelia M. , Louis and Louise (twins), and Al- 
fred, Mr. Lippholdt is a substantial farmer, 
is a republican, and he and wife are members 
of the Reformed church. Mrs. Lippholdt's 
children by her former husband, Mr. Winkle- 
man, are Emma E., and William. She was 
born in Switzerland, December 20, 1839. 
Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have a very pleasant and 
attractive home, which they keep in the best 
condition, and they are both respected by all 
who know them. Mr. Barnes in his affliction 
has the sincere sympathy of all who know him. 
Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have adopted a little 
daughter — Alta C. Barnes. 



'^rj'OHN C. CONGER, an ex-soldier of the 
m Civil war, and a highly respected citi- 
A J zen of Peninsula, Boston township. 
Summit county, Ohio, was born in this 
town December 29, 1835, a son of John and 
Hanna (Beals) Conger, and a grandson of Job 
Conger, who was born in the state of New 
York, but in his later years became a resident 
of St. Albans, Vt. Job married Ruby Potter, 
and to their union were born eleven children, 



726 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



t 



of whom the names of four only can now be 
recalled, viz: John, Nelson, Rufus and Lura. 
The father of this family was a farmer and a 
manufacturer of brick, and he and all his fam- 
ily died in the faith of the Methodist church. 
John Conger, father of John C, was born 
in September, 1805, at St. Albans, Vt., and 
learned to work on the farm and the trade of 
making brick. He married Hannah Beals, 
who was a daughter of Enoch and Hannah 
(Hurlburt) Beals, and was born in Massachu- 
setts in 1805, on a farm, but was reared one 
and a half miles from St. Albans, Vt. , whither 
her parents had removed and there lived and 
died. John Conger and wife lived in St. Al- 
bans five years, where he was employed on 
the farm and in brickmaking. In 1833 he 
came to Ohio and clerked in Cleveland for Ira 
Jewell, where he was joined by his family, 
which then consisted of his wife and two chil- 
dren — Sidney P. and George S. — the latter an 
infant, who died at three years of age. In 
1834 he moved to Boston, Ohio, and went 
into partnership with Silas Eaton, and estab- 
lished a yard for the manufacturing of brick. 
In 1844, and for several years thereafter, he 
was also in company with Erastus Jackson in 
the manufacture of brick, in the same town. 
Mr. and Mrs. Conger were the parents of Sid- 
ney P., Sandford L., George S., John C, 
Arthur L. , and Lucy. Mr. Conger was post- 
master of Boston under Polk and Pierce; also 
was constable and trustee. He was frequently 
administrator of estates, and called upon to 
arbitrate differences between disagreeing 
neighbors. He had been a captain of artil- 
lery in Vermont, was much interested in the 
military service in Ohio, and was one time 
captain of a company in this state. Politic- 
ally he was a man of marked influence, was 
a well known pioneer, and much respected for 
his sterling integrity. He died, aged forty- 
eight years, in 1853. 



John C. Conger, our subject, received a 
good common education in the district school 
of Boston, Ohio, and learned brickmaking 
and farming. He enlisted, aged twenty-five 
years, at Peninsula, Boston township, August 
10, 1861, in Capt. George A. Purrington's 
company A, Second Ohio cavalry, for three 
years, or during the war, and was honorably 
discharged at Columbus, Ohio, April 8, 1863, 
for disability and injury to his eyesight. His 
service was in southern Kansas, and in the 
Indian territory, and on scouting duty in Ar- 
kansas, Kansas, and southwestern Missouri^ 
he raided all through western Missouri, and in 
every border county in Missouri and Kansas, 
alter the guerrilla, Quantrell, and Gen. Price, 
and in fights at Newtonia, Neosho, Sarcoxie, 
Lone Jack, and in many skirmishes with the 
guerrillas — all very dangerous service. 

The first fight Mr. Conger was in, was at 
Independence, Mo., with Quantrell's men, 
among whom were the notorious James broth- 
ers. Mr. Conger was taken sick in the Indian 
territory while on the Indian expedition to 
re-instate the Union Cherokees. He was on 
this expedition four months and was in sev- 
eral fights. His eyes began to trouble him, 
inflammation set in, and he was nearly blind 
for five months, but remained on duty, and 
finally, after reaching Ohio, was in hospital 
two months, but his sight not returning, he 
was discharged, and it was nearly two years 
before he recovered. In the meantime, he 
had been promoted, on the organization of his 
company, to be quartermaster-sergeant, and 
served in this capacity until discharged. He 
was always an active soldier until disabled, 
and was in all the campaigns, marches, battles 
and skirmishes in which his company was en- 
gaged. This service was very severe and 
wearisome, it being a new country, very 
sparsely settled, covered with heavy oak 
thickets in Missouri, and in Kansas bad water 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



727 



and hard winds prevailing. Mr. Conger was 
always prompt and cheerful in the discharge 
of his duty and was never wounded nor a 
prisoner. After the war, he returned to Ohio 
and engaged in farming, and September 17, 
1867, he married, in Boston township, on the 
farm where he now lives, Eunice M. Stillman, 
born in Potter Hill, R. I., January 23, 1844, 
daughter of Ephraim and Pamela (Potter) 
Stillman. 

Ephraim Stillman was born January 6, 
1806, in Washington county, R. I., on a farm, 
and his children were Horace, Herbert L. , 
William, Fannie E., Mary G., Phebe A., and 
Jennie L. Mr. Stillman was a member of the 
Seventh Day Baptist church, was a democrat, 
and was well known and respected as a citi- 
zen. Horace, the eldest son, served under 
Burnside in a Rhode Island regiment during 
the Civil war, and took part in several battles. 
Mr. Stillman lived to be eighty-two years old 
and his wife eighty-three, and both died in 
1888. David Stillman, father of Ephraim, 
who descended from George Stillman, came 
from England with a brother; they were 
Episcopalians, and early settled at Westerly, 
R. I. George was a wealthy merchant. 

Mrs. Conger received a good education in 
New York state, at Alfred university, Alfred 
Center, Allegany county, N. Y. , graduating in 
1864, and came to Ohio as a music teacher in 
1867. Mr. and Mrs. Conger settled on their 
present farm of 135 acres, and have erected a 
tasteful residence and other buildings. The 
children are Fannie S. , Luen J., Elmer B., 
Pamela P. , Mary G. , John C. , Jr. , and Emily. 
All the children are well educated and are 
highly respected. Elmer and Pamela are 
graduates of the Peninsula high school, Elmer 
of the class of 1894 and Pamela of the class 
of 1896, and Miss Mary will finish in the class 
of 1899; also John C, Jr., will graduate in 
same class. 



In politics Mr. Conger is a republican, cast 
his first presidential vote for Abraham Lin- 
coln, and has served as township trustee and 
township clerk, has been a member of the 
school board ten years in succession, and a 
member of the council at Peninsula ten years. 
Mr. and Mrs. Conger are Seventh Day Ad- 
ventists, and members of the city of Akron 
church. Fraternally he is a royal arch Mason 
of Richfield, Ohio, and of Hudson; also of 
George L. Waterman post, G. A. R., 272, of 
which he was a charter member, first com- 
mander and adjutant many years. Mr. Con- 
ger is a man of strict integrity of character 
and stands high as a citizen, and belongs to 
one of the best families of the county. 



BREDERIC J. CRANE, senior member 
of the firm of Crane Brothers of 
Garrettsville, was born in Shalersville 
township on April 13, 1848, being the 
son of Edward Manley Crane. He remained 
with his parents on the home farm until he 
attained his majority, performing such work 
as usually falls to the lot of farmers' boys. He 
received his education in the district schools, 
and the academy, finishing with a two years' 
course at Hiram college. 

Thus equipped with a good business edu- 
cation, at the age of twenty-one he went to 
Illinois, where for some months he engaged in 
teaching school in the town of Hamilton, 
Hancock county. Returning to Ohio, he ac- 
cepted a position as clerk in the store of his 
elder brothers, with whom he remained eight 
years, performing all the duties of his position 
to the entire satisfaction of his employers. 
After quitting the service of his brothers he 
became traveling salesman for the Wight & 
Daniels Engraving Co., of Garrettsville. He 
remained with this company two years, during 
which time he met with such marked success. 



728 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and practiced such economy, that he was en- 
abled to purchase the interest of his brother, 
A. E. Crane, in the firm of Crane Brothers, by 
which purchase he became its junior member. 

Mr. Crane has been twice married. His 
first marriage was in May, 1 880, to Ella Joseph- 
ine Pratt, daughter of Henry and Abigail Pratt. 
She was born in Trumbull county, but grew to 
womanhood in Ashtabula county. She died 
in 1890, leaving one daughter, Georgie. His 
second marriage occurred in Pueblo, Colo., in 
June, 1895, when Charlotte A., daughter of 
C. E. Olin, became his wife. She was born 
in Pueblo, where her father is a prominent 
business man. C. E. Olin is a native of the 
state of New York. Mr. Crane has given his 
attention to the interests of the firm of which 
he is a member, and its success proves him to 
be an able business man. He is a man of 
character and is one of the most popular citi- 
zens of Garrettsville. In politics he is a stanch 
republican. He has held several municipal 
offices. 

Elton P. Crane, junior member of the firm 
of Crane Brothers of Garrettsville, was born in 
Shalersville township on June 26, 1854. He 
lived on the home place, aiding in the general 
work of the farm, enjoying all the advantages 
and enduring all the disadvantages of country 
life, here laying the foundation of a character 
which was to be appreciated in after years. 
His education was obtained mainly in the 
common schools of the neighborhood. He 
also for a time attended Hiram college. At 
the age of eighteen he left home and became 
a clerk in the store of his brothers. 

After some time spent as clerk he succeeded 
his brother, C. M. Crane, thus becoming a 
member of the firm. As much of the success 
of the firm is due to his integrity of character 
as to his business qualifications. On the 30th 
of April, 1890, Mr. Crane was united in mar- 
riage with Alma Baldwin, daughter of Henry 



Baldwin. Mrs. Crane was born in Coopers- 
town, Pa., and at the time of her marriage was 
a resident of Cleveland. To the union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Crane have been born two children: 
Marguerite, who died in infancy, and Helen A. 

In politics Mr. Crane is a republican, being 
a firm believer in the principles advocated by 
his party and a stalwart supporter of its policies, 
and is a member of the council of Garrettsville. 
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
being an active worker, and holds membership 
in Garrettsville lodge. No. 246, F. & A. M.; 
Silver Creek chapter. No. 144, R. A. M. ; 
Warren commandery. No. 29, Knigts Templar, 
and he and his wife are members of Crescent 
chapter. No. 7, O. E. S. Mr. Crane is also 
a member of I. O. O. F. and of I. O. F. 

Notwithstanding the business opportunities 
he enjoyed while clerking. in the store of his 
brothers, he may be said to have succeeded in 
making his own way in life. He lives on 
Maple avenue, where he enjoys all the com- 
forts of a pleasant home. 



aHARLES CRAWFORD, of Mantua 
Center, was born in Shalersville 
township. Portage county, January 
I, 1845, the son of James and Ruth 
(Williams) Crawford, who were of Scotch- 
Irish ancestry. The father was born at Hart- 
ford, Washington county, N. Y., where he 
grew to manhood and in early life learned the 
shoemaker's trade. It was while living there 
that he married Ruth Williams, and to this 
union were born Amos, Robert, Moses, Sarah, 
Levi, Sophronia, Cornelia, Benjamin, Charles, 
William H. and Mary J. 

Mr. Crawford moved to Ohio and settled 
first at Cleveland and later at Shalersville, 
Ohio, and subsequently became a citizen of 
Mantua Center, where he died at the vener- 
able age of eighty-four years. He was a 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



729 



member of the Methodist church, and during 
Hfe was a stanch republican, raising a large 
family of patriotic sons, five of whom served 
in the late war. Robert was a private in com- 
pany A, One-Hundred and Third regiment, 
Ohio volunteers, enlisting in the three years' 
service; Moses was a private in a Michigan 
battery, while Levi also served in a Michigan 
regiment for three years, and his brother 
William H. was in the same company and 
regiment. 

Charles Crawford, the subject of this mem- 
oir, received a common-school education and 
in early life learned the shoemaker's trade, and 
when but eighteen years of age enlisted, De- 
cember 15, 1862, at Cleveland, Ohio, in com- 
pany I, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth regi- 
ment, Ohio volunteer infantry, but was soon 
transferred to company A, of the same regi- 
ment, under Capt. Hayes, his first captain 
being Capt. McDonnell. He served until he 
was honorably discharged at Camp Chase, 
Columbus, Ohio, several months after the 
close of the war, on December 13, 1865, hav- 
ing been in active service from the time he 
was mustered in until he was mustered out. 
His services were largely rendered in guarding 
prisoners at Johnson's Island, throughout his 
entire enlistment. During the eighteen 
months that he served in guarding the prison- 
ers he can safely vouch for the truth that the 
Confederate prisoners received just as good 
treatment as did the guards. They were fur- 
nished fresh beef, vegetables, clothing, fuel and 
comfortable barracks. The prisoners were 
mostly rebel officers, and many of their wives 
came to Sandusky and were permitted to visit 
their husbands in the presence of a guard, also 
many things of comfort were furnished the 
prisoners by their southern friends, and all 
reached each party to whom addressed safely. 

Mr. Crawford describes the winter of 1863- 
64 as a very cold one, which caused much 



suffering of the guards, who were exposed to 
inclement weather, and early in the spring fol- 
lowing he was taken with typhoid fever, and 
just as he was recovering from same, he was 
detailed for service at Lima, Ohio, with nine- 
ty-nine others, and they were sent immediately 
to that city for the purpose of keeping the 
rebel sympathizers of that district from resist- 
ing the draft. On his return from this detailed 
service, he was sick in the hospital at John- 
son's Island some three weeks, when he was 
granted a seven-day furlough, which was re- 
newed for three months, during which time he 
regained his health and reported back to his 
regiment ready for service. He was a large, 
robust man, weighing 180 pounds, at the time 
of taking sick, and upon partial recovery only 
weighed ninety pounds, and for years follow- 
ing was of slender build, and has never re- 
gained his former weight, his average weight 
being now 140 pounds. 

Mr. Crawford, like many other men that 
went into the service with the bloom of health 
upon their cheeks, came home an invalid, and 
has ever since experienced poor health. For 
a time his eyesight was bad and now, for many 
years,- he has been almost blind, and it is 
more than likely that he will lose his sight 
entirely. 

Mr. Crawford, soon after returning from 
the war, removed to Bronson, Branch county, 
Mich., where he remained sometime, and being 
of an industrious turn, worked at anything he 
could find to do, and after a short sojourn here 
he returned to Mantau Center and married 
Miss Jennie Graham, of Tiffin, Ohio. Immedi- 
ately after marriage Mr. Crawford became a 
permanent resident at Mantau, where he began 
working at the carpenter's trade, which he fol- 
lowed steadily until his failing eyesight com- 
pelled him to change his occupation. He and 
the parents wife are of one son, Arthur Gra- 
ham Crawford, a musician and resident of 



730 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Mantau Center. Politically Mr. Crawford is 
independent and is an honored member of the 
G. A. R., Bentley post, Mantua Center, having 
held all t he offices of this lodge, and is now serv- 
ing as guard. He is also a member of the Ma- 
sonic fraternity and his wife is a member of the 
Christian church. Mrs. Crawford is a true 
helpmate and a lady of many virtues. Mr. 
Crawford has always been industrious and 
straightforward, and after his failing eyesight 
caused him to quit his trade he sold pianos 
and organs for several years, but he is now 
totally disabled from following any vocation. 
Mrs. Crawford, subject's first wife, died April 
27, 1889, and he married for his second wife 
Miss Alice Carieton, daughter of Gilbert and 
Huldah (Parker) Carieton. 

Arthur Graham Crawford, the only son of 
our subject, was educated in the schools of 
Mantau is a young man of excellent habits 
and in early life was married to Miss Alice 
Clark, and to them were born two children. 



aOMFORT W. A. CUMMINGS, M. 
D., of Atwater, Portage county, 
Ohio, is a native of Newstead town- 
ship, Erie county, N. Y., was born 
July 23, 1864, and is a son of Morris Burt 
and Deboiah Rose (Brace) Cummings, the 
former of whom was born in Erie county, N. 
Y., February 17, 1835, and the latter in 
Montjjomcry, Kane county, 111., February, 

9, 1835- 

Morris Burt Cumtnings was educated in 
the Parker union school of his native town of 
Newstead. N. Y., and lived thereafter on his 
father's farm until his marriage, in 1858, to 
Miss Brace, a daughter of Edmund and 
Sarah (Bennett) Brace, natives of York state, 
when he purchased a farm of sixty acres ad- 
joining his father's, which also comprised sixty 
acres, and coiitiiuied to operate both farms in 



conjunction. Mrs. Deborah Rose Cummings 
was a highly educated lady and for several 
years taught in the common schools, as well as 
the high schools of Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Cummings were born eight children, viz: 
George Edmund, now aged thirty-eight years; 
Alsa Millie, thirty-six; Morris Milton, thirty- 
four; Comfort W. A., thirty-two; Mary Vir- 
ginia (Mrs. John Edgar), thirty; Josiah New- 
ton, twenty -six; Everett Darius, twenty-two, 
and Helen May (Mrs. O. Owens), twenty. 
The mother of these children was called away 
April 7, 1896, a member of the Baptist church, 
in which she reared her family, who have 
never ceased to mourn her loss. 

Dr. Comfort William Allen Cummings, our 
subject, received his earlier education in the 
Parker union school of his native village, later 
took a short-hand course in Clark & John- 
son's business college at Erie, N. Y. , and a 
course in Bryant & Stratton's college. He 
next worked on his parents' farm for about 
five years, reading medicine, meanwhile, with 
Dr. J. D. McPherson, of Akron, N. Y. Leav- 
ing the farm, he was employed a year in the 
freight-house of the Erie Railroad company 
at Corning, N. Y. , whence he came to Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and entered the Cleveland Medi- 
cal college, studying at the same time under 
Dr. G. J. Jones in private, and at the close of 
three years was graduated in the spring of 
1895. After leaving college, he returned home 
for a short time, and then came back to Ohio 
and settled in Atwater, where he eretted an 
office building and is now enjoying a remuner- 
ative practice. The first marriage of the doc- 
took place in June, 1894, to Miss Maggie 
Terriff, of Canada, who was early called from 
his side. April 21, 1896, he married, in At- 
water, Miss Jettie Goodman, daughter of E. 
S. and Emma Goodman, both natives of the 
Buckeye state. Mrs. Jettie Cummings was 
born in Atwater May 24, 1873, and was edu- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



731 



cated in the village schools, then at the Ra- 
venna high school, and finished her studies at 
the Western Reserve college for ladies at Cleve- 
land, as is thus, as will be seen, a highly ac- 
complished lady. The doctor is a member of 
the Knights of Pythias lodge at Atwater, and 
examining physician of Atwater Tent, Ladies 
of Maccabees. He is a republican in politics, 
and a member of the Baptist church of his 
former home; his wife is a member of the Con- 
gregational church. The doctor is well ap- 
preciated in Atwater as a physician, and in 
social circles he and wife enjoy the highest 
position possible. 



aASSIUS MANLEY CRANE, of Gar- 
rettsville, was born in Shalersville, 
Portage county, Ohio, September 29, 
1844; lived on his home farm until 
fifteen years of age, attending meanwhile the 
district school and local academy, and one 
term at Hiram college. As he was then of 
rather frail physique, it was thought it were 
better for him not to undertake the hardships 
of farm life, and in consequence of this deci- 
sion he entered the store of his uncle, H. M. 
Streator, at Drakesburg, in 1861, and clerked 
seven years, and then clerked for a few 
months in Cleveland. His next step was to 
embark in business in partnership with his 
brother, Arthur E., and together they pur- 
chased the general store of Beecher & King, 
in Garrettsvilie, and at that time the firm of 
Crane Bros, sprang into existence. The old 
frame building in which the business had here- 
tofore been conducted was demolished, and 
the present brick structure erected, and here 
a flourishing trade was done by the two found- 
ers of the firm until the withdrawal of Arthur 
E. Crane and the entrance of a younger 
brother, Fred C. Crane, when the business was 
continued, the firm-style remaining intact. 



In 1885, subject also withdrew, selling his in- 
terest to Elton P. Crane, so that the firm 
name has not yet been changed. Since with- 
drawing from trade, our subject has not 
entered into any other active business pursuit, 
but, nevertheless, has found ample desultory 
employment to keep his mind actively at 
work. 

December 29, 1870, Cassius M. Crane 
married Marcella S. Bennett, daughter of Dr. 
P. C. Bennett, of Freedom. Of the three 
children that are living of the four that have 
blessed this marriage (one having died in in- 
fancy), Evalyn is under the parental roof, 
Lucy B. is the wife of C. W. S. Wilgus, and 
Ralph C. is still with his parents. 

In his societary relations Mr. Crane has 
reached the exalted degree of Thirty-two in 
Masonry, and for two terms has presided as 
worshipful master of lodge No. 246, F. & A. 
M., of Garrettsvilie. In politics, Mr. Crane is 
active as a local republican, guarding with 
jealous care the interests of his party. For 
fifteen years he has been a member of the 
school board, has also done excellent work as 
a councilman, and has represented his party in 
several conventions. He is a gentleman of 
courteous manners and affability, and is a 
worthy representative of his ancestors, of 
whom a history will be found on another page, 
under the head of the Crane Family. 



aHARLES DUNCAN, an ex-soldier of 
the Civil war, and now a respected 
citizen of Mantua Station, Portage 
county, Ohio, was born in Red Creek, 
Wayne county, N. Y. , August 31, 1844, a son 
of James and Mahala Duncan. 

James Duncan, father of Charles, was born 
in Scotland in 1799, was taught blacksmithing 
under the good old thorough Scotch methods, 
and at the age of twenty-seven years came to 



732 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the United States, located in Troy, N. Y. , 
where he worked at his trade for many years 
in the Troy Mills, his specialty being ax-mak- 
ing, and later moved to Red Creek. He mar- 
ried a widow, Miss Mahala Withington, who 
bore the maiden name of Williams, and who 
was of Puritan stock, and whose father was a 
soldier in the war of 1812. The children 
born to this marriage were named Mahala, 
James, Phebe, Charles, Francis, Maryette and 
Henry. The father of this family was called 
to rest in Red Creek, at about the age of sev- 
enty-seven years, dying in the faith of the 
Presbjterian church. 

Charles Duncan was taught blacksmithing 
by his father and worked at his trade until 
August 12, 1862, when he enlisted, at Red 
Creek, in company G, One Hundred and 
Thirty-eighth New York volunteer infantry, 
but was soon afterward transferred to the 
Ninth New York heavy artillery, Sixth army 
corps. Third division, and Third brigade, 
under Col. William A. Seward, in which he 
served until honorably discharged in July, 
1865, at Syracuse, N. Y. , having been mus- 
tered out of the United States service at 
Washington, D. C. At the battle of Cedar 
Creek his battery served as infantry, and also 
in the same capacit}' as reserves, on the field 
at Cold Harbor; also as reserves in front of 
Petersburg and at Appomattox. He took 
part in many hard marches, especially in the 
valley of the Shenandoah, under Gen. Phil. 
Sheridan. For two months he was confined 
in camp hospital, for two months in Douglas 
hospital at Washington, D. C, and for three 
months on David island, in the East river, N. 
Y. , being ill from typhoid fever, but otherwise 
he was always to be found at his post, doing 
his duty cheerfully and faithfully. He was in 
the grand review at Washington, D. C. , and 
after the war returned to Red Creek and re- 
sumed his trade. 



September 12, 1876, Mr. Duncan married, 
at Sterling, N. Y., Miss Isabella Van Patten, I 
daughter of Christian C. Van Patten, and in 1 
1877 came to Ohio and settled at Mantua • 
Station, Portage county, where he has ever 
since successfully followed his trade. To the 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan has been 
born one child. Ward C, now a youth of great 
promise. Mr. Duncan is a member of Bent- 
ley post. No. 294, Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, at Mantua Station, in which he has held 
the offices of quartermaster and senior vice- 
commander. He is a straightforward, indus- 
trious, honest man. 



^ i* OHN DELL, a thriving farmer of Twins- 
M burg township. Summit count}', Ohio, 
A 1 and a veteran of the Civil war, was 
born in England January 3, 1840, 
probably in Lincolnshire, and was left an 
orphan at the early age of two years, his 
father and mother both dying soon after their 
arrival in America, and leaving the following 
children: Betsy, Grace, Samuel and John. 
John was reared until nine j'ears old by his 
sister, Betsy, who married William Penhale 
and who settled in Newburg, Ohio. At the 
age mentioned John went to live with Gilbert 
Roach, a farmer, of Twinsburg township, 
where John lived until he enlisted. He was 
reared to farming and gained a limited com- 
mon-school education. 

He enlisted at Twinsburg, Ohio, at the age 
of twenty-one years, in August, 1861, in com- 
pany K, Nineteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
to serve three )'ears or during the war, and re- 
enlisted as a veteran in the same organization 
at Strawberry Plains, Tenn., in January, 1864, 
served until the close of the war and was hon- 
orably discharged in 1865, having served 
faithfully four 3'ears and two months. His 
service was in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



735 



Georgia, Texas and Mississippi. He was in 
the siege of Corinth, in 1862; at Perryville, 
October 8. 1862; Chickamauga, Tenn., No- 
vember 23, 1862; Missionary Ridge, Novem- 
ber 25, 1863; Pickett's Mills, May 27, 1864; 
Kenesaw Mountain, June 22, 1864; Pine Top, 
in June, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, July 19, 
1864; Atlanta, July 22, 1864; Jonesborough, 
September 4, 1864; Lovejoy Station, Ga. , 
and Columbia, September 2, 1864; Franklin, 
Tenn., and Nashville, December 15 and 16, 
1864, and man}' skirmishes too numerous to 
mention. Mr. Dell was in the famous Atlanta 
campaign, in which the Union troops were 
under fire more than four months. He was 
sick in hospital but about three weeks, but 
was sick in camp with chronic diarrhea for 
several months, yet kept with the company. 
He was always an active soldier and in all the 
battles, campaigns, marches and skirmishes in 
which his regiment engaged, except a few, 
which occurred while he was sick. He was 
neither a prisoner nor wounded, and was a 
good soldier, and for meritorious conduct was 
promoted to be sergeant of compan\- K. 

After the war, Mr. Dell returned to Twins- 
burg and married, February 4. 1866, Theresa 
Dolaishe, who was born in Bohemia, Decem- 
ber 24, 1844, a daughter of Joseph and Ann 
Dolaishe. Joseph Dolaishe and wife started 
for America about 1852, and died on the pas- 
sage, leaving five children — Barbara, Anna, 
Joseph, Francis and Theresa. The children 
came to Cleveland, and Theresa was reared 
by Nathaniel Reed and wife, of Twinsburg, re- 
ceived a common education and married Mr. 
Dell at the age of twenty-one years. Francis 
is a fruit grower, near Sandusky, Ohio, is 
married and has two children. 

.After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dell settled 
in Twinsburg township, and in 1877 bought a 
farm of 10=; acres, which he greatly improved 
and on which he erected good buildings. The 

30 



children born to this marriage are Alice, Etta, 
Lillie, John, Pearl, Roy and Mabel. Mr. Dell 
is a free-silver democrat in politics, cast his 
first presidential vote for Lincoln, and is a 
member of the G. A. R. post. Royal Dunham, 
No. 177, of Bedford, Ohio. Of the children 
named above, Etta married Ransom Tyson — 
a farmer of Twinsburg township, and has two 
children; Alice, married Nelson Waite, a 
farmer of Twinsburg township, and has three 
children; Lillie, married Siegle Schock. a car- 
penter, of Bedford, and John married Fannie 
H. Manning, resides in Cleveland, Ohio, and 
is employed bj' a large firm as bookkeeper. 



BL.WIUS JOSEPHUS DANIELS, a 
prominent business man of Garretts- 
ville, and one of the principal stock- 
holders of the First National bank, is 
a native of Freedon township. Portage county. 
Ohio, was born April 14, 1835, and is of 
Scotch descent, the name having been origin- 
ally spelled Mac Daniels. 

The first members of the Daniels family to 
come to America settled in the New England 
colonies, and Reuben Daniels, great-grand- 
father of subject, was a patriot of the Revolu- 
tionary war. Reuben Daniels, grandfather of 
subject, was born in Massachusetts, but early 
came to Ohio, and after passing a short time 
in Cleveland, settled in the forests of Freedom 
township. Portage county, where he farmed 
until well advanced in life, when he retired to 
Garrettsville, where, at the age of eighty-five 
years, he met an accidental death on a railroad. 
He had been made a Freemason in Massachu- 
setts, and when Garrettsville lodge. No. 246, 
F. & A. M., was chartered, he was chosen its 
first worshipful master. He was an earnest 
Christian and devoted to the Congregational 
church. In his early days, also, he had been 



736 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



captain of a company of militia and was usu- 
ally addressed as Capt. Daniels. He reared 
a family of seven sons and two daughters, of 
whom Franklin S. , father of Flavius J., the 
subject, was the eldest. 

Franklin S. Daniels was born in Massachu- 
setts. He was an adept in carpentry, joining 
and millwrighting, which trades he followed 
through life. He married Miss Ann Robinson, 
a native of Saratoga, N. Y. , and in 1846 re- 
moved from his home place in Freedom 
township to Garrettsville, and here met his 
untimely end b^' a fall from a building on 
which he was working. There were five chil- 
dren born to his marriage, of whom four lived 
to maturity, viz: Flavius J. and Henry F. , of 
Garrettsville, and Reuben O. and Birdsy G., 
of Bledsoe count}', Tenn. Mr. Daniels was a 
whig in politics and was very active in local 
affairs; was progressive and enterprising, and 
accumulated a competency, and his tragic end 
was a source of deep regret to the commu- 
nity, in which he was held in high respect. 

Flavius J. Daniels, it will have been seen, 
was eleven years of age when his parents set- 
tled in Garrettsville. Here he attended school 
and also learned the blacksmith's trade, and 
on the day he attained his majority left home 
with a party bound for California, driving a 
team in compensation for his expenses, as he 
had no money. At Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
however, he came to a halt, while the party 
proceeded on its way. Shortly afterward he 
crossed the country to Omaha, Neb. , where 
he erected the fifth building in the place and 
engaged at his trade, but soon sold out and 
joined a party headed by Gov. Cummings, and 
platted a town thirty miles north of Omaha, 
which town was christened Cummings City, 
but it never flourished, although Mr. Daniels 
acted an entire season as an immigration 
agent. He was next employed by Gov. 
Cummings, in company with others, to ex- 



plore the upper Missouri river for about 
500 miles, and to prospect for coal, etc., 
and, at the farthest point attained, platted 
another town. On their way back the whole 
party came near freezing to death, and suf- 
fered intensely from hunger, the provisions 
they had "cached " on the way up having 
been untraceable in the deep snow. At an 
abandoned Indian village, they were com- 
pelled to eat the raw-hides used in the con- 
struction of tepees, otherwise starvation would 
have been their fate; and the weather was so 
bitterly cold that it was necessary to use 
switches on the legs of some of the party to 
prevent their lying down and freezing to death. 
In the spring of 1859 Mr. Daniels started 
from Omaha with a party for Pike's Peak, but 
at Fort Laramie returning prospectors dis- 
couraged further advance, and the party 
started for the Pacific coast. On reaching 
Sublitt's cut-off, about September i, some of 
the men were inclined to go to Oregon and 
some to California, and Mr. Daniels decided 
his destination by tossing up a copper, the re- 
sult favoring California. He walked the entire 
distance, with the exception of one day's ride, 
as far as Honey Lake valle}', where he worked 
two months at anything he could find to do, 
and then found employment with a quartz 
mining company, and worked in a tunnel, 600 
feet under ground, at $40 per month, for a 
considerable time, but was later promoted to 
to be foreman of the quartz mill, at $125 per 
month. He remained in this position until 
1862, and then went to San Francisco, where 
there had just been erected some sugar refin- 
eries, and there engaged with a Capt. Johnson 
to go to Honolulu to purchase a cargo of sugar. 
But the vessel chartered was an old hulk, be- 
came water-logged, and was towed into port 
and there condemned. Mr. Daniels remained 
on the island until another vessel was dis- 
patched for him, and on his return to San 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



737 



Francisco vowed never to make another ocean 
voyage. 

Mr. Daniels now again went to the mount- 
ains to engage in mining, and was at Sacra- 
mento when the first ground was broken for 
the Central Pacific railroad. He had pre- 
viously made the acquaintance of Leland 
Standford and Charles Crocker, who now 
urged him to join them in this great enter- 
prise, but he lacked the nerve to invest; in 
fact, only five men could be induced to take 
stock, but they all became millionaires. Mr. 
Daniels, however, agreed to meet his friends 
in Nevada, when the road should reach that 
state, and accordingly went to what was called 
Humboldt City, which had a population of 
about 500, but the inhabitants soon after 
nearly all left. Mr. Daniels, however, de- 
cided to remain and await the coming of the 
railroad, which was now practically assured, 
being backed by the United States govern- 
ment. He was commissioned postmaster, and 
also kept a trading post; he likewise made 
claim of a fine water privilege, which he 
thought would be of value to the railroad 
company. Finally the road reached this 
point, and Messrs. Standford and Crocker 
called on Mr. Daniels, and authorized him to 
buy all the hay he could find in the vicinity, 
for which they allowed him a profit of $10 per 
ton. Stages were now coming into the city 
from various directions, bringing in large 
quantities of mail matter, of which Mr. Dan- 
iels took charge under his commission as post- 
master, but for handling these mails he never 
received any compensation from the govern- 
ment. Large sums of money were deposited 
with Mr. Daniels for safe keeping, and as there 
were no vaults, nor safes in the country, he 
cut a hole in the floor of his dwelling and se- 
creted the gold, which frequently amounted to 
$10,000 at a single deposit. As the railroad 
company employed 2,500 hands, and travelers 



became numerous, the company induced Mr. 
Daniels to erect an eating-house, and this he 
conducted seven years, realizing a competency. 

In February, 1870, Mr. Daniels returned 
to Garrettsville and was united in marriage 
with Miss Frankie Patterson, daughter of R. 
E. Patterson, whom he took to his western 
home. But the health of this lady was frail, 
and after three years' residence with .her in 
the west, Mr. Daniels returned to Garrettsville, 
and this has since been his home. He had 
the misfortune of losing his wife in 1885; she 
left three children, viz: Maud, wife of P. C. 
Davis; Zella, a school-teacher, and Gail, a 
school-teacher. The second marriage of Mr. 
Daniels took place, in 1887, to Mrs. Carrie E. 
Ranney, daughter of John T. Hunt. 

Mr. Daniels is one of the most substantial 
men of Portage county, and, as a director of 
the First National bank, is a member of the 
discount committee. In politics he is a stanch 
republican, and was very active in advancing 
the interests of his party while in the west, 
and has also filled a number of local offices in 
Garrettsville, Ohio. Fraternally, he is a 
Knight Templar. He owns one of the most 
pleasant residences in Garrettsville, where he 
extends a most gracious hospitality to his large 
circle of social acquaintances. 



eRWIN S. DAVIS, one of the old sol- 
diers of the Civil war and a respected 
citizen of Northfield township, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, was born February 
26, 1845, in Steuben county, N. Y., at Great 
Bend, a son of Stephen A. and Amanda (Kel- 
logg) Davis. Erwin S. received a common 
education and enlisted, at the early age of 
nineteen years. He ran away from home at 
Andover, N. Y., with his cousin, Albert Davis, 
having enlisted in the Sixteenth heavy ar- 
tillery for three years, or during the war, but 



738 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was transferred, at City Point, Va. , to the New 
York mounted rifles. His uncle, Hale Davis, 
followed them to City Point, but was unable 
to secure their release. Mr. Davis was then 
enrolled in company K, Capt. D. C. Ellis, 
provisional New York cavalry. First regiment 
dragoons, and was honorably discharged 
November 29, 1865, at City Point, Va. He 
was in the battles of the Wilderness, ten days' 
fight, battles in front of Petersburg, and was 
in the raid on the Weldon R. R. He was shot in 
the left arm and in the upper part of the right 
arm at the battle of the Wilderness, and the 
bullet is still imbeded in the flesh. He also 
received a slight flesh wound in the face, but 
was not in hospital, except for a few hours, 
after receiving this wound. Mr. Davis was in 
all the battles and skirmishes in which his 
regiment took part and was always active and 
cheerful in the discharge of his duties. 

After the war Mr. Davis returned to New 
York, but came to Summit county, Ohio, in 
1 868, and married, at Boston, July 5, 1870, 
Miss Elizabeth J. Odekirk, who was born in 
Boston, Ohio, May 17, 1854, a daughter of 
Daniel and Jane Odekirk. After marriage Mr. 
and Mrs. Davis settled at Macedonia, Ohio, 
where he still resides. Mr. Davis learned, 
when young, the blacksmith's trade, but since 
he came to Ohio has been engaged in farming; 
for the past seventeen years has been handling 
farm machinery, and has traveled extensively 
in this business. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are 
the parents of two children, Lailah B. , and 
Montville C. Mrs. Davis is a member of the 
Congregational church, and in politics Mr. 
Davis is a republican, and has been constable 
for several years as well as a notary public. 
He is a member of Royal Dunham post. No. 
177, G. A. R., at Bedford, Ohio, and is a 
straightforward and respected business man. 

Ebenezer Davis, grandfather of subject, 
was a farmer of Vermont, and his son, Stephen 



A., father of subject, was born in that state. ♦ 
The latter enlisted, in 1863, aged fifty-five 
years, in a New York regiment, for the three 
year's service. He was in several battles, and 
at a battle in Chickahominy Swamp he carried 
his wounded comrade, Matt Colmer, from the 
field, and injured himself so much that he died 
from the effects eleven weeks after, in 1864. 
He was a strong, rugged man, and owned a 
good farm. His children were Erwin S., 
Lemuel, Sophronia, Clarissa, Martha and Ida. 
Lemuel was also a soldier in the Civil war, 
going out on the last call. 

Daniel Odekirk was born August 3, 1832, 
in Rensselaer county, N. Y., was a boat buil- 
der, was married in Syracuse, N. Y. , July 2, 
1845, to Jane Kellogg, daughter of George 
Kellogg, and on coming west first settled at 
Boston, Ohio, where he lived many years. His 
children were Adelbert, Clara, Alveretta and 
Elizabeth. Mr. Odekirk died in March, 1896, 
in Michigan, whither he had removed and 
settled on. a farm of eighty acres. He was a 
well-to-do man, respected by all; a member 
of the Methodist church, and of the I. O. O. F. 
In politics he was a republican. George 
Kellogg was a pioneer farmer of Boston town- 
ship and had three sons in the Civil war — 
Josiah, William (killed in battle) and Fred. 



BRANK J. DAVIS, the leading mer- 
chant of Diamond, Palmyra town- 
ship. Portage county, Ohio, and post- 
master, was born in Milton township, 
Mahoning county, Ohio, July 12, 1857, a son 
of James and Susan (Jones) Davis, both 
natives of Wales. 

James Davis came to America in 1832 and 
located in Palmyra township, then almost a 
wilderness, where he lived about twenty 3'ears, 
when he removed to Mahoning county, and 
there resided until 1868, purchasing a farm of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



739 



ninety-six acres, thence removed to Palmyra 
township, Portage county, where he bought 
200 acres, known as the John D. Jones farm, 
where he passed the remainder of his Hfe. 
To his marriage to Susan Jones, daughter of 
the owner of this farm — John I). Jones — were 
born nine children, the surviving five of whom 
are John, who resides in Deerfield, Ohio; Mar- 
garet, wife of Samuel Jones, of Palmyra; 
Rachael, unmarried; Susan, wife of James 
Medley, of Mahoning county, and Frank J., 
the subject of this biographical notice. The 
deceased four were Elizabeth, wife of John G. 
Carson; Mary, wife of John D. Jones, and 
two who died in infancy. The parents of this 
family were sincere members of the Baptist 
church, in which the father held all the lay 
offices and in the faith of which he died July 
23, 1876, at the age of seventy-six years, the 
mother passing away January i, 1893, at the 
age of seventy-seven. 

Frank J. Davis was well educated in the 
common schools of Palmyra, was passed to 
the high school, and finished his education at 
the latter in 1875. His manual training was 
on the home farm, of which he became super- 
intendent at the death of his father, and then 
for a year worked in a saw-mill. He was mar- 
ried, September 27, 1878, to Miss Hattie 
Hiser, daughter of John and Sarah A. (Glass) 
Hiser, and this union has been blessed with 
two sons — Harry J. and Frank Alton. After 
his marriage Mr. Davis lived on the old home- 
stead until January, 1881, when he settled in 
Palmyra, and for a year was engaged in the 
livery and general delivery business, and then 
became an auctioneer and also entered into 
general merchandizing two j'ears later, in both 
of which he was profitably engaged eight 
years, having gained his experience in the lat- 
ter branch as a clerk in the store of O. B. 
Mason, under whom he had been employed 
two years, from 1882 to 1884, when he en- 



tered upon the mercantile trade. At the end 
of his six years' business experience, Mr. 
Davis sold out to A. Crookes, and attended to 
his mother's farm interests until her death, 
after which he engaged in farming on his own 
account for three years on the home farm, 
but holding his residence at Diamond, Ohio. 

In politics Mr. Davis is a republican, and 
is extremely popular with his party. In 1895 
he was the unanimous choice of his friends in 
Palmyra township as its candidate for sheriff 
of Portage county, but withdrew from the 
race, resigning in favor of the prior incumbent, 
Mr. Long. In the spring of 1897, Mr. Davis 
resumed his mercantile trade in Diamond, and 
the same year was appointed postmaster un- 
der President McKinley. He and family are 
members of the Disciples' church in Diamond, 
in which he is a deacon, as well as assistant 
superintendent of the Sunday-school. 

Mrs. Hattie (Hiser) Davis, wife of Frank 
J., the subject, was born in Milton township, 
Mahoning county, Ohio, July 28, 1858, her 
parents being natives of Pennsylvania. 



OLIVER A. DAVIS, a respected agri- 
culturist of Boston township. Summit 
county, Ohio, and ex -prisoner of the 
Civil war, was born in Cuyahoga 
county, Ohio, February 20, 1828, a son of 
Alvin and Levina (Seeley) Davis, who de- 
scended from old colonial ancestry of New 
York state. He was reared to farming, and 
was a canal boat builder when a young man. 
He enlisted August 21, 1862, at Ada, Hardin 
county, Ohio, in the One Hundred and Eight- 
eenth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, to 
serve three years, or during the war, and was 
honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 
9, 1865. He was in the battles of Mossy 
Creek, Tenn., and on the famous Atlanta 
campaign, where his regiment was under fire 



740 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



two months and five days. He was in the 
battles of Resaca/Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain, 
and in the battle of Atlanta, as well as in 
many hard fought skirmishes, too numerous 
to mention. After the Atlanta campaign his 
regiment followed Hood, and he was captured, 
in the fall of 1864, near Cedar Bluff, while 
foraging, and taken to Cahaba, Ala., and kept 
in prison four months and twenty days. This 
prison was an old cotton warehouse, and open 
in the top. The rations were one pint of corn 
meal, ground cob and all, and a very small 
piece of very poor beef, and under these con- 
ditions the prisoners were reduced to almost 
skeletons, and many died. Mr. Davis had no 
blanket or overcoat for some time, but finally 
blankets were sent from the Union lines. He 
was exchanged, near the close of the war, at 
Vicksburg, sent to Columbus, Ohio, and 
thence home, much disabled and in a bad 
condition generally. 

Oliver A. Davis, married, the first time. 
Miss Melvina Van Orman, a daughter of Orrin 
and Mary Van Orman, natives of New York 
state, and who bore him two children, Orrin 
and Alfred. Orrin Van Orman, was a pioneer 
of Summit county, Ohio, and reared a family 
of six children — Melvina, William, Isno, 
Francis, George and Lyndia Anna. Of this 
family, all the sons served in the Union army 
during the Civil war, George dying in Ken- 
tucky while in the service. Orrin Van Orman 
died at the age of sixty-three years in Everett, 
Boston township, a greatly respected citizen, 
of high religious attributes. Mrs. Davis died 
in 1863, during the Civil war, and Mr. Davis 
married, February 26, 1868, Miss Phylossa 
Jane Van Orman, a sister of his first wife; she 
was born September 5, 1841, in Michigan, 
and this union has been blessed with one 
daughter, Melvina. Oliver A. Davis is a free 
silver democrat in politics and is a member of 
George L. Waterman post, G. A. R., Penin- 



sula, Ohio, of which he is sergeant. He was 
a faithful soldier, and although weakened by 
his prison life is an industrious and hard-work- 
ing man, and is highly esteemed for his up- 
right character and usefulness as a citizen. 

Alvin Davis, the father of Oliver A., was 
born in Broome county, N. Y. , where he 
grew to manhood, and while yet in early life 
came west and settled in Bedford township, 
Cuyahoga county, where he lived a pioneer 
life. He, like many other pioneers, came 
with limited means, and thus experiencing all 
the privations of life in a new country. He 
soon provided himself with a good farm, which 
he partly cleared from the forest, being an 
industrious working man of that day. He was 
married to Miss Lavina Seeley, who bore him 
four sons and two daughters, viz: Ephraim, 
Alvin, Oliver A., William, Lucretia, and Julia. 
Mr. Davis was quite a political worker, and in 
the fall of 1836, while celebrating an election 
in Bedford, Ohio, was killed by a premature 
discharge of a cannon. He was a greatly re- 
spected citizen throughout the township and 
county. Three of his sons, Alvin, Oliver A. 
and William, did service in the late war — Al- 
vin in the three years' service; Oliver A., who 
is spoken of in the first paragrah, and William, 
who was in an Ohio regiment in the 100 days' 
service. After the death of Mr. Davis, Mrs. 
Davis was married to William Loffin, and to 
them were born two children, Earlyhigh and 
Willis C, who both served in an Ohio regi- 
ment for three years, showing the patriotic 
spirit of the family. 



^^V'AMUEL D. DETWEILER, of West 
•^^^^ Richfield, Ohio, one of the soldiers 

^^ J of the Civil war and a respected citi- 
zen, was born December 4, 1834, in 
Bucks county, Pa., Hilltown township, a son 
of John and Anna (Detweiler) Detweiler, who 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



741 



descended from an old colonial Pennsylvania 
family of German origin. 

Samuel D. Detweiler received a common- 
school education, was reared to farming and 
milling, and came to Ohio about 1857, and 
worked in Coshocton and Holmes counties sev- 
eral years. He enlisted from Holmes county 
in the summer of 1 861, in company B, Six- 
teenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and was mus- 
tered in at Camp Dennison, Ohio, for three 
years, or during the war, and served until 
honorably discharged at Camp Chase October 
31, 1864, a period of over three years and 
three months. January 19, 1862, the regi- 
ment reached Mill Springs just at the close of 
the battle. On March 12 a slight skirmish 
took place at Cumberland Gap. About 
March 22, the regiment was merged with the 
Forty-second Ohio and the Twenty-second 
Kentucky, forming the Twenty-sixth brigade 
of the Seventh division of the army of the 
Ohio, under the command of Brigadier-Gen. 
George W. Morgan. On April 28 another 
reconnoissance was made to the top of Cum- 
berland Mountain in the vicinity of Cumber- 
land Gap — arriving at the top at 8 A. M. in a 
heavy fog, when a brisk fight occurred. Dur- 
ing the month of May the rebels abandoned 
their position at Cumberland Gap, and the 
Sixteenth regiment was the first Union regi- 
ment to enter the stronghold. From this 
time until August 3, the troops were engaged 
in strengthening their position, drilling, fight- 
ing and frequently skirmishing. August 6, at a 
battle at Tazewell, Tenn., the entire division 
was obliged to retreat, and was much ha- 
rassed with frequent skirmishes on the way to 
Manchester, Ky., and suffered greatly for rest 
and food — having nothing to eat except ears 
of corn gathered from the fields, and pump- 
kins which they roasted and ate without salt. 
They had no water except that from stagnant 
pools, and they lived by foraging. On Oc- 



tober 3, they arrived at Greensburg, Ky. . 
worn out, ragged and shoeless, having been 
sixteen days on this march of more than 250 
miles. December 20, the regiment united 
with Sherman's command and went on trans- 
ports to the siege of Vicksburg, Miss., and on 
the 26th was in the assault on Chickasaw 
Bayou, where the regiment lost 31 1 men and 
many officers killed, wounded and missing. At 
Thompson Hill, over 400 of the Union forces 
were taken prisoners, with Mr. Detweiler 
among them. He was taken to Vicksburg 
prison, confined during the winter, and suf- 
fered greatly for food, the rations being but a 
little mule meal, and corn, ground cob and 
all, which was dumped on a few rails in the 
prison pen, and the prison was very foul. 
From here Mr. Detweiler was taken to Pearl 
River, Jackson, Miss., and confined in a cov- 
ered bridge during the siege of that city, where 
they nearly starved until the last of May, and 
then were paroled and sent to New Orleans 
by water, being obliged to row their own 
boats. In the spring of 1863, Mr. Detweiler 
was started for St. Louis, Mo., with the oth- 
ers, but they all left the trains in Ohio and went 
home, remained until August, 1863, and then 
rejoined the regiment in Louisiana. He was 
in the Red River expedition under Banks, was 
in several skirmishes near Alexandria, assisted 
to build the dam across Red River at that 
place, and then went to the mouth of the 
river, where the regiment stacked arms, hav- 
ing been in many hard-fought battles and skir- 
mishes. Mr. Detweiler was always an active 
soldier, was not sick in hospital, and was in all 
the battles, campaigns, marches and skir- 
mishes in which his regiment took part, except 
while a prisoner, and he did his full duty 
promptly and cheerfully and endured the hard- 
ships of a soldier's life with fortitude. 

After the war, Mr. Detweiler returned to 
Holmes county, Ohio, and went thence to 



742 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Alma, Mich., in 1868, and ran a flour-mill for 
twelve years, and while there married, Janu- 
ary 28, 1877, Miss Laura Gargett, who was 
born on her parents' farm in Medina county, a 
daughter of John and Mary (Detweiler) Gar- 
gett. In 1 88 1 Mr. Detweiler came to his 
present place, and engaged in farming and 
milling. The children are Leila, John and 
Leah. In politics Mr. Detweiler is a re- 
publican, and is also a member of Goldwood 
post, G. A. R., at West Richfield, Ohio. Mr. 
Detweiler is well known for his integrity of 
character and stands very high in the esteem 
of his fellow-citizens. 



m 



'AYLAND S. HOUGH, M. D., is 

one of the oldest and most promi- 
nent phj'sicians of Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio. He springs from an old 
colonial American family, and was born April 
3, 1844, at Atwater, Portage county, Ohio, a 
son of Joel I. and Mary (Linn) Hough. Joel 
I. Hough, also a native of Atwater, Portage 
county, was born in 1821, a son of Beziael 
Hough, one of the earliest pioneers of Portage 
county. Joel I. Hough was a merchant and 
passed all his days in Portage county, where 
his death occurred at the age of fifty-four 
years. His children were Dr. Wayland S. , 
Lodema, William, John and Mary. 

Dr. Wayland S. Hough attended the acad- 
emy at Atwater, Ohio, received a sound edu- 
cation and enlisted in the Civil war when about 
seventeen years old, in battery D, First Ohio 
light artillery,' September 10, 1861, and was 
honorably discharged October 17, 1864. He 
was promoted for meritorious conduct to be 
corporal, and was on detached service for a 
year and a half as acting hospital steward, at 
Camp Nelson, Ky. He was in the battles of 
Pittsburg Landing and Corinth, and was taken 



prisoner at Mumfordville, Ky., by Gen. Bragg 
in 1862, but was paroled after two days. 

After his time had expired Mr. Hough re- 
turned home, and immediately began the study 
of medicine at the Charity Hospital Medical 
college, Cleveland, from which he graduated 
in the spring of 1866. He began the practice 
of medicine at Mogadore, Ohio, where he 
practiced succesefully ten years, and in 1876 
came to Cuyahoga Falls, where he has built 
up a large and lucrative practice, being widely 
known throughout the surrounding country. 
He was appointed trustee of the Cleveland 
State hospital during McKinley's administra- 
tion, and is a member of the Ohio State Med- 
ical association and the National Medical 
society. He is a patron of the leading medi- 
cal periodicals of the day, and has accumulated 
an excellent professional as well as literary 
library. He is a constant student, keeps well 
posted and full}' abreast of the modern advances 
made in the science of medicine, is also a 
constant reader of the better class of literature 
of all ages, and has a clear comprehension of 
the currentevents of his own time, as re- 
fiected through the daily press. 

The doctor was married, in 1867, at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, to Miss Annie E. Golb)', and this 
union has been blessed with one child, W. C. 
Fraternally, the doctor is a Mason, and is a 
member of Starr lodge. No. 187, Cuyahoga 
Falls, and is a past master; he is also a mem- 
ber of Howard lodge, I. O. O. F., at Cuyahoga 
Falls, and has passed all the chairs, including 
that of noble grand. The doctor is likewise 
an honored member of the G. A. R., National 
Union, and the Royal Arcanum, which he has 
represented in the grand council for eighteen 
consecutive years. Dr. Hough is a very un- 
assuming man, but wields a strong influence 
for good. He was an active soldier, having 
enlisted for purely patriotic motives, and was 
in some of the hardest-fought battles for the 



.^nm^m 




WAYLAND S. HOUGH, M. D. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



745 



preservation of the Union, and did his full 
duty promptly and cheerfully. As a citizen he 
has always been noted for his sturdy adherence 
to the cause of the right, and for his public 
spiritedness. He is a firm friend of the cause 
of education, and his associates are numbered 
among the best citizens of Cuyahoga Falls and 
Summit county. In politics he is a repub- 
lican. 



BRANK DICKERSON, an enterprising 
young fanner of Northampton town- 
ship. Summit county: Ohio, was born 
here April i6, i860, and is a son of 
Willington and Sarah (Faylor) Dickerson, who 
were the parents of two children — Frank, the 
subject, and Clara, who was born August 22, 
1865, and is now the wife of Frank Horner. 

Willington Dickerson was born in Lewis 
county, N. Y. , September 9, 1832, and was a 
babe when brought to Ohio by his parents. 
He was reared a farmer in Northampton town- 
ship, and January 21, 1859, married Miss 
Sarah Faylor, who was born March 16, 1840. 
Rile\' Dickerson, father of Willington, was 
born April 24, 1801, and Mary, his wife, No- 
vember 25, 181 1. In 1830 they departed 
from Lewis county, N. Y.. for Ohio, going by 
way of the Erie canal from Rome, Oneida 
county, to Buffalo, in Erie county, and thence 
starting by lake for Cleveland, Ohio. But the 
weather was so stormy and the water so 
rough that the little family were obliged to 
land at Ashtabula harbor with their goods, 
which latter were forwarded to Cleveland by 
water, while the family took the land route. 
From Cleveland they came to Summit county 
by ox-team, and settled in the woods of North- 
hampton township, where the father erected a 
log dwelling and barn, and eventually cleared 
up a good farm. Here Willington was reared 
among the pioneers from babyhood to man- 



hood, and here he died in 1883; his widow is 
now living with her son Frank, the subject, 
on the original homestead. Frank Dickerson 
has lived on this, his birthplace, all his life, 
with the exception of one year, passed in work 
in Cleveland. He received a good common- 
school education in Northampton township, 
has been industrious and thrifty through life, 
and has proven himself a worthy descendant 
of one of the oldest families of the township, 
and as such is greatly respected by the citi- 
zens, as well as for his personal merits. In 
politics he is a strong republican, but has 
never sought public office. He is unmarried, 
although very popular. 



(D 



RS. ALAMANDA DOOLITTLE, of 
Streetsboro, Portage county, Ohio, 
is a native of the county and was 
born in Shalersville township June 
23, 1819, a daughter of Simon and Lucy 
(Green) Burroughs, and still, notwithstanding 
her venerable years, has a most vivid recollec- 
tion of the events which occurred in the pio- 
neer days of the county. 

Simon Burroughs was a native of the town 
of Alstead, Cheshire county, N. H., a son of 
Joel Burroughs, who was of Irish descent, and 
the father of nine children, viz: Richard, Joel, 
David, Simon, Cyrus, Phebe, Hannah, Grace 
and Anna. The progenitors of the family 
were among the earliest settlers of Alstead, 
and over 300 persons who bore the name of 
Burroughs lie interred in cemetery of the town 
mentioned. The old family homestead is still 
standing in Alstead, although nearly all the 
children born to Joel have become residents 
of Ohio. Simon Burroughs was reared a 
farmer and carpenter, and made three trips or 
more from New Hampshire to Ohio. His first 
trip was made when a young man, when he 
moved his brother David to Cleveland with an 



746 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ox-team; he next came as driver of an ox-team 
for his uncle Daniel, who settled in Shalers- 
ville; he started, the third time, and the last, 
on horseback, but his horse sickened and died 
in the state of New York, and he made the 
remainder of his way on foot to Shalersville, 
where he passed one year. Returning east, 
Simon was united in marriage, in Vermont, 
with Miss Lucy Green, who was born in 
Bethel, Windham county, Vt., a daughter of 
Amassa and Lucy (Dudley) Green, and then 
returned, in 1818, to Shalersville, with his 
bride, accompanied by Joel Thompson, this 
trip being made with ox-teams. 

The first year after settling in Portage 
county, Simon Burroughs lived at Mason's 
Mills, pending the erection of a frame dwelling 
on his farm, of which he cleared up 100 acres; 
he subsequently sold forty acres of his tract 
and moved to Streetsboro township, about 
1830, and settled on the land now occupied by 
his son, Horace Doolittle. This tract he con- 
verted into a fine farm and erected upon it sub- 
stantial buildings, which are still standing. 
His habit was to go to the forest in winter, cut 
the timber for his buildings, hew the frames, 
and shave the broad chestnut shingles, and by 
the time his hay was cut in June, his barns 
would be ready to receive it. He also built 
many substantial dwellings and barns for other 
settlers throughout the county, and became a 
man of much prominence, and was frequently 
employed by newcomers to point out suitable 
places for settlement. He was a steady man 
of good habits, kind and helpful in cases of 
sickness, and was greatly appreciated as being 
one of the most useful dwellers in the commu- 
nity. In politics Mr. Burroughs was a demo- 
crat, and in religion both he and wife were 
pious Methodists. 

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Simon 
Burroughs were Alamanda, whose name opens 
this biography; Annis, who was first married 



to Eli Musser, and, after his death, to Horace 
Peck; Dudley, who was an invalid, and for 
more than a quarter of a century was kindly 
cared for by his sister, Mrs. Alamanda Doo- 
little, and died in January, 1897; Howard and 
George and Henry (twins). Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Burroughs lived to reach the ripe age of 
seventy-five years, and died deeply lamented 
by every member of the community in which 
they had passed so many years of their useful 
lives. The family name was held in universal 
respect, as four of its immediate members — 
Joel, Richard, Daniel and Elijah — had served 
all through the Revolutionary war. 

Mrs. Alamanda Doolittle received an ex- 
cellent education in her early days, and at the 
age of seventeen years, December 23, 1836, 
was united in marriage with Albert Doolittle,. 
who was born October/, 1806, in New Milford, 
Pa., a son of Benjamin Doolittle, a native of 
Cheshire, Conn., born February 10, 1771. 
Benjamin married Fannie Ward, who was 
born in Connecticut April 12, 1871, a daughter 
of Isabel Ward. Benjamin and his wife were 
the pioneer settlers of New Milford, Susque- 
hanna county, Pa., and after a residence of 
twenty-one years in that town were induced 
by Titus Street to come to Streetsboro, Ohio, 
where Mr. Doolittle bought a tract of 200 
acres of land, deep in the woods, from which 
not a stick had been cut, except, perhaps, by 
hunters. Mr. Doolittle converted this land, 
in due course of time, into a profitable farm 
and comfortable home, and here Mrs. Alaman- 
da now resides. Benjamin Doolittle later be- 
came land agent for Titus Street, who owned 
the township, and also became a man of 
marked influence in the community. To his 
marriage with Miss Ward were born nine 
children, viz: Rev. Nelson, born March 17, 
1805, a Universalist minister, who settled in 
Akron, where he preached many sermons; 
Albert, born October 7, 1806; George, Novem- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



74r 



ber 22, 1809; Henry, November 14, 181 1; 
LydiaA.,July 10, 1815; William, July 18. 
1817; Jane, April i, 1819; Benjamin, April 
20, 1821, and Eloisai, February 15, J 823. 
These last-named eight all settled in Streets- 
boro township. 

Benjamin Doolittle was a man of eruditon, 
was a deacon in the Disciples, church, and 
when no minister of that faith was available, 
was fully competent to lead the services. Three 
of his sons — Nelson, Albert and Henry — were 
Universalists; George was a Baptist, and 
William was a Methodist, and each was capa- 
ble of showing or proving his faith from the 
Scriptures. Mr. Doolittle was in politics a 
a whig, and for many years served as a justice 
of the peace. He lived to be over seventj'-six 
years of age, having been born February 10, 
1771, and dying September 18, 1849. His 
son Henry was extensively engaged in railroad 
contracting, and was also one of the builders 
of the Wabash & Erie canal. He lived two 
years in Erie, Pa., engaged in the railroad 
business, but died in San Antonio, Tex., in 
1861, his brothers, William and Albert, having 
been associated with him in business. 

Albert Doolittle, after marriage, settled on 
a part of his father's farm, which part he pur- 
chased, and became a prosperous, substantial 
and prominent farmer and a man of great in- 
fluence. He was well educated and of more 
than ordinary intelligence, and increased his 
estate to 230 acres. Contracting really, how- 
ever, occupied as much of his time as farming, 
and he was in fact the originator of this line 
of business in the family. He and his brother 
Henry held contracts on the canal, as well as 
on the Atlantic & Great Western railroad, and 
after the death of Henry he was for more than 
ten years occupied in settling up the estate. 
He was a very active and energetic man, and 
was strictly honest, his business reputation 
standing until the end without a blemish. In 



religion he was a Universalist, and in politics 
was a whig until the formation of the republic- 
an party, when he joined the ranks of the 
latter. He was an honored citizen, and for a 
number of years filled the office of justice of 
the peace with great ability. His marriage 
was blessed with four children, viz: Charles 
R., Augusta, Horace A. and Lucy, the last 
named of whom died a married woman. The 
death of Albert Doolittle took place on the old 
homestead, January 15, 1886, at the age of 
seventy-eight years, and no man ever left a 
more honored name behind him. 

Horace A. Doolittle, son of Albert and 
Alamanda Doolittle, has been twice married, 
his first union having been with Miss Mary E. 
Seymour, daughter of Nathaniel and E. 
(Calkins) Seymour, and to this marriage were 
born Nathaniel S. and Horace A. The second 
marriage of Mr. Doolittle was to Miss Effie E. 
Peck, daughter of Henry and Emeline (Jen- 
kins) Peck, and this union has been blessed 
with one daughter — Cora Lucille. In politics. 
Mr. Doolittle is a republican and has served 
his fellow-citizens as township trustee. He is 
a substanial farmer, owning 130 acres of 
arable land, and he and family are among the 
most respected residents of the township. 
Mrs. Doolittle is a member of the Baptist 
church at Streetsboro, and is a lady of many 
estimable qualities. 



at 



ILLIAM FERGUSON, a prominent 
farmer of Streetsboro township, 
Portage county, Ohio, is a native 
of this county, is a son of Robert 
and Mary (Lloyd) Ferguson, and was born in 
Deerfield township June 28, 1846. 

Robert Ferguson was born in the north of 
Ireland, and came to America when about 
fifteen years old. He was married in Penn- 
sylvania to Miss Mary Lloyd, of Scotch de- 



748 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



scent, and after marriage came to Portage 
county and purchased a farm in Deerfield 
township. Of the six children born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Ferguson the eldest, Matilda, died a 
married woman; Robert, died at the age of 
five; the remaining four are still living, and are 
named Isabel, William (subject). Nelson and 
Julia. The mother of this family has been 
called from earth, dying in the faith of the 
Lutheran church; the father, now a venerable 
gentleman of eighty-three years, makes his 
home with his son William, who cares for his 
every want with filial affection. 

W'illiam Ferguson, in whose interest this 
sketch is chiefly written, received a good com- 
mon-school education, and was reared on his 
father's farm until nineteen years old, at which 
early age he enlisted, March 7, 1865, at Alli- 
ance, Ohio, in company A, One Hundred and 
Ninety-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, to 
serve three years, unless sooner discharged by 
reason of the close of the then pending war, 
which event happened, and he was honorably 
discharged at Baltimore, Md., in July, 1865, 
after serving principally on guard duty, in 
Washington, D. C, Alexandria, Va., Dover, 
Del., and Baltimore, Md. He then returned 
to Deerfield township, and thence, in 1866, 
went to Martinsville, Ind. , where he lived two 
years, and then returned to Ohio, and was 
married, at Streetsboro, to Miss Frankie A. 
Clark, who was born on the farm Mr. Fer- 
guson now occupies, a daughter of Robert and 
Jeannette (Wilcox) Clark, who were the par- 
ent of two children only — Arvilla, who died a 
married woman, and Frankie, now Mrs. Fer- 
guson. Mr. Clark died in middle life, and 
his widow was later married to A. Plum; to 
this union two sons were born — one living. 
Willard C; John B. died, aged eight years. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson 
lived in Ravenna two years, he being there 
employed in a saw-mill, and then settled in 



Streetsboro township. Here Mr. Ferguson 
purchased a farm, on which he lived nine 
years, and then moved to another, which he 
cultivated for thirteen years, and then, in 
1 89 1, purchased his present farm, consisting 
of fifty-five acres. This was the original 
homestead of the Clark family, Robert Clark, 
the grandfather of Mrs. Ferguson and a pio- 
neer of Streetsboro township, having cleared it 
up from the primeval forest. Mr. Ferguson 
has greatly improved the place, has thoroughly 
repaired the buildings, and has made a com- 
fortable home for himself and wife and four 
children, who are named Prentiss, Harry C, 
Bessie and Ardell. In fact, he has made it 
the neatest place in the township, and for its 
dimensions one of the most profitable. 

Mr. Ferguson is an ex-member of A. H. 
Day post. No. 185, Grand Army of the Re- 
public at Kent, and in politics is perfectly in- 
dependent, voting for such as are, in his judg- 
ment, best fitted to fill the offices for which 
they are nominated. The family is greatly 
respected throughout the county, Mr. and Mrs. 
Ferguson being descendants of pioneers, and 
Mr. Ferguson having served as a member of 
the school board and as constable. 



^'^ EORGE W. FLEMINGS, one of the 
■ ^\ old soldiers of the Civil war, and a 
^k_^ respected citizen, springs from sturdy 
Scotch-Irish ancestry, who were ear- 
ly settlers of Vermont in colonial times and 
of old Revolutionary stock. He was born at 
Freedom, Portage county, Ohio, July 4, 1843, 
a son of Richard and Mary (Puffer) Flemings. 
He received a common education in the dis- 
trict schools at Hampden, Geauga county, Ohio, 
where he went with his mother and family aft- 
er the death of his father, which occurred 
when he was about five years old, and had his 
trade thoroughly learned when the Civil war 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



749 



broke out. He enlisted as a private at Paines- 
ville, Ohio, December 9, 1863. in the First 
Ohio light artillery, battery C, Capt. M. B. 
Gerry, for three years or during the war, and 
was honorably discharged, on account of the 
closing of the war, at Cleveland, Ohio, with 
his battery, June 15, 1865. His battery served 
in Gen. Butterfield's division. Twentieth army 
corps. He was on the famous Atlanta cam- 
paign, during which the Union troops were un- 
der fire more than 100 days and nights. He 
was in the battles of Resaca, Ga. , May 13-16, 
1864; Cassville, May 18-22; Dallas, May 25, 
to June 4; New Hope church; Kenesaw Moun- 
tain; Peach Tree Creek, July 25; siege of At- 
lanta, July 28 to September 2; siege of Sa- 
vannah, December 10 to 21. This was on 
Sherman's celebrated march to the sea; and 
at Averysboro, N. C, March 16, 1865; Ben- 
tonville, N. C, March 19-22, 1865. He was 
in hospital No. 19, at Nashville, Tenn. , for a 
few days. 

Mr. Flemings was always an active soldier, 
and on duty with his battery every day, and 
was in all the campaigns, marches, battles and 
skirmishes in which his battery took part. He 
was not wounded nor a prisoner, and served 
the country faithfully and well until the war 
closed. His hardest march was from Savan- 
nah, Ga., through the Carolinas. He was on 
the return march to Washington and was pres- 
ent at the grand review. His hardest battles 
were on the great Atlanta campaign. Mr. 
Flemings suffered greatly from exposure dur- 
ing the Atlanta campaign; for nearly three 
weeks it rained almost all the time and he con- 
tracted rheumatism, from which he is now a 
constant sufferer. After his services to his 
country as a soldier, he returned to Ohio, and 
worked at his trade of a painter. He married, 
in Smithtown, Mahoning county, Ohio, Janu- 
ary I, 1874, Elizabeth A. Cline, who was born 
April 6, 1840, in Berlin township, Mahoning 



county, Ohio, daughter of Jacob and Clarissa 
(Leonard) Cline, her parents being of sturdy 
Pennsylvania-Dutch ancestry. 

Jacob Cline, her father, was born in Berlin 
township, and he was the son of John and 
Susan Cline, pioneers of Mahoning county and 
substantial farmers, who cleared up a good farm 
from the woods. Jac(jb Cline was also a good 
farmer. His children were Elizabeth, Will- 
iam, Anthony, Henry, John (died aged ten 
years), Maria, Mary, Harriet and Lorinda. 
Jacob Cline was a republican in politics and 
had one son, William, in the Civil war as 
private of the One Hundred and Fourth regi- 
ment, Ohio volunteer infantry, three years' 
service, and was in many battles. (See sketch 
of his comrade, Jerome B. Hinman). Jacob 
Cline lived to be forty-two years old. He was 
a member of the United Brethren church and 
a respected and upright man, who reared an 
excellent family. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Flemings 
moved to Freedom township, where they lived 
for some years and then moved to Mantua 
Corners, about 1880, where they now live. 
Politically he is a stanch republican. He has 
always been a respected citizen, very industri- 
ous, and upright in his dealings and of excel- 
lent character. Richard Flemings, his father, 
was born in Vermont and came with his par- 
ents to Ohio and settled in Parkman town- 
ship, Geauga county, Ohio, where the family 
were pioneers and cleared up lands from the 
woods. He married Mary Puffer, who was of 
Vermont ancestry, and who came with her 
parents to Ohio, and were pioneers of Portage 
county. They were of Revolutionary stock. 
Richard Flemings and wife were the par- 
ents of the following children, viz: James. 
Ann, Cornelia, George W., Andrew and 
Joseph. Mr. Flemings had three sons in the 
Civil war — Joseph, George W. and James. 
Joseph and George W. were in the same bat- 



750 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



tery, company C, First Ohio light artillery. 
Joseph was poisoned by eating pie which he 
bought of a rebel pie-peddler, and died from 
this cause at Nashville, Tenn., aged only 
seventeen years. He was a good soldier. 
James was in the Twenty-ninth regiment, Ohio 
volunteer infantry, and served four years and 
was in many battles, and was wounded, cap- 
tured and imprisoned. 

Richard Flemings, father of subject, died 
aged about forty years. He was an upright 
and respected man and reared an excellent 
family. He was a cooper by trade and a very 
skillful mechanic. 

George W. Flemings, subject of this sketch, 
was one of the charter members of Bentley 
post, G. A. R., Mantua Station, Ohio. 



* y ^ ENRY A. FRITZ, manager of the 
1^^^ American Straw Board company's 
jL.r mill at Barberton, Summit county, 
Ohio, was born in Wayne county 
July 2 1,1 863, and is a son of John and Emma 
(Clark) Fritz, who were the parents of five 
children, viz: William H., deceased; Frank 
O., of Nebraska; Henry A., the subject of 
this biography; Charles M., and John C. , the 
last named also deceased. 

Martin Fritz, great-grandfather of Henry 
A. and the progenitor of the American family 
of that name, came to this country from Ger- 
many, after his marriage, and fought under 
Washington for American independence, serv- 
ing in the army of his adopted country eight 
years. After the war, he came from Pennsyl- 
vania to Ohio, and with his land warrant, 
granted him for his services in the war of the 
Revolution, entered 160 acres of forest land 
in Milton township, Wayne county, and was 
absolutely the first white settler there among 
Ihe red men and wild animals of the primeval 



woods, and died a member of the United 
Brethren church, and in politics a democrat. 

Philip Fritz, grandfather of Henry A., was 
a boy when he came to Ohio with his father. 
He received his education in the pioneer 
schools and ably aided his father in clearing 
up the wildvvood farm, and married, at matur- 
ity, Ann Long, of Wayne county. He was a 
Jackson democrat in politics, a charter mem- 
ber of the United Brethren church of Shiners- 
ville, Wayne county, Ohio, attained promi- 
nence in his community, and died full of hon- 
ors at the age of seventy-eight years, his wife 
following to the everlasting home at the age 
of eighty-three. 

John Fritz, the father of subject, was born 
on the old Fritz homestead in Wayne county 
and was reared to farming, and received his 
education under more favorable circumstances 
that those which had been granted to his 
father, and, although an industrious man. 
lived, comparatively, in greater ease. His 
wife, Emma Clark, was born near London, 
England, in 1843, and was a daughter of John 
A. and Martha Clark. This lady was bereft 
of her husband about the year 1873, by the 
explosion of a boiler in a saw-mill, thus leav- 
ing her, with her five children, whose names 
have already been given, and the eldest of 
,whom was then but fourteen years of age and 
the subject but nine, not only to mourn his 
untimely death, but to wend their way 
through the weary world alone and unpro- 
tected. But the widow was equal to the task, 
and by some self-denial so reared them that 
they never failed to honor her. After accom- 
plishing this worthy duty, she become the wife 
of W. F. Long, to whom she has borne one 
son, George M., and now has her pleasant 
home in Barberton. 

Henry A. Fritz, prior to the death of his 
father, had started out in life for himself at 
the age of twelve years, and was in the em- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



751 



ploj' of one farmer until he reached the age 
■of nineteen years, and during this interval of 
time he not only clothed and educated him- 
self, but devoted considerable of his earnings 
to the support of his father and mother, and 
more particularly to that of the latter. At 
the age last mentioned he entered the tele- 
graph office of the railroad company at New 
Portage (now Barberton) and a year later was 
made "supply" operator, which position he 
filled two years, after which he filled the posi- 
tion of station agent four years, ending with 
1888. He then entered into the employ of 
the American Straw Board company of New 
Portage as shipping clerk, and was promoted 
to be bookkeeper a year later; the nex year 
he was made manager of the plant, which is 
the largest and best equipped of its kind in the 
world, and this position Mr. Fritz has held 
with credit to himself and to the entire satis- 
faction of his principals until the present hour. 
The felicitous union of Henry A. Fritz and 
Alice L. Davis took place September 21, 
1886. The lady was born in 1861, on a farm 
adjoining Lake Annie, near the center of what 
is now Barberton, a daughter of Frederick M. 
and Louisa (Richards) Davis, the former of 
whom died in the faith of the United Brethren 
church in February, 1893. To the union of 
Henry A. Fritz and wife have been born three 
children, who were named, in order of birth, 
Claude C. , Howard E. and Roy D. In his 
politics, Mr. Fritz has from earliest manhood 
been a democrat, and as such was a member 
■of the school board when the $12,000 school- 
house was erected in Barberton. He is at the 
present time a member of the town council, 
and has ever been active in the promotion of 
the interests of the community in which he now 
has his home. Fraternally, he is a member 
of lodge No. 568, F. & A. M., of which he is 
secretary, and in his society relations holds a 
most enviable standing. 




HERON GILBERT, one of the old- 
est and most respected farmers of 
Deertield township. Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Palmyra town- 
ship. November 25, 1823, a son of Charles 
and Amelia (Batterson) Gilbert, natives of 
Litchfield, Conn., where their marriage was 
solemnized. 

Truman Gilbert, paternal grandfather of 
Theron, a native, also, of Connecticut, was a 
soldier of the Revolutionary war, and in 1806 
came to Ohio by means of ox-teams, settling 
in Palmyra township, Portage county, where 
he engaged in farming until called away by 
death. He reared a family of nine children, 
of whom the names of eight can be recalled 
to memory, viz: Charles, Truman, Lyman, 
Marvin, Walter, Champion, Ezra and Re- 
becca. The maternal grandparents of Theron 
Gilbert were of German descent, and the 
grandfather, on this side of the house, was a 
skilled blacksmith. 

Charles and Amelia Gilbert, parents of 
Theron, came from Connecticut to Palmyra 
township. Portage county, Ohio, in 1806, and 
the father followed the vocation of farmer the 
remainder of his days. To their union were 
born nine children, of whom only one survives 
— Theron, whose name opens this biography. 
The deceased eight were named Reilly, Noble, 
George, Champion, Theodore, Martin, War- 
ner and Laura, the last named of whom was 
first married to Ebenezer Olmstead, and then 
to David Waller. The parents both died in 
the faith of the Disciples' church, and were 
highly honored as pioneers of the township 
and as most respectable citizens. 

Theron Gilbert was reared on his father's 
farm, in the meantime receiving as good an 
education as the district school of his early 
days afforded, and also learned biacksmithing. 
He remained on the home farm until twenty- 
one years of age, although, previous to reach- 



752 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ing his majority, he had married, August 31, 

1843, Miss Elizabeth Kibler, daughter of 
Henry and Barbara (Frank) Kibler, which 
union has been blessed with five children, viz: 
Julian, who is married to Sarah Folk, and re- 
sides in Palmyra township; Caroline, wife of 
James Derwechter; Laura, now Mrs. John H. 
Grate; Harriet, married to James Shilliday, 
and Amy, wife of Thomas G. Ewing. 

Theron Gilbert is an expert mechanic, and 
in addition to his knowledge of the black- 
smith's strade, is well posted as a gunsmith 
and in bicycle repairing. While still a young 
man, he went to Meadville, Pa., where he was 
employed by the then Atlantic Railroad com- 
pany as a blacksmith and assisted in the con- 
struction of the company's bridge across 
French creek, and on his return to Deerfield 
was employed by the county for six months in 
constructing a bridge on the public road. In 

1844, Mr. Gilbert purchased a tract of land in 
the woods of Deerfield township, cleared away 
the timber, and began its cultivation, and in 
1847, settled down to housekeeping in a log 
cabin, which, in 1861, he replaced with a com- 
modius frame dwelling, also building a sub- 
stantial barn, and this farm is now known to be 
one of the most productive in the township. 
His attention has been devoted almost entirely 
to general agriculture and blacksmithing since 
residing here, although for some years he was 
engaged in raising live stock, owning, at one 
time, some of the best horses in the township. 
He has served his fellow-townsmen as school 
director and is one of the most highly es- 
teemed residents of Deerfield township. 

Henry Kibler, father of Mrs. Elizabeth 
Gilbert, was born in Virginia of German de- 
scent, was a miller by trade, and was married 
in his native county of Shenandoah, and there 
were born to him three children, viz: Eliza- 
beth (Mrs. Gilbert), August 31, 1824; Andrew, 
who resides in Edinburg, Ohio, and Alexan- 



der, of Palmyra township. Portage county. ' 
In 1828 Mr. Kibler brought his family to Pal- 
myra township, purchased a farm on which i 
stood an old grist and saw-mill, which he ran , 
a short time, when the plant was destroyed by I 
fire; but he at once erected a larger and more 
substantial structure and followed his occupa- 
tion until his death at the age of eighty-four 
years, a member of the Methodist church, his 
wife having died at the age of seventy-six, in 
the same faith. 

Thereon Gilbert has always been a most 
industrious farmer and mechanic, and in con- 
sequence has met with a success that has won 
him deserved esteem throughout the township 
and county. His name is the synonym of 
honesty and respectability, and his wife and 
children enjoy with him the good opinion and 
respect of the community in which they live. 



J 



OSEPH B. CARTER, one of the most 
respected agriculturists of Northfield 
township. Summit county, Ohio, as 
well as an ex-soldier of the Civil war, 
descends from sterling English stock of col- 
onial Connecticut ancestry and was born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1839, in Twinsburg township, a son 
of Thaddeus A. and Esther (Marshall) Carter. 
He was reared a farmer, received the usual 
common-school education, and enlisted in 
Twinsburg township August 24, 1861. He 
was mustered into the United States service 
at Camp Ford, Alliance, Ohio, for three years, 
or during the war, and was assigned to company 
K, Nineteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, under 
Capt. Paul Kirby, and served until honorably 
discharged at Indianapolis, Ind., in October, 
1864. He was in the siege of Corinth, battles 
of Perryville, Wild Cat Gap, luka, Shiloh and 
Stone River, and in skirmishes too numerous 
to mention. On the last day of the battle of 
Stone River, a minie ball struck the clasp of 




^/^^^ (^ "^OJzl^ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



755 



his army belt, and although this is very heavy 
metal, it passed entirely through and hung 
just at the end of the belt. This ball struck 
the U. S. on the belt exactly in the center. 
Mr. Carter had pulled the belt around 
to the left side, to more conveniently get 
hold of his cartridges, and he was further pro- 
tected from the ball, which had spent its force 
on the belt clasp, by his heavy clothing 
and the give of his body. The shock rendered 
him breathless, and, immediately after, he was 
shot in his left leg, close to the knee-joint, 
and the ball is still imbeded in the bone. The 
stock of his rifle was also shot. He remained 
on the field until night, and was taken to field 
hospital and thence to Nashville, where he 
lay in hospital eight weeks, and was then in 
hospital at Louisville, Ky. , four weeks, at 
Camp Dennison, Ohio, one week, and at Cleve- 
land about six months. Not fully recovering, 
he was sent to the invalid corps, in which he 
remained until the close of the war. He has, 
however, always since been troubled by his 
wound. Mr. Carter was in all the marches, 
campaigns, battles and skirmishes in which 
his regiment took part until disabled by his 
wound January 2, 1863. After the war, Mr. 
Carter returned to Ohio, and married, at Cuy- 
ahoga Falls, Ohio, Miss. Amarilla Spafford, of 
Northfield township, where she was born Au- 
gust 4, 1852, a daughter of Jason and Philena 
(Cranson) Spafford. Jason Spafford was born 
in Solon township, Cuyahoga county, to which 
his father, Nathan Spafford, came from one of 
the eastern states as a pioneer. The latter 
was a soldier in the war of 1812, married 
Mary Morrison, and their children were Al- 
nion, Lydia, Amarilla, Zeloma, Seth, Mary 
and Jason. Nathan Spafford passed all his 
remaining days in Ohio, but moved at any 
early day to Northfield township. Summit 
county, and died at the age of sixty-six years. 
Jason Spafford was a farmer, owning a large 

31 



farm, and was prosperous. He died, at the 
age of forty-five years, a respected citizen and 
a member of the Baptist church. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Carter 
settled in Twinsburg township, where Mr. 
Carter bought the Carter homestead, consist- 
ing of 1 17 acres, and then the Jason Spafford 
homestead, consisting of 275 acres, a part of 
it being inherited by his wife. In 1889 Mr. 
Carter moved to his present homestead in 
Northfield township, consisting of 274 acres, 
and is a prosperous farmer. The children 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Carter are Lena May 
and Thad B. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carter are 
members of the Methodist church at Twins- 
burg, in which he is steward and trustee. As 
a republican he held the offices of township 
trustee and assessor and is a member of the 
school board. 

Thaddeus A. Carter was born in Connecti- 
cut, came in 1826 to Ohio, and returned in 
1828 to Connecticut and married Esther Mar- 
shall. He then settled in Twinsburg town- 
ship, on 160 acres of land, and made a good 
home. His children were Nora A., Samuel 
N., Rollin B., Mary E., Esther A.. Joseph 
B., Hiram W. and John E. Of these, John 
E. and Joseph B. were soldiers in the Civil 
war. John E. was in the One Hundred and 
Seventy-seventh regiment Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry in the three years' service, was in sev- 
eral skirmishes, and died in hospital in North 
Carolina. The military record of Joseph B. 
has already been given. Thaddeus A. Carter 
was a member of the Methodist church and in 
.politics was first a whig and later a republi- 
can. He lived to be sixty-nine years old and 
died on his farm, a much respected citizen. 
Joseph B. Carter is one of the substantial 
farmers and respected citizens of Northfield 
township and has reared an excellent family. 
His daughter. Miss Lena May, is a student ;it 
Mount Union college, at Alliance, Ohio, is a 



756 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



member of the class of 1899, and has been a 
student here for two years. His son, Thad 
B. , is a student at the Northfield high school. 



>Y'AMES smith fry, a representative 
M farmer of Suffieid township, Portage 
A J county, Ohio, was born on the old Fry 
homestead February 14, 1854, a son of 
Wyerman and Martha (Brown) Fry, both na- 
tives of the Buckeye state. His paternal 
grandparents were natives of Pennsylvania. 
The grandfather served in the war of 1812, 
in the army of the Center, afterward became 
an early settler of Stark county, Ohio, where 
he was a shoemaker; from there he moved to 
Suffield township. Portage county, located on 
a farm of 100 acres, on which he spent about 
a year and a half, and died of a fever in 1828. 
Then his wife and part of his family moved to 
Knox, Ind., where she died in the year 1874. 
They were both members of the Presbyterian 
church. 

Wyerman, the father of James S., remained 
on the old homestead, where he passed nearly 
all his life, and which is now occupied by his 
son, James S. He had born to him six chil- 
dren, of whom but two survive — Margaret Jane 
and James S. He was a republican in poli- 
tics, and honored by his fellow-citizens by elec- 
tion to various offices of trust in his township; 
he died at the early age of forty-five years, a 
member of the Reformed church, in which he 
had filled all the offices. His widow, now 
about seventy-five years of age, is still in good 
health, and resides with her son, James S., 
who is affectionately caring for her in her de- 
clining days. The paternal great-grandpar- 
ents of James S. Fry were natives of Germany. 
James S. Fry has passed all his life on the 
farm on which he was born, with the excep- 
tion of four months spent at school in Deer- 
field, for which he had been prepared by an 



attendance at the district school in his native 
township. February 20, 1879, he was married 
to Miss Ellen Myers, daughter of Simon and 
Catherine (Crist) Myers. The fruit of this 
union is five children, of whom three still sur- 
vive: Elson M., born January 9, 1880; J. 
Cleve, born June 13, 1882, and Lester R., 
born January 11, 1892. The deceased were 
H. Floyd, who died May 13, 1887, aged six 
months, and Lillian Grace, who died March 
30, 1 890, aged one year and twenty days. 

Mrs. Fry, who was born September 12, 
1856, and died February i, 1887, a devout 
Methodist for nearly twenty-three years. Her 
father, Simon Myers, is a farmer of Summit 
county, Ohio, and to his marriage, in 1854, to 
Catherine Crist, were born five children, and 
of the survivors Hattie is the wife of Allen 
Cook; Delilah is the wife of Charles Adams; 
Wilson is married to Ella Gates, Florain to 
Lulu Wise. The maternal grandparents of 
Mrs. Fry were natives of Mahoning county, 
where the grandfather was for a time a mer- 
chant, but later became a miller, and then a 
farmer, and was the owner of a large estate 
at the time of his death. He was the father 
of three children, of whom Catherine (Mrs. 
Myers) and Harrison are still living. The 
grandfather of Mrs. Fry died April 11 1891, 
and the grandmother January 14, 1892, in the 
faith of the Evangelical church. 

James Smith Fry is a stanch republican 
in politics, and was a warm advocate for the 
election of William McKinley. 



(D 



RS. SYLVESTER GAYLORD, of 

Munroe Falls, Ohio, widow of Syl- 
vester Gaylord, was born May 2, 
18 1 7, at Middletown, Conn., a 
daughter of Selah and Anna (Newell) North. 
Sylvester Gaylord was born in Middletown, 
Conn., November i, 1808, and was a son of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



757 



Jonathan and Martha (Thomas) Gaylord. 
Jonathan was the son of Jonathan and Eliza- 
beth (Goodhain) Gaylord. 

The Gaylord family descended from the 
English Puritans who were the founders of 
Connecticut. Jonathan Gaylord, father of 
Sylvester, was born in Connecticut, at Upper 
Middletown, and his wife was born at Had- 
dam, Conn., and by calling he was a farmer 
and ship carpenter. His children, born in 
Connecticut, were Isaac, Eliza, Mary A., 
Joshua and Sylvester; Eli and Martha were 
born in Ohio. Jonathan Gaylord moved with 
his family to the Western Reserve, Ohio, in 
1809, starting June i, and made the trip with 
oxen, and Capt Stowe (father of Albert Stowe) 
and family came at the same time. Mr. Gay- 
lord brought his father and mother with him, 
and some of his brothers and sisters came at 
the same time. These were Thomas, William, 
Betsy, Abiah, and Margaret. They were 
forty-one days on the way and walked the 
greater part of it; in fact, Jonathan Gaylord 
walked almost all the way. The roads were 
very bad and they were obliged to cut through 
the woods most of the way, and slept in the 
wagons. They arrived about the middle of 
July and settled in the southern part of Stowe 
township, a part of the homestead being still 
occupied by our subject. The farm contained 
about 200 acres, covered with timber, but 
Jonathan cleared it, assisted by his sons. He 
built a log cabin, in which he lived some years, 
but finally built a frame house. He and wife 
were members of the Presbyterian church. 
He was accustomed to work in the ship yards 
at Cleveland, and on his way home from that 
city was stricken down in middle age, prob- 
ably with heart disease. 

Sylvester Gaylord had the usual common- 
school education of his day and was an infant 
of nine months when he was brought by his 
parents to the Western Reserve. He learned. 



in Cleveland, the carpenter and builder's trade 
of Mr. Hill, and began work for himself when 
but twenty years of age. He married, when 
about twenty-two years of age, Ruth Nicker- 
son, who was born in Massachusetts, near 
Cape Cod, of English descent, but whose pa- 
rents were pioneers of Stowe township, where 
her father kept a hotel at Stowe Corners. 
The children by this marriage were Helen and 
Sylvester. This wife died, and Mr. Gaylord 
ne.xt married, April 29, 1839, in Stowe town- 
ship, Julia A. North, born May 2, 18 17, at 
Middletown, Conn., a daughter of Selah and 
Anna (Newell) North. Mr. Gaylord was a 
farmer as well as a carpenter and settled on a 
farm in Stowe township, but sold it and bought 
the present farm — part of his father's original 
homestead. To Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord were 
born Lucy, William, Julia, Charlotte, and 
Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord were members 
of the Disciples' church, of which he was trus- 
tee for years. In politics he was a republican 
and served as township trustee several years. 
He was a much respected citizen, well known 
for his sterling worth. He died at the vener- 
able age of eighty years, June 17, 1889. Mrs. 
Gaylord, who still survives him, is possessed 
of an active mind and excellent memory, and 
is a woman of high character. 

Charles Gaylord, son of above, was born 
March 14, 1852, on the present homestead. 
He received a common-school education and 
attended the academy at Tallmadge, and was 
reared to farming and paper finishing, working 
at Munroe Falls about fifteen years. He iiiar- 
ried June 3, 1874, in Stowe township, Lucy 
Sothmayd, born May 13, 1855, in Stowe town- 
ship, daughter of William and Martha (Will- 
son) Sothmayd, the former of whom was born 
in May, 1830, the third son of Erastus and 
Clarissa (Rice) Sothmayd. 

Clarissa Rice was a daughter of Capt. 
Rice, and was the first white child born in 



758 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Stowe township, in which township Albert 
Stowe, still living, was the second child and 
the first male child born. Erastus Sothmayd 
was born in Middletown, Conn., and came to 
the Western Reserve a single man. He was 
a farmer, and married, in Stowe township, 
Annie Wetmore; his children were Charles, 
Lucy and Leonard. Mrs. Sothmayd died, and 
he married Clarissa Rice, and their children 
were Walter, William, and the twins, Horace 
and Henry. Mr. Sothmayd had a good farm 
one-half mile north of Stowe Centre, which 
he cleared up from the woods. He also kept 
a hotel at Stowe 's Corners for some years. 
He and his wife were members of the Disci- 
ples' church, and in politics he was a republi- 
can. Mr. Sothmayd lived to be seventy-nine 
years old and died on his farm. 

William Sothmayd was a farmer and 
school-teacher, educated in the public and 
high school, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He 
taught school in Summit county ten years and 
settled on the home farm, but later in life 
moved to Cuyahoga Falls, where he died, 
aged fifty-seven years, December 8, in 1S87. 
He was one of the Summit county infirmary 
directors for many years, was a republican in 
politics, and served as clerk of Stowe town- 
ship, and also treasurer for many years. He 
and wife were members of the Disciples' 
church, in which he was an elder. He was 
a highly respected citizen and a well-read 
man. He married, November 4, 1859, in 
Medina county, at Brunswick, Martha Wilson, 
who was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, 
N. Y. , December 27, 1831, a daughter of 
Darius and Temperance (Chase) Wilson. 

Darius Wilson was born of Connecticut of 
English Puritan stock, and one of his remote 
ancestors was a signer of the declaration of 
independence. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were 
the parents of Homer E., Martha, Milton and 
Tames D. Darius \\'ilson moved to the 



Western Reserve, Ohio, in 1835, and settled 
at Brunswick. He was a farmer and carpen- 
ter and died aged seventy-four years, on his 
farm, a much respected citizen and a republi- 
can in politics. Charles Gaylord and wife 
settled on the Gaylord homestead and still re- 
side there. The children are Howard and 
Stanley. In politics he is a republican. 
Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias, being a 
member of the lodge at Cuyahoga Falls, of 
which he is past chancellor, and is a K. A. E. 
O., of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He is an hon- 
ored citizen and township trustee, and was 
for several years a justice of the peace. He 
and wife are members of the Disciples' church, 
of which he has been deacon twenty-one 
years. Two of his brothers were soldiers in 
the Civil war, and Sylvester was in the United 
States navy, in the three years' service, and 
was at the bombardment of Charleston and 
New Orleans. He married Maria Hahn, and 
his children are Eugene, Edith, Ruth and 
Sadie. William was a private of battery D, 
Fourth Ohio artillery, and served four years; 
he was a veteran, and in 106 engagements 
— among them Stone River. 



*Tr-» AVORUS GRATE, a prominent resi- 
I J dent and prosperous farmer of Pal- 

1 JK myra township. Portage county, Ohio, 
was born in Deerfield township, in 
the same county, July 30, 1839, a son of Lewis 
and Catharine (Kibler) Grate. 

George Grate, the paternal grandfather of 
the subject of this memoir, was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio about the 
year 1 820, settling in Palmyra township, Port- 
age county, where he passed the remainder of 
his days in farming. To his marriage with 
Susan Fatcher were born eight children, who 
were named, in order of birth, Jeremiah, El- 
len, Betsy, John, George, Lewis, Benjamin 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



759 



and Isaac. His death took place at the age of 
eighty-two years, but his wife had been called 
away some few years previous to his own de- 
parture. 

Henry Kibler, maternal grandfather of 
subject, was a native of Virginia, a miller by 
calling, and was twice married in his native 
state, prior to coming to Ohio. To his first 
marriage were born si.x children, of whom 
three are still living, viz: Martin, Catherine 
Henry; the deceased were named Annie, 
George and Amelia. To the second marriage 
of Henry Kibler, which was with Barbara 
Frank, three children were born, viz: An- 
drew, Elizabeth (wife of Theron Gilbert, of 
whom further information will be found on 
another page of this volume) and Ale.xander. 

Lavorus Grate remained on the home farm 
until twenty-five years of age, acquiring in the 
meanwhile a sound district-school education, 
and assisting his father in the cultivation of 
the farm. September 28, 1865, he married 
Miss Jane Arbuckle, daughter of Thomas and 
Jane (Caruthers) Arbuckle, and the same year 
settled in Palmyra township, where he has 
since been continuously engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. 

Lewis Grate, father of subject, was born 
in Palestine, Pa., July 16, 1808, and his wife, 
Catherine Kibler, a native of Virginia, was 
born in 18 14. Both were quite young when 
they came to Ohio, and located in Palmyra 
township. Portage county, whence they re- 
moved to Deerfield township and passed the 
remainder of their days. To their union were 
born six children, who are all still living, viz.: 
Emeline, wife of H. S. Randall, of whom more 
may be read on another page; Drusilla, un- 
married; Mariette. wife of Daniel Kimmel; 
Angeline, widow of John Forder; Sarah, wife 
of Wallace T. Gilbert, and Lavorus. The 
father of this family was a highly respected 
farmer, was for many years township trustee. 



school director and supervisor, and died June 
7, 1893, at the age of eighty-five years; his 
widow is now eighty-four years old and is in 
excellent healt,h. 

Thomas Arbuckle, father of Mrs. Jane 
Grate, was a native of Philadelphia, farmed 
for some years in Washington county, came to 
Ohio when in middle age, and engaged in 
farming in Mahoning county. He first mar- 
ried, in Pennsylvania, Nancy Watson, who 
bore him one daughter. After the death of 
his first wife Mr. Arbuckle married Miss Ca- 
ruthers, and to this union were born eleven 
children, of whom Mrs. Jane Grate, who was 
born in Washington county, Pa., January 8, 
1838, is the only survivor. The deceased ten 
were named Sarah, Ellen, Margaret, Francis, 
Thomas, John, George, James, William and 
David. Mr. Arbuckle passed away in 1861, at 
the age of seventy-two years, and his wife in 
May, 1864, at the age of sixty-two, both mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian church. 

Mr. Grate has always been an industrious 
and skillful farmer, and no family in Palmyra 
township is held in higher respect than his. 



5>^ANIEL H. HAKTZELL, of Deer- 
I I field township, Portage county, Ohio, 
/"^^^^ and for years recognized as one of 
the township's best educators, was 
born here June 27, 1853, a son of Solomon 
and Clorinda (Loomis) Hartzell. He re- 
ceived his early education in his district 
school, and this was supplemented by an at- 
tendance at Mount Union college and Canfield 
Business college, and also by a course through 
the business college at Cleveland, from which 
he gaduated in 1878. Thus much for the ed- 
ucational career of Mr. Hartzell, but it is 
necessary to explain that he assisted on his 
father's farm until sixteen years of age, and 
at the age of twenty years began his career as 



760 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



a teacher, which profession he followed for 
eighteen consecutive terms, one of which, or, 
perhaps, two, he passed as tutor in the busi- 
ness college where he had received a portion 
of his instruction — that of Canfield — a posi- 
tion seldom accorded a graduate, but always 
one that fully recognizes the competency and 
ability of the pupil who has successfully passed 
through its curriculum. 

August 28, 18S4. Mr. Hartzell was united 
in marriage with Miss Lois Shinn, a daughter 
of Elijah and Sarah (Woodruff) Shinn, the 
union being blessed with two children — Ger- 
trude H. and Russell S. He had some exper- 
ience in the drug trade for a year in partner- 
ship with P. D. Stratton, at Cortland, Ohio, 
and in general merchandizing at Damascus for 
three years, and in 1887 came to Deerfield 
township and bought the farm formerly owned 
by T. R. Mowen, and here he has since been 
most successfull}' engaged in farming. 

To revert to the progenitors of Daniel H. 
Hartzell, it is necessary to state that his 
father, Solomon Hartzell, was born in Deer- 
field township, August 13, 18 13, was reared a 
farmer, but in earl}* manhood became a clerk 
in Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio, in which 
capacity he was engaged several jears. In 
1840 he engaged in mercantile trade in com- 
pany with a Mr. Bricker, whom he later 
bought out and united with Dr. Leonard 
Hanna, of Cleveland, under the firm name of 
Hanna & Hartzell, and for several years car- 
ried on the business on his sole account, then 
sold a half-interest to C. K. Greiner, of Salem, 
and under the style of Hartzell & Greiner did 
a flourishing trade several years longer. Mr. 
Hartzell eventually sold his interest in this 
concern to \V. H. Reed, cashier of the First 
National bank, of Alliance, and thereafter de- 
voted his attention to real estate and stocks 
and bonds. He was eminently a man of busi- 
ness ability, was one of the organizers and a 



stockholder in and director of the First Nat- 
ional bank of Alliance, and gave success to 
every undertaking in which he participated. 

Solomon Hartzell was united in marriage, 
November 6, 1844, with Miss Clorinda A. 
Loomis, a daughter of Chester and Elizabeth 
(Matoom) Loomis, the union resulting in the 
birth of five children, viz: Chester W., Strat- 
ton, Daniel H., Sophia (Mrs. James R. Dick- 
son 1, and Emma, the wife of J. E. Detchen, 
of North Benton. October 20, 1855, Mr. 
Hartzell was ordained and installed an elder 
of the Presbyterian church of Deerfield, now 
Benton, Mahoning county, to the membership 
of which he had been admitted June 28, 1843, 
and the duties pertaining to this sacred charge 
he performed with faithfulness and zeal until 
death closed his earthly career, November 2, 
1S97, at the ripe age of eighty-four years, two 
months and nineteen days. 

Daniel H. Hartzell, as a farmer, has met 
with abundant success, and as a citizen has 
won the esteem of the entire community in 
which he lives, having been selected by his 
fellow-citizens to serve them in various town- 
ship offices. He is an honored member of 
Alliance lodge. No. 266, I. O. O. F. , and in 
all the various stations in life which he has 
been called upon to fill he has performed his 
dutv faithfullv and well. 



aALVERT HARDEN, the well-known 
miller of Twinsburg, Summit county, 
Ohio, and one of the ex-soldiers of 
the Civil war, was born at Indian- 
apolis, Ind., January i, 1846, a son of John 
and Lucinda (Beatty) Harden. 

John Harden was born in county Down, 
Ireland, in 1803, and when a boy came to 
America with his father, who settled in Bal- 
timore, Md. He received a common education 
and married, in Millersburg, Ohio, Lucinda 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



761 



Beatty, who was also born in county Down, 
Ireland, and came to America with her parents 
when thirteen years old. Mr. Harden moved 
to Boone county, Ind., where he was a mer- 
chant about fourteen years at Zionsville and 
Lebanon. His wife died at Lebanon, in 1863, 
and he then moved to Mount Gilead, Ohio. 
His second marriage took place in Mount 
Vernon, Ohio, to Amanda Merriman, who bore 
him no children. Mr. Harden died in 1878, 
in Mount Gilead, aged about seventy-five years, 
in the faith of the Christian church, of which 
he had been a member for more than sixty 
years. In politics he was a republican and 
held the office of justice of peace. His children 
were named William, Marilda, George, Sam- 
uel, Beatty, Martha, Mary, John, Addison, Mil- 
ton, Calvert and Harriet. Of these, Marilda 
married a soldier — Luther M. Oliphant — and 
six sons served in the Civil war, viz: George, 
Samuel, John, Addison, Milton and Calvert. 
George was in an Indiana regiment in the three 
months' service, and in the battle of Richmond, 
Ky. Samuel was in the One Hundred and 
Twenty-first Indiana volunteer infantry, three 
years' service, was in several battles and was 
wounded at the battle of Richmond, Ky. ; 
was seven times shot and taken prisoner, but 
escaped before the battle was over. His 
wounds were all flesh wounds. John was ad- 
jutant of the One Hundred and Tenth Indiana 
volunteer infantry in the three years' service, 
and in many battles, including Shiloh and 
Mill Springs, Ky. Addison was in the three 
months' service in the Tenth Indiana volunteer 
infantry, and in the battle of Rich Mountain. 
Milton was sergeant in company Eleven, In- 
diana volunteer cavalry, three years' service, 
and among his battles was that at Nashville. 
Calvert Harden received a common edu- 
cation atLebanon, Ind. , and enlisted in August, 
1862, at the age of between sixteen and seven- 
teen years, in company G, One Hundred and 



and Sixteenth regiment, Indiana volunteer 
infantry, at Lebanon, Ind., Capt. Robert 
Harrison, for six months, and was honorably 
discharged at LaFayette, Ind., in March, 
1863. He was in the battles of Walker's Ford, 
Tazewell, Evans' Ford, and Greenville, Tenn., 
and Bull's Gap and Blue Springs, Ky. He then 
returned to Boone county, and re-enlisted in 
company F, One Hundred and Thirtj'-F"ifth ' 
regiment Indiana volunteer infantry, Capt. R. 
W. Williamson, and served until honorably 
discharged at Indianapolis in 1864. Mr. 
Harden was never sick in hospital, wounded, 
nor taken prisoner, and performed all his 
duties promptly and cheerfully. After the 
war he returned to Lebanon, Ind., and finished 
his trade of miller; then came to Mt. Gilead, 
Ohio, and married there, January 28, 1867, 
Miss Sarah A. Donaldson, who was born April 
II, 1 85 1, a daughter of Rev. and Elizabeth 
(Merriman) Donaldson. Rev. Donaldson was 
twice married, and by his first wife had two 
sons — Wesley and Alonzo — both soldiers in 
the Civil war, in an Ohio regiment and Rev. 
Donaldson was also a soldier in an Ohio Regi- 
ment. There were two children by his second 
wife^Sarah A. and Ella. Rev. Donaldson 
died at the close of the war at Cardington, 
Ohio. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Harden settled 
at Ottawa, Kans., where he worked in a mill 
eight years; after his return to Ohio he located 
at Brecksville and ran a flour and feed-mill. 
In 1893 he built a similar mill at Macedonia. 
He came to Twinsburg in 1895 and built his 
present flour and feed-mill, and equipped it 
with first class machinery and is doing a very 
prosperous business. The children born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Harden are named John F. and 
Pearl A. Mr. Harden is a member of the Con- 
gregationalist church and of Logan post. No. 
282, G. A. R. , at Brecksville, Ohio, and has 
held the office of commander and other posi- 



762 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



tions. In politics he is a republican, is a 
strong temperancs man, and a member of the 
Good Templars, Twinsburg lodge. He has 
always been an industrious, hard-working man, 
and stands high for his integrity of character. 



HARON MORRISS, deceased, was one 
of the honored old settlers of Tall- 
madge township. Summit count)', 
Ohio, and a prominent and respected 
citizen, and was born at Winstead, Conn., Oc- 
tober 8, 1797, of remote Scotch descent. He 
received an academic education, and possess- 
ing naturally an active mind he became a wide 
reader, having access to one of the finest 
libraries in Georgia, and, together with his var- 
ied experience in life, acquired an excellent 
education. He learned the carpenters' and 
joiners' trade, in the thoroughgoing old-fash- 
ioned way, at Milford Center, Conn., under 
Chauncey Isbell, and when twenty-one years 
old visited the state of Georgia and soon be- 
came a contractor and builder, employing 
sometimes as many as thirty men. He erected 
buildings at Millersville, Augusta, Sparta and 
the Savannah Mills on the Ogeechee river. He i 
built Dr. \Vm. Torrell's palatial residence, a 
beautiful and typical southern structure of the 
olden days befors the war — this firm structure 
requiring three years to erect; he also built 
many churches, including a beautiful Congre- 
gational church, costing $80,000. He passed 
thirteen years of a very active life in Georgia 
and other southern states, and became widely 
known as an architect and builder. 

Mr. Morriss returned to Connecticut, and 
married, at Milford, in March, 1834, Sarah ! 
Isbell, a daughter of Israel and Sarah (Par- 
die) Isbell. Sarah Pardie was the daughter 
of Rebecca Beecher, a sister of the famous di- 
vine. Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, father of Henrj' 
Ward Beecher. After marriage and during 



the next October Mr. Morriss moved to Ohio i 
in 1834, having been out the previous year j 
and viewed the countr}-, and settled on the , 
present homestead, consisting of 155.42 acres. ' 
Mr. Morriss gradually improved this home- 
stead, making additions and alterations, and 
attached a fine southern colonnade, very 
roomy, commodious and elegant. It is co- 
lonial in style, and is as well preserved as when 
first built. The finely carved and fluted col- 
umns are of solid black walnut, and give an 
air of strength to the structure. Mr. Morriss, 
while not reared a farmer, possessed a practi- 
cal business turn of mind, and when he first 
gave his attention to farming soon became an 
accomplished agriculturist — succeeded in his 
farming operations, and developed a really 
model home and farm. He made his success 
in life while he was yet a young man, and 
while in the south laid the foundation of his 
success. 

Mr. Morriss was a fine tenor singer, and 
sang in the church choir in New Haven, Conn. 
In Connecticut he was also a member of a 
military company. Mrs. Morriss was of a fine 
family — the Isbells of Connecticut, who for 
generations was well known in that state. 
She brought with her to Tallmadge some fine 
specimens of colonial furniture, among them 
a rare mahogany sideboard; also some fine 
matched tables, and the fine old homestead is 
filled with rare and valued family relics. Mr. 
and Mrs. Morriss were the parents of two 
daughters, America and Corene, born in Tall- 
madge, Ohio. Mrs. Morriss had been pre- 
viously married to Capt. F. Coggeshall, and 
they were the parents of George, now deceased, 
and one child who died in infanc}'. The 
sisters, America and Corene, were both well 
educated at Ravenna and at the Hudson 
Young Ladies' seminary and finished their 
education at the Ontario Female seminary, 
Canandaigua, N. Y. Their education in- 




AARON MORRISS, DECEASED. 







t- V 



SARAH MORRISS. DECEASED. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



767 



eluded a thorough course in music, in which 
they both became proficient. Miss Corene is 
now deceased; Miss America manages the 
home farm, and her other interests, having a 
goodly property, beside the fine old home- 
stead, with a substantial sum on interest. She 
is an excellent woman, of good judgment and 
shrewd financial ability. Mr. Morriss was of 
the highest character and very greatly re- 
spected and one of the best citizens in Summit 
county, being of a nature to command the 
love and esteem of all who know him. He 
was an honored citizen ofTallmadge township 
and held the office of township trustee. Lewis 
and Robert Morriss, who signed the declara- 
tion of independence, were relatives of sub- 
ject's family. 



(D 



ORRIS E. HASKINS, a well known 
business man of Mantua Station, 
Portage county, Ohio, and an ex- 
soldier of the Civil war, is a son of 
Alman M. and Lucy (Scott) Haskins, and was 
born in Friendship, Allegany county, N. Y., 
November 8, 1845. 

Alman M. Haskins, also a native of the 
Empire state, was born in Louisville, St. Law- 
rence county, and was by trade a hatter. To 
his marriage with Lucy Scott, daughter of 
Justus and Annie (White) Scott, were born four 
children — George A., Mary L., Morris E. and 
Arthur, but they were not all born in the same 
part of the state, as Mr. Haskins worked at his 
trade, after marriage, in Franklinville, Cat- 
taraugus county. Friendship, Allegany county, 
and died in Wirt, Allegany county, at the age 
of eighty-seven years, doubtless having pur- 
sued his trade at other places than those men- 
tioned, during his long life. In politics he was 
an ardent republican, and was a strong Union 
man, giving to his country two of his sons — 
George A. and Morris E. — to save it from 



destruction during the war of the Rebellion. 
George A. served as a private for three years 
in the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth New 
York volunteer infantry, and although he was 
in many battles, escaped unwounded, but suf- 
fers still as the result of exposure while in the 
service. The military record of Morris E. is 
given in the following paragraph: 

Morris E. Haskins, after receiving a good 
common-school education in Friendship, en- 
listed in company A, Fifth New York heavy 
artillery, and served until disabled at Pied- 
mont, Va.. June 5, 1864, where a ball passed 
through his right arm, entered his body just 
below the heart, and through the lower lobe 
of the left lung, which is still in bad order. 
He fell on the field near the breastworks, was 
picked up and taken to the field hospital, 
where the Union troops left a small guard and 
pressed on to Lynchburg. The following day, 
June 6, Mosely's guerrillas came along, cap- 
tured the hospital, and carried off the wounded 
soldiers to Lynchburg, and, a few days later, 
to Richmond, where he was kept a short time 
in Libby prison, but, as he was desperately 
wounded and death imminent, he was trans- 
ferred to another old tobacco warehouse, 
where he lay, in durance and distress, fully 
five months, living on the meanest and scanti- 
est rations possible, washing and dressing his 
wounds with his own hands, and being fur- 
nished with clean bandages by the Sisters of 
Charity, who paid much more attention than 
the Confederate surgeons. All this time he 
was without even a blanket, having been 
robbed by the rebels, when taken prisoner, of 
his arms, clothing, and nearly $50 in green- 
backs. He was finally exchanged, and hon- 
orably discharged at Annapolis, Md. , May 15, 
1865, his emaciated anatomy turning the scale 
at ninety-two and one-half pounds, although 
he had weighed 167.J pounds when he en- 
listed. 



768 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



After the war, Mr. Haskins returned to 
New York, and after a short stay at Friendship 
went to Wirt, Allegany county, where he was 
engaged, for three years, in mercantile trade 
in partnership with his brother-in-law, Albert 
S. Brainard, who had married Mary L. Has- 
kins, sister of Morris E. While at Wirt, Mr. 
Haskins married, January I, 1866, Miss Sallie 
M. Hunt, who was born in that town June 8, 
1850, a daughter of Christopher A. and Roxana 
(Harris) Hunt. 

Christopher A. Hunt, father of Mrs. Sallie 
M. Haskins, was born in the state of New 
York, July 12, 18 18. His wife, Roxana, was 
born July 7, 1820, and bore her husband six 
children, viz: Austin A., James L. , Sallie 
M., Susie J., Asia M. and Ai A. For more 
than thirty years the father, who was a de- 
scendent of a Mayflower pilgrim, kept a hotel 
in Champion, Jefferson county, N. Y. , but is 
now living at Mantua Station, Ohio, at the 
age of seventy-eight, his widow being seventy- 
seven, and both respected members of the 
Methodist church. 

Morris E. Haskins, just after marriage, 
located at Ceres, Pa., where he was engaged 
in the lumber business for two years, next 
passed a year or so in Warsaw, Pa., and in 
1869 came to Mantua Station, Ohio, thence 
moved to Auburn, Ohio, where he remained 
for six years, then returned to Mantua, and 
here engaged in mercantile trade, but, on ac- 
count of suffering from his unhealed lung, has 
been little able to attend to or push his busi- 
ness for some years past, as otherwise he 
would have done, being naturally a bright and 
keen trader. His marriage has been blessed 
with two children, Mary L. and Nellie M.,. 
who still remain under the parental roof. 

In politics Mr. Haskins is a stanch repub- 
lican and has held the office of constable of 
Mantua township seven years. He is a mem- 
ber of Bentley post. No. 294, G. A. R., of 



Mantua Station, having been one its charter 
members, and in this post he has filled all the 
minor offices, advancing to those of adjutant, 
junior and senior vice-commander. He stands 
high in the esteem of the community as a 
brave defender of his country's flag and as a 
straightforward business man and incorruptible 
citizen. 



'^Y'OHN HAAS, a well-to-do farmer of 
m Shalersville township, as well as a 
/• 1 prominent and successful merchant of 
Mantua Station, was born in Cleve- 
land, Ohio, November 15, 1839, the son of 
Adam and Catherine (Filins) Haas. 

John Haas was reared to manhood in the 
city of Cleveland, and was educated in the 
public schools of that city, and in early life 
learned the trade of saddlery and harness- 
making with his father. He became quite 
proficient as a workman, and soon was an 
able assistant in the shop to his father. He 
early became a member of the Cleveland 
Light Guards, then an independent military 
company, with which he was identified from 
the age of twenty until twenty-two years, dur- 
ing which time he became quite proficient in 
the drill and the duties of the company. Mr. 
Haas, being of a patriotic spirit, became im- 
bued with a spirit of protecting his nation and 
flag, and early in 1861 enlisted in the Twenty- 
third regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, in his 
native city. This was the same regiment in 
which President William McKinley served about 
eighteen months' time as a private soldier. 
During the first year of Mr. Haas' enlistment 
he was elected second lieutenant of company 
A, but was never mustered, as he was afflicted 
with chronic diarrhea, and compelled to resign 
and return to his native home. 

Mr. Haas soon recuperated and engaged 
in business with his father, at which he con- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



769 



tinued steadily until May i, 1864, when he 
enlisted the second time in defense of his 
nation's flag. His second enlistment was for 
three months, and he was appointed orderly ser- 
geant of Capt. John Nevin's company G, One- 
Hundred and Fiftieth regiment Ohio volun- 
teer infantry. He served out his enlistment 
and was honorably discharged at Cleveland, 
Ohio. August 15, 1864. His services were 
near the city of Washington, D. C, at Fort 
Lincoln and Fort Slocum, and he was in the 
engagement at Fort Slocum when Gen. Jubal 
Early made his famous advance on Washing- 
ton, and attacked both Forts Lincoln and 
Slocum, and during this short engagement the 
Union troops lost 350 men in twenty minutes. 
Mr. Haas was always an active and willing 
soldier, and cheerfully obeyed every command 
from his superior officers. He enlisted from 
purely patriotic motives, and would have been 
in the early part of the war had his health not 
prevented him from doing so; however, hav- 
ing a knowledge of military drill, he taught 
many of the officers and soldiers of Cleveland 
while at home. 

Mr. Hdas continued in the harness busi- 
ness with his father for four months after his 
return from the war, when he was taken with 
malarial fever, with which he was afflicted for 
several months, but finally recovered from 
same, and, soon after, was married to Miss 
Sophia Brodbeck, of Cleveland, Ohio, but a 
native of Medina county. By this marriage 
they became the parents of four children, 
John A., Hattie, William and Lottie. 

In the spring of 1865, Mr. Haas left the 
city of his birth and located in Shalesrville 
township, Portage county, Ohio, where he 
purchased a farm of 100 acres, where he has 
resided ever since. Mr. Haas being a practi- 
cal business man, has applied his early edu- 
cation to his agricultural life, and has been 
very successful, owning at the present time a 



farm of 300 acres, which is under a high state 
of cultivation. He is also proprietor of a 
hardware store at Mantua Station; also is en- 
gaged in the manufacture of wire nails, which 
he has followed for two years, and the pro- 
ducts of his factory are giving good satisfac- 
tion, both as to the quality of his goods and 
the revenues derived therefrom. Mr. Haas 
has prospered year by year and had early 
learned the secret of gaining wealth, which 
was, from a practical standpoint, that it was 
what a man saved from his earnings instead 
of what he made, that aided him to accumu- 
late property. 

Socially, he is a member of the G. A. R. , 
Bentley post, and is the present commander, 
having held this office three terms, and he is 
also a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
Mantua lodge. 

Adam Haas, his father, was born in Ger- 
many, near Frankfort, and at the age of 
twenty years came to America and settled in 
the Mohawk valley, in New York state, where 
he followed his trade as a harnessmaker for 
several years, then came west and located in 
Cleveland, where he continued his trade and 
reared his family, and became a well-to-do 
citizen. He died at the age of seventy-four 
years at the home of his son John, in Shalers- 
ville township. He was a substantial and suc- 
cessful man in his day, practically self-made. 



*w - ^ ENRY HENTZ, a respected farmer 

I'^^V of Streetsboro township. Portage 

M. ^ r county, Ohio, and for over three 

years a gallant soldier of the Civil 

war, was born in Massena, St. Lawrence 

county, N. Y., May 16, 1845, a son of Peter 

and Mary Hentz, the former of whom was of 

German descent and the latter of French 

descent. 

Peter Hentz, whose birth occurred May 



770 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



12, 1793, was a son of Henry Hentz, who 
came from Germany and was one of the first 
settlers of St. Lawrence county, N. Y. Peter 
was the first white child born in the county, 
and was taken forty miles through the forest 
to be christened, his parents being rigid Cath- 
olics. Peter was twice married, but had no 
children born to his first union. His second 
marriage, late in life, was to Mary Buissever, 
the name being ordinarily pronounced Bouvia, 
and signifying, in English, Greenbush. Two 
children, Henry and Sarah, were born to this 
second union. Peter Hentz served against 
the Indians in one of their insurrections, and 
in later life became a lumberman and rafts- 
man. Ten years prior to his death, Henry, 
the son, went from Ohio to New York and 
brought the old gentleman hither, and here he 
died, at his son's home, at the age of ninety- 
three years. 

Henry Hentz attended school in the Em- 
pire state until eleven years of age, when he 
came to Ohio, in 1856, with his mother and 
sister, who located in Ashtabula county, but 
he found for himself a home on a farm in 
Summit county, on which he worked four 
years, attending school the meanwhile, and 
continued farming as a laborer for different 
parties until he became a soldier. 

Mr. Hentz enlisted, when but sixteen years 
old, at Ravenna, October 7, 1861, in Capt. 
H. H. Wiliard's company, Fortj'-second regi- 
ment Ohio volunteer infantry, of which James 
A. Garfield, afterward president of the United 
States, was then lieutenant-colonel. Mr. 
Hentz served in this regiment three years, one 
month and twelve days, and was honorably 
discharged at Columbus, Ohio, at Camp Tod, 
November 19, 1864. He fought at Middle 
Creek, Ky., when he was seized with typhoid 
fever, and was confined in hospital at Ashland 
for about six weeks. His next battle was at 
Tazewell, Tenn., and on the fatiguing retreat 



from the rebel raider, John Morgan, marched 
240 miles continuously through the mountains 
of eastern Kentucky, day and night. He was 
in the Chickasaw raid in Mississippi, at the 
capture of Arkansas Post, Ark. , and back to 
Mississippi again, taking part in the battles of 
Thompson's Hill and Champion's Hill, his 
eighteenth birthday occurring on the day the 
last-named battle was fought. He was also 
at the battle of Black River, and later, in a 
charge on the rebel works at Vicksburg., 
March 19, 1863, had the end of his left fore- 
finger cut off, but he remained with his com- 
pany throughout the charge. Later, he fought 
at Jackson, Miss., was in a raid at French 
Bayou, and another up the Black River, and 
was always a cheerful and willing man to per- 
form his duty as a soldier. 

On returning to Ohio, Mr. Hentz resumed 
farm work, and was married at Shalersville, 
July 5, 1868, to Miss Cornelia E. Kimes, who 
was born in that town October 9, 1849, a 
daughter of John and Mary (Doughty) Kimes. 
John Kimes was a native of Butler county. 
Pa. , and was of German descent. He came 
with his father to Portage county, Ohio, in 
1837, and here married Miss Doughty, of New 
Jersey colonial ancestry, who bore him five 
children, viz: Cornelia E. , Alma, Amos, Lucy, 
and Mary. Mr. Kimes was a democrat in 
politics, was a prosperous farmer, and died at 
about sixty years of age, leaving 280 acres of 
good farm land. 

After marriage, Mr. Hentz located in 
Shalersville township, on his father-in-law's 
farm and cultivated it several years; he then 
worked in the Cleveland Wire mills at New- 
burg as a wire-drawer tor a few years, and 
then settled on his present place of 100 acres, 
on which he has erected a comfortable resi- 
dence and which he has converted into a 
profitable farm and a pleasant home. 

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hentz has 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



771 



been blessed with three children, named, in 
order of birth, John, Birdie, and Emerson K. 
In politics, Mr. Hentz is a republican, and as 
a citizen is regarded as one of the most useful 
in his township, and as a man is respected for 
his integrity and straightforward course of life. 



SOSWELL B. CUTTS, of Garretts- 
ville, Ohio, was one of the old sol- 
diers of the Civil war and is a highly 
respected citizen. He was born in 
Paris township. Portage county, Ohio, Octo- 
ber 3, 1840, a son of Daniel B. and Lucy R. 
(Smith) Cutts, received a common education 
and attended several terms at Hiram Eclectic 
institute. He enlisted at the age of about 
twenty-one years, October 8, 1861, at Paris, 
Ohio, and was mustered in, same day, at Ra- 
venna, in Capt. H. H. Willard's company F, 
Forty-second regiment, Ohio volunteer infan- 
try. Col. James A. Garfield, to serve three 
years or during the war, but served three 
years and nearly two months, owing to an 
error in date of muster, and was honorably 
discharged at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, 
November 19, 1864. He was in the battles of 
Middle Creek, Ky., Cumberland Gap, Taze- 
well, Tenn., Kanawha valley campaign, Vicks- 
burg campaign for about three months, Chick- 
asaw Bluff, Miss., Fort Hindman, Ark., Port 
Gibson, and Raymond, Miss. He was sick in 
hospital at Raymond, Miss., with chronic 
diarrhea, and was captured by the Confed- 
erates while he lay in hospital, and sent to 
Jackson, Miss., thence to Mobile, Ala., thence 
to Augusta, Ga. , and thence to Richmond, Va. , 
where he was confined in the infamous Libby 
prison. He was a prisoner four and a half 
months — the latter part of this time being 
spent in Libby prison. He was exchanged 
in October, 1863, and sent to Camp Chase, 
and rejoined his regiment at New Orleans, and 



was then on the Red River campaign, and in 
the battles of Atchafalaya Bayou, under Gen. 
Banks; then to Morganza Bend, La. Then 
they were ordered to the mouth of White River, 
thence to St. Charles, Ark., to fortify that 
place, and then went with his regiment to 
Duvall's Bluff, Ark., to build fortifications 
there, where he remained until sent home for 
muster out. 

At the battle of Chickasaw Bayou he was 
struck on the left shin by a spent ball. He 
was on the Cumberland Gap campaign three 
months and marched about 400 miles. The 
troops were short of rations, the supplies 
being cut off by the rebels, and they lived on 
green corn for about twenty days. They were 
in skirmishes every day and drove the rebels 
every morning from their breakfasts for some 
time, driving them from two to twenty miles 
daily, and removing the blockade of trees 
filled by the rebels to impede their progress 
in their march. The Union soldiers suffered 
greatly from hunger on the march, and sub- 
sisted on roasted and grated corn from the 
fields on the greater part of this march to the 
Ohio river, where they received supplies, and 
were on one-fourth rations before leaving 
Cumberland Gap. During the war his regi- 
ment traveled about 3,700 miles; of this, 1,500 
miles were by steamboat, 1,000 miles by rail 
and 1,700 in marching order. This was ex- 
clusive of drills and picket duty. They par- 
ticipated in ten general engagements, sieges 
and in many skirmishes. Mr. Cutts considered 
his hardest battle to have been at Port Gib- 
son, when the regiment lost seventy-five killed, 
and many wounded, in a few hours. Mr. Cutts 
was sick with diphtheria during the first part 
of his enlistment at Camp Chase, Ohio, fol- 
lowed by chronic diarrhea through his whole 
service, and did not recover for twenty years 
after the war, and still has some trouble. He 
was always an active soldier, served through- 



772 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



out as a private and was in all the campaigns, 
marches, battles, and skirmishes in which his 
regiment took part, except while a prisoner. 
He considers his worst experience as a prisoner 
just after his capture. From this time until 
the arrival at Mobile, four and a half days 
later, the captives had nothing to eat what- 
ever, and drank water from the swamps 
pumped into tanks for use of engines. He 
and his comrades were robbed of everything of 
value — their good clothing being stripped off 
of them, and filthy, ragged, rebel clothing given 
in exchange. At Mobile they received rations 
of a small piece of bacon and some hard tack, 
and had to drink swamp water. They were 
taken to Libby prison by boat and rail, and 
there they were searched, and those that had 
money were robbed of it. Wirtz was the ex- 
amining officer. He was afterward the brute 
who persecuted the prisoners to death at An- 
dersonville, and was after the war hanged, at 
Washington, D. C, for his crimes. Mr. Cutts 
had $45 in new greenbacks concealed in the 
bottom of his pants, which were too poor to be 
taken, and he rolled these up at the bottom. 
His pocketbook was taken, and in this he had 
$28 in Confederate money and a comrade's 
note for $18. This was thrown on the table, 
and Mr. Cutts protested to Wirtz that the note 
could do them no good, and if he lived to get 
out would be of value to him, and that they 
could have the Confederate money in welcome. 
Wirtz said. "How do you know you will ever 
live to get out.' Here, take your d — d pocket- 
book; we don't want it." Mr. Cutts had just 
bought the Confederate money for $5 from a 
Richmond business man. The rebels had no 
confidence in their own money. 

In Libby prison Mr. Cutts received as ra- 
tion a pint of cow-pea soup and a small piece 
of bacon, twice each day; it was horrible stuff 
and could hardly be eaten. He was sergeant 
of the mess, and, being too liberal in portioning 



it out, had none for himself. He was sick all 
the time he was in prison with chronic 
diarrhea, and the miserable food kept him so. 
Mr. Cutts was very independent and out- 
spoken, but learned to win the respect of the 
rebel officers and the doctors in charge. Every 
morning at roll call an offer was made that 
any one of the prisoners who would take the 
oath of allegiance to the Confederate govern- 
ment and again not to take up arms against 
it, would be allowed to go free and be given 
plenty of food. Although starving slowly and 
in a vile prison, not a man was ever known to 
step from the ranks and accept this offer. 
The experience in this prison was too brutal 
to describe. Mr. Cutts saw Wirtz kick a sol- 
dier in the mouth and break his teeth because 
he was too weak to stand up at roll call. Mr. 
Cutts and another comrade assisted this poor 
fellow to stand during roll call, with his face 
covered with blood from the kick of the inhu- 
man Wirtz. Mr. Cutts was finally taken to 
Annapolis, Md., with other prisoners, and there 
paroled in the camp. The prisoners pre- 
sented a most pitiable sight. They were cov- 
ered with vermin, and many of them had hard- 
ly a spot on their person not bitten or sore. 
They were stripped of their ragged and filthy 
clothing, given soap, and allowed to take a 
bath in the waters of the Chesapeake bay. 
The old clothing was burned and they were 
furnished with a suit of Uncle Sam's blue. It 
is right to state here that the physician in 
charge at the hospital at Libby prison was a 
kind-hearted man, and did the best he could 
with the resources and medicine at his com- 
mand. 

After the war Mr. Cutts settled in Portage 
county. He married, the first time, in Wind- 
ham township, December 16, 1864, Celia 
Yale, who was born in Windham, Ohio, a 
daughter of Edmund and Nancy (Russell) 
Yale. Mrs. Cutts died four years after mar- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



773 



riage, leaving no children. She was a mem- 
ber of the Congregational church and a woman 
of many virtues. Mr. Cutts' second marriage 
took place January 4, 1871, in Hiram town- 
ship, to Ellen S. Leach, who was born Octo- 
ber 28, in Champion township, Trumbull 
county, Ohio, a daughter of Daniel and Mary 
A. (Shiveley) Leach. 

Mr. Cutts has since the war been a farm- 
er. He first settled in Windham township 
on a farm, but after his second marriage set- 
tled at Sturgeon Bay, Wis. , and was there en- 
gaged for a time in the nursery business. He 
then returned to Ohio and settled, in 1873, on 
the present homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Cutts 
have been blessed with two children — Lucy L. 
and Willis R. Mr. Cutts is a member of 
Mark Horton post, G. A. R. , at Garrettsville, 
Ohio, and has held the office of adjutant for 
many years. Politically he is a stanch re- 
publican. Mr. and Mrs. Cutts and their 
daughter, Lucy L., are members of the Con- 
gregational church, at Garrettsville, Ohio, in 
which Mr. Cutts was a deacon four years. 
Mr. Cutts is a public-spirited man and takes 
an active interest in public improvements. He 
was among the most active promoters of the 
pike between Hiram and Garrettsville, and 
held the office of pike superintendent during 
the grading and building, and is now holding 
the office for the third time. He was the 
first master of Garrettsville grange. No. 1436, 
and is at present chaplain. He is well 
known for his straightforward character and 
is a respected citizen. 

Daniel B. Cutts, father of Roswell B. 
Cutts, was born at Orwell, Addison county, 
Vt., and a son of Thomas Cutts. Daniel B. 
married, in Vermont, Miss Lucy R. Smith, a 
descendant of an old colonial Vermont family 
of English descent. The Cuttses were also of 
English stock and soldiers in the war of the 
Revolution. Two brothers of the name settled 



in Vermont, and one of these finally settled in 
Virginia. Daniel B. Cutts was a shoemaker 
and tanner and currier. He came to Ohio in 
1829 and located in Windham township, Port- 
age county, but a few years later removed to 
Paris, Ohio, where he followed his trades of 
tanning and shoemaking. He sold out in 
1864 and removed to Minnesota; subsequent- 
ly, however, he returned to Garrettsville, 
where he died in 1873. His children by his 
first wife were Mary, Ira, Sarah A., Henry 
D., Roswell B., Emily J. and Fanny M. Mrs. 
Cutts died in 1864, while he was in the army, 
a member of the Methodist church, and Mr. 
Cutts next married in Garrettsville, Ohio, in 
1 87 1, Mrs. Eliza A. Frisby, who is still living. 
Mr. Cutts was also a member of the Method- 
ist church and in politics was first a whig 
and then a republican, and was an honorable 
and upright man. He died in February, 1873. 



HRVIN O. HAYMAKER, one of the 
prominent farmers of Franklin town- 
ship, Portage county, son of James 
D. and Mary R. (Olin) Haymaker, 
was born April 5, 1844, on the old homestead 
of his father, and received a common-school 
education, afterward attending a term at Mount 
Union. He was early taught to work on the 
farm, his father being a thrifty farmer and a 
very industrious man. He married, April 5, 
1866, in Brimfield, Portage county, Ohio, Miss 
Harriet E. Norton, who was born September 
3, 1846, in Edinburg township, same county, 
a daughter of Joseph and Jeannette (Graham) 
Norton — Joseph Norton being of New Eng- 
land ancestry, born in 1813, in Litchfield 
county, Conn., and a pioneer of Portage 
county. He lived to be an aged man, and 
died in 1895, a member of the Methodist 
church. In politics he was a democrat and an 
honored citizen. His children were William, 



774 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



who died young; McKendree D., deceased; 
Charles, Angie, Hattie E. and Maxwell S. 
Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker settled on their pres- 
ent farm of 134 acres, and by his thrift and 
industry improved it. His first wife died 
April 7, 1869. The children were Charles 
Anson and Hattie Eliza. 

Mr. Haymaker married the second time in 
Columbiana county, Ohio, May 26, 1870, 
Harriet Powell, daughter of William and 
Catherine (Burger) Powell. William Powell 
was a native of Maryland, born in 1803, of 
English ancestry, a son of Thomas Powell, 
who was a well-to-do farmer. His children 
were Samuel, Michael, Levi, Eli, Thomas, 
Rebecca, Betsey, Nancy and Mary. Thomas 
Powell moved to Ohio and settled in Stark 
county at an early day, and was a member 
of the Baptist church. He lived to be an 
aged man and died in Stark county, Ohio. 

William Powell moved to Ohio with his 
father when but eight years old, in 181 1, to 
Stark county, and then settled in Columbiana 
county, he being a good farmer, and had a 
good home of 140 acres well improved. He 
married, October 5, 1836, Catherine Burger, 
of sturdy Pennsylvania-Dutch ancestry, born 
near Gettysburg, Adams county. Pa., Septem- 
ber 26, 1804, and when a child came to Co- 
lumbiana county, Ohio, with her parents, 
Michael and Catherine Burger. William Pow- 
ell and wife lived together over fifty-eight 
years. The children were Sarah, John, Si- 
mon, Jonas, Mary, Daniel, Lydia, Anthony, 
Harriet, Luther and Franklin B. Mr. and 
Mr. Powell were devout members of the Lu- 
theran church, and he was nearly all his life 
elder in his church. He was always a genu- 
ine republican in politics. He lived to be 
eighty-one years old and died in his home 
January 7, 1885. He was a man of upright 
character and highly respected by all who 
knew him. 



Arvin O. Haymaker, our subject, has now 
a farm of 140 acres, well improved, on the 
borders of Twin Lakes, and it is beautifully 
situated, with a delightful prospect. The chil- 
dren are Homer A., Deborah J., Franklin P. 
and Abbie R. He is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church and is church trustee. 
Politically he is a republican and has held the 
office of township trustee four years. Mr. 
Haymaker is a man of excellent character and 
well educated. He taught school in his neigh- 
borhood for twenty-five winters, and was a 
successful teacher and well-known educator. 
His children are also well educated; Homer A. 
is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan university 
and Franklin P. and Deborah J. will graduate 
from the same institution the present year. 
At one time Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker had five 
children together at this excellent institution. 
The Haymaker family is one of the best- 
known and intelligent in Portage county. 



^^AMES NORTON, a prominent citizen 
M of Garrettsville, was born in Hiram 
/• J township, Portage county, Ohio, Sep- 
tember 9, 1833, a son of Thuel and 
Harriet R. (Harrington) Norton, who were 
the parents of ten children, viz: Anna, born 
October 21, 1823; Seth D., a lawyer, born 
August 19, 1825 — died in Ravenna; Edwin, 
born July 16, 1827 (deceased); Amelia C, 
born January 4, 1829; Julia M., born April 24, 
1831; James, our subject; Lois E. , born No- 
vember 28, 1835 — died in Trenton, Mo.; 
Emily E. , born May 6, 1838; Richard C, 
president of the Southeast State Normal school 
at Cape Girardeau, Mo., born June 16, 1840, 
and Harriet R. , born January 28, 1846. 

Thuel Norton was born in New Hartford, 
Oneida county, N. Y., March 10, 1801, and 
was the third son of Peter and Elthina 
(Thompson) Norton, who came to Ohio when 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



777 



Thuel was but six years of age, and for two 
years lived in Trumbull county, then for a short 
time in Tallmadge, Summit county, and finally 
settled in Springfield, at that time in Portage, 
but now in Summit county — the site of Akron 
being then a mere wilderness. Here Thuel 
grew to manhood, and became renowned for 
his great physical powers. August 4, 1822, 
he married, in Hiram, Harriet Rebecca Har- 
rington, who was born July 15, 1803, in Salis- 
bury, Litchfield county. Conn., a daughter of 
John and Asenath (Marvin) Harrington, the 
result of the union being the children already 
enumerated. Mr. Norton died in Hiram, April 
2, 1880, from injuries received by being thrown 
from a buggy by a runaway horse, and on Au- 
gust 30, 1880, while on a visit to a son and 
daughter in Garrettsville, Mrs. Norton was 
called to everlasting rest. 

James Norton, the subject of this memoir, 
passed his early life virtually on the home farm 
in Hiram township, but when about thirteen 
years of age was injured by being thrown from 
a horse, and for three years his health was so 
poor in consequence that he was not even able 
to attend school. At sixteen, however, al- 
though still in poor health, he resumed his 
studies, walking to and from the district school 
at Freedom with the aid of a crutch and cane. 
In the autumn of i8i;i he entered the Western 
Reserve Eclectic institute, well advanced in 
the common branches. During this term, a 
physician, learning that young Norton was 
Still suffering from a dangerous sore on his 
arm, engaged with his father to heal it for a 
stipulated sum, and at the end of about six 
months the doctor's efforts were rewarded with 
complete success. After an attendance of 
three terms at the Eclectic institute, Mr. Nor- 
ton engaged in teaching school, a vocation he 
followed until the close of 1861 — keeping up 
his own studies in the meanwhile, chiefly at 
Hiram college, although he attended one term 

32 



at the Shalersville academy. He next took a 
commercial course in Cleveland, and special 
lessons in penmanship under P. R. Spencer, 
Sr., at Geneva. In January, 1862, he entered 
the recorder's office at Ravenna, to which po- 
sition he had been elected in October by a 
handsome majority. His duties here actually 
began January 6, 1862, and were concluded 
six years later in January, 1868 — and during 
this period he was never absent a single busi- 
ness day. He declined to run for a third term, 
for the reason that disabled soldiers were at 
that time seeking the office. In the winter of 
1868-69, Mr. Norton, with others, organized 
a banking institution in Garrettsville, of which 
he was for a time the cashier, but resigned — 
an act afterward considered to have been a 
mistake. He was then engaged as superintend- 
ent of the Garrettsville public schools, to till 
a vacancy, and filled the position four terms. 
Subsequently he was twice elected justice of 
the peace and served until 1895; twice as 
mayor of the incorporated village of Garretts- 
ville, seven times as a member of the board of 
education, serving twenty-one years, and also 
served as clerk of the board twenty years. He 
is now a notary public, and is engaged in the 
real estate, insurance and collection business, 
and has frequently been called upon to act as 
executor, administrator, assignee and guardian 
in the settlement or management of large 
estates. 

The marriage of Mr. Norton took place 
December 17, 1859, to Miss Ann Eliza Taber, 
a native of Garrettsville. John Taber, father 
of Mrs. Norton, was born in Providence, R. I., 
April 29, 1798, and was married, in Providence, 
October 19, 18 19, to Mary Henrietta Greene, 
who was born in Barre, Mass., June 21, 1799, 
and was a relative of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, 
of Revolutionary fame. Mr. Taber was car- 
penter on board of ship, and made some very 
long sea voyages. His ship was at (' \llao 



778 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



when Bolivar entered Peru with his Columbian 
army. They took a ship load of royalists to 
Cadiz, Spain, with immense quantities of gold 
and silver. This was a six years' voyage, 
mostly in South American waters. The next 
was a three years' voyage, chiefly doing a 
coasting business in European seas. In early 
life Mr. and Mrs. Taber were members of the 
First Baptist church of Providence, which 
was founded by Roger Williams. They moved 
to Ohio in 1829, and after a residence of four 
years in Mogadore, Summit county, they 
moved to Garrettsville. Mr. Taber spent 
about three and a half years among the gold 
mines of California, starting for that then far- 
away country in the spring of 1850. Mr. 
Taber died suddenly, while on his way to 
worship in Garrettsville, March 12, 1871, and 
June 2, 1884, Mrs. Taber passed away, dying 
in the house in Garrettsville in which she had 
lived over half a century. They were the 
parents of four children, viz: Mary Henrietta 
(Mrs. Dr. A. M. Sherman), born November 
15, 1829 — died October 26, 1853; John Her- 
man, born August 10, 1832 — died in Council 
Bluffs, Iowa, Novembers, 1856; James Hun- 
ter, born June 21, 1835 — died in Adrain, Mich., 
December 5, 1866, and Ann Eliza (now Mrs. 
Norton), born September 23, 1837. To the 
felicitous union of Mr. and Mrs. Norton have 
been born three children, of whom the first- 
born died in infancy; James Edgar, born in Ra- 
venna, March 18, 1866, and John Herman, 
born in Garrettsville, February 12, 1869. Of 
James E. and John H. further mention will 
shortly follow. 

James Norton, the subject, has for forty 
years been a newspaper correspondent. In 
pohtics he has always been a republican, and 
has always filled with credit to himself and 
satisfaction of the public every office he has 
held. In rel gion he and wife have been mem- 
bers of the Disciples' church for many years, 



and he is at present clerk of the church board. 
He has made a success of life and is well pro- 
vided with this world's goods, having overcome 
by his energy all the impediments on the road 
to fortune, and is still an active business man, 
honored and respected by the entire commun- 
ity of which he is a member. 

James Edgar Norton, son of James and 
Ann Eliza (Taber) Norton, began attendance 
at the Garrettsville schools in the fall of 1873, 
and graduated from the high school June i, 
1883. In the fall of the same year he entered 
the senior preparatory class for a classical 
course at Hiram college, and triumphantly 
passed through to the junior class, at the annu- 
al exhibition of which, April 5, 1887, he greatly 
distinguished himself. Although his height 
was six feet precisely, and his average weight 
between 154 and 160 pounds, his health was 
never rugged nor robust, and it was probably 
owing to this circumstance that he met with 
an untimely death. On the evening of April 
29, 1887, young Norton had been assisting in 
the preparation of the decorations of the chap- 
el for a college entertainment, and, having 
answered to the supper bell, took a slight re- 
past, and hastened back to complete the un- 
finished work of decoration; but the weather 
had been inclement, the college steps at the 
front were slippery, and, missing his footing, 
he was violently dashed against the corner of 
the step-stones, sustaining injuries which re- 
sulted in his death, shortly after six o'clock, 
Tuesday morning. May 3, 1887. The blow 
was a most distressing one to his parents, and 
was the most severe they had ever suffered or 
have suffered since. The noble young man 
was deeply beloved by the faculty and students 
of Hiram college, and many were the letters 
of condolence forwarded to the despondent 
parents from friends in various parts of the 
country. 

John Herman Norton, the youngest son of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



779 



James and Ann Eliza (Taber) Norton, now 
one of the editors and proprietors of the 
"Scientific Machinist" of Cleveland, was grad- 
uated from the high school at Garrettsville, 
and from Hiram college with the class of 1892. 
For some little time after graduation he trav- 
eled as a solicitor for advertisements for the 
Scientific Machinist, and in the fall of 1892 
his father purchased one-quarter interest in 
the concern, and presented it to the son, who 
now is one the managers of the business and 
is treasurer of the company. Mr. Norton was 
married, in 1892, to Miss Carrie P. Patch, 
daughter of A. J. Patch, a wealthy farmer 
near Hiram, and to this union one child has 
been born — Harold P. Mrs. Norton also 
graduated from Hiram college with the class 
of 1891. Mr. Norton and wife are members 
of the Disciples' church, on Euclid avenue, 
Cleveland, and of this church Mr. Norton is 
clerk. 



>^EROME B. HINMAN, janitor of the 
m new school-building at Mantua Station, 
/• 1 Portage county, Ohio, and a faithful 
ex-soldier of the Civil war, was born in 
Oswego, N. Y., July 9, 1835, and is a son of 
James and Dorothy (Fox) Hinman, the Hin- 
man family being of German origin. In some- 
what early times, three of the brothers of this 
German family came to America in company 
with each other, but separated on arriving, 
one settling in New York state, one in Ohio, 
and one in Michigan. Of the brother who 
settled in the Empire state, Jerome B. is a 
descendant, and was but two years old when 
brought to Ohio by his mother, then a widow, 
who was accompanied by her parents. Dan- 
iel Fox, father of Mrs. Dorothy Hinman, set- 
tled on a new farm in the woods at Auburn, 
Geauga county, but died one year later, and 
Dorothy came to Portage county, was mar- 



ried to William Springer, of Streetsboro,: and 
bore him two children — John and Henry. 

Jerome B. Hinman was reared to. farming 
in Streetsboro township, and August 13, 1862, 
enlisted, at Shalersville, in company D, One 
Hundred and Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
and served until honorably discharged, June 
17, 1865, at Greensboro, N. C. , the war hav- 
ing been brought to a close. He took part in 
the following battles, among others, these men- 
tioned being the hardest fought: Covington, 
Ky., September 10, 1862; Danville, Ky., 
March 24, 1863; Knoxville, Tenn., November 
to December 4, 1863; Dallas, May 25 to 
June 4, 1864; Kenesaw Mountan, Ga. , June 
9; Pine Mountain, Ga., June 13; Lost Moun- 
tain, June 16, and again at Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, June 27 to 30, 1864; Atlanta, July 28; 
Eutaw Creek, August 6; Columbia, Tenn., 
November 24 to 29; Atlanta Ga., September 
2; Franklin, Tenn., November 30; Nashville, 
December 15 and 16; Fort Anderson, N. C. , 
February 18, 1865; Town Creek, February 
20, 1865. At Dallas, Ga., he was shot slightly 
through the left breast by a Confederate cav- 
alryman, and for a few days was confined in 
field .hospital. Mr. Hinman was a brave and 
faithful soldier, was never absent from his 
post with the exception just mentioned, caused 
by his wound; was on every march and in 
every battle in which his regiment was en- 
gaged, and in every skirmish, excepting 
what may have taken place when, for a few 
weeks, he was on detailed duty as guard at a 
railroad station at Knoxville, Tenn., and for 
meritorious conduct was promoted to be wagon 
master, a position he held for two years. The 
commander of the One Hundred and Fourth 
Ohio infantry was Col. James Reilly. It cap- 
tured eleven Confederate flags — more than 
half the number captured by the entire bri- 
gade, which was twenty. 

After the war, Mr. Hinman returned to 



780 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Portage county and settled in Shalersville, 
and December lo, 1865, was married, at 
Freedom, Ohio, to Miss Mary H. Chalker, 
who was born in that town July 5, 1835, a 
daughter of Enos and Eunice (Austin) Chalker. 
After marriage Mr. Hinman lived in Shalers- 
ville one year, then bought a home in Free- 
dom, where he lived twenty-seven years, and 
then came to Mantua Station in 1893, since 
when he has been janitor of the new school 
building. To his marriage there has been 
born one son, Clayton J., who was married 
to Miss Clara Gary and has one daughter, 
Mary D. 

Enos Chalker, father of Mrs. Mary H. Hin- 
man, was born in Susquehanna countj'. Pa., 
was of Scotch-Irish parentage, and was reared 
a farmer. He married, at Turin, Lewis 
county, N. Y. . Miss Eunice Haskins, a daugh- 
ter of Thomas Haskins, who was a soldier of 
the war of i8i2, and who died in Portage 
county, Ohio, in 1844, at about seventy years 
of age, his remains lying in an unmarked grave 
in the cemetery of Freedom. Enos Chalker 
came to Ohio in 1832, and located on a farm, 
but later removed to the Thomas Haskins 
farm at Freedom, on which he passed his re- 
maining years, dying in February, 1897, at 
the age of eighty-six, the present age of his 
widow, who still resides on the old homestead. 
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Chalker 
were five in number, and were named Mary 
H., Eunice A., Edna V., James W. and 
Martha A. 

John Springer, half-brother of Jerome B. 
Hinman, was a private in company K, Twenty- 
third Ohio volunteer infantry, in the three- 
year service; re-enlisted as a veteran in the 
same organization, and went through the en- 
tire war, participating in all the campaigns in 
which his regiment had anj' part. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hinman are consistent and 
conscientious members of the Disciples' church. 



and freely contribute toward its support. Mr. 
Hinman is a charter member of Bentley post. 
No. 294, G. A. R. , at Mantua Station, in 
which he has served as quartermaster and as 
junior and senior vice-commander. As a cit- 
izen he is highly esteemed for his strictl)' 
moral character, and is equally respected for 
his excellent record as a soldier. 



(D 



RS. MARY R. HAYMAKER, widow 
of James D. Haymaker, is a daugh- 
ter of Arvin Olin (born at Shafts- 
bury, Vt. .July 13, 1797), son of Ezra 
Olin, a son of John Olin, third, and born in 
Rhode Island, March 23, 1772. EzraOlinwas 
three and one-half years old when his parents 
removed to Vermont and settled in the town of 
Shaftsbury. He was five and one-half years 
old when the battle of Bennington was fought 
on August 16, 1777, and well remember hear- 
ing the booming of the cannon on that memo- 
rable day, his home being near the battle 
ground. 

Ezra Olin had but a limited education and 
and was reared a farmer; he was early taught 
the lessons of industry, thrift and economy. 
In March, 1791, he married Ruth Green, a 
daughter of Samuel and Ruth Green, natives 
of Rhode Island. Ruth Green was born in 
Rhode Island and moved with her parents to 
Vermont when she was quite young, and re- 
sided there until she was married, and soon 
after they moved to the old place, some two 
miles northeast of the center of Shaftsbury, 
which afterward became the homestead where 
the children were all born, with one exception. 
Ezra Olin and wife (Ruth Green Olin) were the 
parents of fourteen children, all born in Ver- 
mont. They were John, Samuel. Betsy, Arvin, 
Asa, Philip, Ezra, Ruth, Maria, Paris, Heman, 
Truman, Mary A. and Almira. Ezra Olin 
was a farmer of Vermont and had a comfort- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



781 



able pioneer home in the midst of the Green 
mountains, and by their sturdy thrift and in- 
dustry lived in frugal comfort. Mr. Olin was 
a whig in politics and a man of sterling worth 
and integrity and reared his family in the 
paths of honesty and virtue. In 1824 he sold 
his farm in Shaftsbury and moved by team to 
Genesee county. New York state, where six of 
his sons had preceded him and were busy in 
clearing up the farm. His wife and four of 
the children were left to follow the next June. 
They went from Albany to Rochester, N. Y., 
by canal boat. He settled on a farm partly 
cleared by his son Arvin. He finally cleared 
up a farm at Perry, consisting of about 100 
acres, and made a good home, and here passed 
his remaining days and died November 5, 1858, 
aged eighty-six years. 

The Olins descended from sterling Welsh 
ancestry. John Olin, the first of the name in 
America settled in East Greenwich, R. I. He 
had been pressed on board a British man-of- 
war on the coast of Wales, but deserted 
at Boston. Mass. Tradition states that the 
name was originally Llewellyn, and that the 
original John changed it to Olin. John Olin 
was a Welshman and had red hair. He was 
a farmer and made his home near the head 
waters of the Narragansett bay and here reared 
his family. He was married in East Green- 
wich, R. I., to Susannah Spencer, October 4, 
1708, by Thomas Fry, justice. She was a 
daughter of John and Susannah Spencer, who 
emigrated from Wales. The genealogy of two 
of their four children, John and Henry, comes 
down to us with unerring accuracy. John 
Olin, the first, died at Newport. R. I., June 
10, 1725, aged sixty-one years. Of the other 
children, there is no record. John Olin, 
second, son of above, was born in Rhode Is- 
land in 1 714, was an overseer of the poor and 
pound keeper, and a freeman of the town of 
East Greenwich. He married in East Green- 



wich, December 8, 1734, Susannah Pierce, 
daughter of Jeremiah Pierce, of Rhode Island. 
They lived in Rhode Island, where they reared 
their family, but in later life they returned to 
Shaftsbury, Vt. , where they had four sons liv- 
ing. The following children were born of this 
marriage. : Phebe, Jonathan, Anna, John, 
John (second), Gideon, Giles and Barbara. 
During the struggle for independence this fam- 
ily took an active part, and some of them were 
raised to the rank of officers in the colonial 
army. John Olin died in January, 1797, 
aged eighty-three years, and Susan his wife, 
died in February, 1802, aged eighty-seven 
years. John Olin, third generation, and the 
third son of John, was born September 17, 
1 74 1, and married Sarah Card in Rhode Island 
about 1764, and moved to Vermont to escape 
the lawlessness of the British soldiers on the 
coast, and in 1775 settled in the Green moun- 
tains. His children were Paris, Hannah, Ezra, 
Phebe, Henry, Nancy, and Joseph. John 
Olin, third; died September 24, 1821, aged 
eighty years, and Sarah, his wife died June 12, 
1819. 

Arvin Olin, son of Ezra and Ruth (Green) 
Olin-, was born July 13, 1797, and at the age 
of thirteen years was bound out to a farmer 
for seven months of the summer season, until 
nineteen years old. During a part of each 
winter he was allowed to attend school, and 
at nineteen his father gave him his freedom. 
The first summer he worked for a farmer for 
$16 per month and taught school during the 
winter in a district school. Here he v/on his 
wife, who was Miss Betsy Bennett — one of 
his pupils — and they were married March 9, 
18 1 7. On the 1 8th of March, not finding em- 
ployment in his neighborhood, he shouldered 
his knapsack and started in pursuit of employ- 
ment and a home. After a journey of 300 
miles on foot, he arrived in Perry — then Gene- 
see county, N. Y., where his elder brother 



782 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



had settled the year previous, and with his 
assistance he bargained for fifty acres of land, 
of which six acres had been cleared, and on 
which a small house had already been built. 
The price was $1,300, all on credit. He re- 
mained here through the season and worked 
part of the time on his land and part of the 
time for wages, and having made some prepar- 
ation for living, in September he walked back 
to Vermont for his wife. About October istof 
the same year they packed their few effects in 
a two-horse wagon, which he hired, and with 
a teamster started for their new home in the 
west, as that part of New York state was 
called, and they arrived at his small log cabin 
in the woods about the 20th of October, and 
he, by working for others and the help of his 
brother John, and making potash, was quite 
enabled to get through the winter. He was 
joined by his brother Samuel, who came out 
the second year, to whom he sold a part of 
these fifty acres, and they worked together for 
three and one-half years. Mr. Olin then sold 
Samuel the place and bought another partly- 
improved farm near by, to which he added 
during the succeeding eight years, until he 
owned 210 acres, and here lived until Novem- 
ber 22, 1834; having sold his farm, he located 
in Portage county, Ohio, where he lived for a 
few weeks in Mantua, and in 1834, late in De- 
cember, settled on the farm in Franklin town- 
ship, where he passed the remainder of his 
days, and died June 7, 1870, aged seventy-two 
years. His wife, Betsy Bennett, was born 
February 6, 1801, at Bennington, Vt. Her 
parents were Francis and Cynthia Bennett. 
She attended the district school in Bennington 
at the time it was taught by Arvin Olin. She 
was married in Bennington, and while her 
husband was away west, she was busily en- 
gaged in spinning, weaving and making articles 
of use for her western home. 

In the spring of 1835, he made brick and 



built a two-story brick house, which is still 
standing in a good state of preservation, and 
by his steady industry he greatly improved the 
farm. He had a farm of 240 acres, and was 
an excellent citizen and served as township 
trustee several years, and justice of the peace 
many years. He was a member of the board 
of education and of the Universalist church. 
He was a man of strong character and reared 
an excellent family. His wife Betsy died 
January 5, 1872, aged seventy years; they 
were the parents of thirteen children, viz: 
Cynthia, Mary R., Franklyn, Ransom, Hen- 
rietta, Nelson, Merilla, Sarah A., Laura, Al- 
mira, Anson, Diantha, and one died an infant, 
nine days old. 

Mary R. Olin received the usual limited 
school education and married at fifteen years 
of age, November 29, 1835, •" Franklin town- 
ship, James D. Haymaker, the son of Freder- 
ick and Rachael (Davis) Haymaker. 

John Haymaker, son of Jacob and the 
father of Frederick, came to Portage county 
with his wife, Sallie, and children, Jacob, 
George and Catherine, and settled in Kent, on 
the Cuyahoga river, coming from Warren, 
Ohio, where they had located a year previously, 
having come from Pittsburg. They were of 
German descent and members of a large con- 
nection of that name in central and northern 
Pennsylvania. The father, Jacob, had pros- 
pected through this section of the country dur- 
ing the spring of 1805, and, being pleased 
with the country, now Franklin township, pur- 
chased of Olmstead's agent a tract of land 
consisting of the present site of the Kent mills. 
Arriving at the Cuyahoga, John and his family 
took possession of a rude cabin left by the 
surveyors, in 1803, which stood just west of 
where the upper bridge now is. This hut had 
been used for several years indiscriminately by 
the Indians and a shelter for deer and other 
wild animals, and was about a foot deep with 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



783 



excrement, which had to be shoveled out before 
occupation. During the time they occupied 
this hovel, the Indians came around in great 
numbers, as the headquarters of the red-skins 
were at the falls of the Cuyahoga and on a 
small stream in Streetsboro township. One 
day, while the Haymakers were occupying 
this cabin, a few Indians came there and the 
squaw, as usual, took her papoose from her 
back and stood the board to which it had been 
strapped up against the logs of the cabin, as 
they never took their children into the houses 
of whites, except in very cold weather. After 
the squaw had gone in, a wild hog came 
through the brush, and grasping the Indian 
baby ran off with it; the mother, hearing the 
noise, ran out and rescued her babe, but not 
until she had badly beaten the hog. In the 
spring of 1806, George Haymaker, brother of 
John, and their father, Jacob, came in. Jacob 
built a house on the west side of the river 
where the Kent mills now stand. During the 
fall of 1806 Frederick Haymaker came in. 
He was another son of Jacob. He purchased 
a tract of land including most of the upper 
village. He was a man of fine educational 
and natural abilities, and served as private 
secretary to the famous Aaron Burr on the 
well known expedition for which Burr was 
tried for treason. Frederick was the father of 
twenty children by three wives. The Hay- 
maker family owned about 600 acres on the 
present site of Kent. The older Haymakers 
were Indian traders. During 1807 the Hay- 
maker's built a small mill. The stones forgrind- 
ing were those known as hard heads and were 
prepared by Bradford Kellogg, of Hudson. 
The mill was a very crude affair and was used 
before it was entirely finished. Crotched 
poles were planted, upon which other poles 
were placed. A coarse cloth was used as a 
bolting-cloth — the work being done by hand. 
This primitive affair was of great convenience 



to the settlers and was used with but little im- 
provement for several years. The first white 
child born in Kent was John F. Haymaker, 
son of John and Sallie Haymaker, born Sep- 
tember II, 1807. The first death was that 
of Eve Haymaker, wife of Jacob, father of the 
first settler, John. Jacob died in 1819, John 
in 1827, George in 1838 and Frederick died 
in Trumbull county Ohio, at Leavittsburg, in 
1850. Sallie died on June 15, 1869, at the 
great age of ninety-four years, having lived in 
this township seventy years. The old bury- 
ing ground in which Eve Haymaker was buried 
in 1810 was donated by one of the Haymakers 
for burial purposes and consisted of two acres 
of land. In 1831-2 Federick Haymaker sold 
his property, consisting of 100 acres of land 
and a fine water power in the upper village 
of Kent. Frederick was born at Little York, 
Pa., November 7, 1772. He married Elea- 
nor Robertson, who was born in Pittsburg. 
Pa., March 9, T77, of Scotch-Irish an- 
cestry, and died at Pittsburg, Pa., November 
19, 1807. By his first marriage to Eleanor 
Robertson he was the father of the following 
children, John, Sarah, Mary, Andrew. Mar- 
garet, Sarah, and Susannah. 

Mrs. Haymaker died, and he then married 
Rachael Davis, who was born December 12, 
1788, at Shippensburg, Pa., and she died Sep- 
tember 15, 1809, in Franklin township, Port- 
age county, Ohio, the mother of one child, 
James Davis. 

Frederick Haymaker married, for his third 
wife, Mary Swan, born June 19, 1789. in 
Westmoreland county, Pa., and bore the fol- 
lowing children: Allen, William D. , Rachael, 
Eliza, Rebecca, Frederick, George. Cynthia, 
Jesse, Francis, Marion, and Henry Clay. A 
period of over thirty-six years elapsed between 
the birth of his first child and his last, who 
was born seventeen years before his death. 
His first child was born when he was about 



784 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



twenty-five years old, and the last when he 
was about sixty-one years old. Frederick 
Haymaker was a prosperous man, of excellent 
character and much respected among the pio- 
neers. In early days he built a wqolen-mill 
at Kent, Ohio, which he ran several years. 
He was a man of marked ability and had a 
good knowledge of medicine, which he prac- 
ticed among the pioneers. In his earlier days 
he was a well-known Indian trader. 

James D. Haymaker was born September 
2, 1809, a short distance from the spot where 
Brady made his leap across the Ohio river in 
Franklin township. Portage county. He re- 
ceived a very limited education in the district 
school and gained much of his knowledge him- 
self. He worked in the woolen-mill with his 
father when he was young, and at the age of 
twenty-two years he engaged in the manufac- 
ture of wooden pails with his brother, Will- 
iam, at what is now Kent, Ohio, then Frank- 
lin Mills. For two years he had charge of a 
hotel at Fairport, on lake Erie, and returned 
to Franklin township, where he engaged in 
farming, a pursuit which he ever afterward fol- 
lowed. He married November 29, 1835, Mary 
R. Olin, born February 22, 1820, in Genesee 
county, N. Y. , a daughter of Arvin and Betsy 
(Bennett) Olin. Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker 
were the parents of fourteen children, viz: 
Franklin, Oscar F., Rachael D., Ann M., 
Arvin O., Mary R., James A., Clarissa L. , 
Almira B., Martha A., Cora E., William J., 
Abbie M., and an infant unnamed. 

Mr. Haymaker was a strong Union man, 
and a stanch republican. He had one son in 
the Civil war — James A. — a private of com- 
pany I, One Hundred and Ninety-third regi- 
ment Ohio volunteer infantry, who served 
seven months, enlisting when sixteen years 
old. Mr. Haymaker was a member of the 
l'ni\ersalist church of Kent, and was church 
tni-tee many years. He was an honored citi- 



zen, township trustee many years, and justice 
of the peace several terms; also a member of 
the school board. He lived to be seventy-nine 
years old, and died January' 31, 1889. He 
was a pioneer of great worth, always indus- 
trious and frugal, well known for his honesty, 
and he accumulated a goodly propert}', own- 
ing a well-improved farm of 200 acres. Polit- 
ically, he was a life-long republican. He 
was of an active mind and strong character. 
Mrs. Haymaker is yet living, and is a venerable 
lady of over seventy-seven years of age. Her 
faculties are remarkablj- well preserved, and 
she possesses an excellent memory. She is a 
woman of very wide experience and for many 
years has taken an active interest in his- 
torical matters pertaining to the county, and 
to her family, and possesses a wonderful fund 
of fact and reminiscences. She has since her 
husband's death managed her homestead with 
wisdom and prudence, and has succeeded in 
preserving it in good condition. Her daugh- 
ter, Abbie M., resides with her mother. She 
married Edmund W. Case, son of Henry and 
Mary Case. They have one daughter, Lona M. 



f^y^ UFUS L. WILLARD (deceased). 
I /^T formerly one of the respected resi- 
£ , P dents of Cuyahoga Falls, was a de- 
scendant of Revolutionary ancestry. 
Major Willard, the founder of the family in 
America, came with an English Puritan emi- 
gration between 1630 and 1640, and settled 
near Boston, Mass. On the maternal side, 
the subject also descends from Revolutionary 
stock, his maternal grandfather having served 
as a soldier in the war for independence. 

John O. Willard, father of Rufus L., was 
born in Hartland township, Windsor county, 
Vt., in March, 1788. He was a lumberman, 
and married, in Vermont, Silinda Lamb, who 
was born in 1787. Mr. Willard came to Ohio 




^ ^ S^'WZ^e^z^^^^ 




,jh^ (/^'^ ^^j/aj.cl 



4' 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



789 



in the fall of 1818 and worked one season, 
then walked back from Cleveland to Ver- 
gennes, Vt., in 18 18, a distance of about 700 
miles, making this long distance in fourteen 
days, or at the rate of about fifty miles per 
day. Mr. Willard, in 1820, moved his family 
to Cleveland, Ohio, in May, coming on the 
first steamboat, Walk in the Water, on Lake 
Erie. The passengers were landed in Cleve- 
land in small boats. Mr. Willard's family 
consisted of his wife and four children — Sarah, 
Harrison, Adelia and Anson; Elliott S. and 
Rufus L. were born in Cleveland. Mr. Wil- 
lard bought land where the northwest corner 
of Euclid and Wilson avenues now is, and 
cleared up a farm of fifty-four acres, built a 
residence and other buildings, and engaged in 
the manufacture of wagons. He lived to be 
forty-four years old, and died, in 1832, in 
Cleveland. In his day Cleveland was a small 
village, mostly composed of hewed log houses. 
His widow passed all her remaining days on 
the old place and died in June, 1865, having 
been a member of the Christian church many 
years. 

Rufus L. Willard was born in Cleveland, 
Ohio, April 8, 1825, on his father's farm and 
received the education of the pioneer schools 
in that city, attending district school in a log 
school-house during the winter, and a select 
school in summer. He learned the painting 
business and made a specialty of marine work 
and fine painting. He married, November 17, 
1847, Mary Tifft, who was born September 
24, 1 829, in Cato, N. Y. , a daughter of Charles 
and Jane Ann (Chase) Tifft. Charles Tifft 
was born at Danville, Vt., March 25, 1800, a 
a son of Matthew and Sarah (Carr) Tifft. The 
Tiffts were of English ancestry and probably 
came with the English Puritans to New Eng- 
land and were early colonial settlers in Ver- 
mont. Matthew Tifft was born in New York, 
September 12, 1771, and was a shoemaker 



He was a member of the Methodist church 
and he and wife were the parents of Charles, 
Joseph, John, Keziah and Polly. Mr. Tifft 
was killed by accident May 31, 1829. He 
was a prosperous farmer, in comfortable cir- 
cumstances, and was buried on his old farm. 
Charles Tifft, son of above, received his early 
education in the public schools and married in 
New York state, at Cato, Jane Ann Chase, 
who was born August 14, 1809, at Poughkeep- 
sie, N. Y. , a daughter of Joshua and Mar}- 
(Hackett) Chase. Joshua Chase was born in 
Rhode Island, being a descendant of one of 
three Chase brothers, John, Aquiila and Will- 
iam, who came from England in 1730 and 
settled in that state. The original Joshua, 
the founder of this branch of the Chase family, 
married a Miss Johnson, and they had the fol- 
lowing children: Polly, Mary, Joshua, Job, 
Johnson, Nathan, Maxon, Merza and Electa. 
Grandfather Joshua Chase married Mary 
Hackett. Their children were Austin (born 
in Connecticut), Nathan, Edwin, and Jane 
Ann (born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y.), John A. 
(born in New York), Johnson (born in Red 
Kill, N. Y.) and Northrup (born at Cato, N. 
Y.)." Joshua Chase was a shoemaker and sub- 
stantial citizen. He died at Cato, a Metho- 
dist in religion and a man of many virtues. 
Salmon P. Chase, the great war statesman, 
was a descendant of this family. 

Charles Tifft, after marriage, settled at 
Cato, N. Y., and was a manufacturer of 
potash. In 1833 he came with his family to 
Cleveland, Ohio, and lived on a farm on what 
is now Wilson avenue for four years, cleared 
up 100 acres of land of heavy timber, and then 
came to Norton, Summit county, and bought 
a farm of 200 acres, where he lived for five 
years, and in 1841 moved to Cuyahoga Falls, 
where he established the first livery stable and 
a hack line to Hudson, and continued in this 
business many years. Mr. Tifft was also en- 



790 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



gaged in the pottery business, and was at one 
time proprietor of what is now the CHfford 
Inn. He prospered and bought a great deal 
of real estate. He and wife were the parents 
of twelve children: Sarah, Mary, George, 
Caroline, born in Cato, N. Y. ; Adaline, born 
in Cleveland, Ohio; Mark, born in Barberton, 
Ohio; Lucinda, Euphemia, Julia, Jane Ann, 
Willard H. and Edwin H. Mr. Tifft was a 
well known and prosperous citizen, was highly 
respected, lived to be eighty-five years old, 
and died June 30, 1885. 

After marriage Mr. Willard settled in 
Cleveland and followed his business of painting 
for nearly fifty years, and then engaged in 
glass staining ten years. He built a substan- 
tial residence of brick at the corner of J and 
Pearl streets, in which he resided with his 
family for nearly thirty-seven years. He and 
his wife were the parents of one son, Charles 
A. (now deceased). Mrs. Willard is a mem- 
ber of the Christian church, and in politics 
Mr. Willard was a republican. Fraternally 
he was a Mason, a member of Biglow lodge, 
Cleveland, Ohio, and of Thatcher chapter, 
and had been master of his lodge and held 
numerous offices. He was also a K. T. and a 
member of Oriental commandery. No. 12. 
Mr. Willard was entirely a self-made man and 
was always noted for his industry and integ- 
rity. Mr. Willard was a member of the school 
board of Cleveland eight years and president 
of the board one year. Mr. and Mrs. Willard 
came to Cuyahoga Falls in 1892, having re- 
tired from active life, and here he died June 6, 
1897. In the death of Rufus L. Willard, Ohio 
lost one of her noble and true men. To his 
funeral there came from his old lodge at Cleve- 
land nearly 100 members, to do honor to his 
memory. 

Charles A. Willard, born April 30, 1849, 
in Cleveland, Ohio, received a good education 
in the public schools and engaged in the wall 



paper business. When he was a boy of six- 
teen years he enlisted in Capt. Russell's com- 
pany, in the One Hundred and Eighty-eighth 
regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and served 
one year, when he was disabled and was con- 
fined for some time in a hospital. He married, 
in Cleveland, Catherine Arntz, and they had 
three children, Silenda, Jennie and Frank W. 
Charles A. Willard was a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, Thatcher chapter. He 
was a man of strict integrity, and was greatly 
respected wherever known, and died April 6, 
1896. 



aLIFFORD S. HIDDLESON, M. D. , 
of Atwater, Portage county, Ohio, 
was born in Randolph, in the same 
county, May 8, i860, and is a son 
of John and Mary (Prosser) Hiddleson, both 
of whom were born in Ohio, the former in 
1843 and the latter in 1843, Mrs. Hiddleson 
dying, however, in 1891. Mr. Hiddleson, a 
harnessmaker by trade, has followed this busi- 
ness upward of thirty-eight years, and has 
always been respected for his straightforward 
dealing and unswerving honesty. He was a 
soldier in the Sixteenth Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry during the Civil war, and is now a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R. 

Dr. C. S. Hiddleson received his early ed- 
ucation in the district and high schools of 
Randolph, and pursued his Latin and German 
studies under a Catholic priest named Reb- 
holtz, and also under the Lutheran minister. 
After leaving his tutors he entered upon the 
study of medicine under Drs. Price and Per- 
kins of Randolph, with whom he remained four 
years, and then went to Cleveland and took a 
course of study in the Western Reserve Col- 
lege of Medicine, in the meantime reading for 
six months in the office of Dr. X. C. Scott, of 
that city. He then went to Cincinnati and 





Z^f/gA^-^ 





OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



791 



there completed his medical studies at the 
Ohio Medical college, in March, 1883, and 
then returned to Randolph, where he formed 
a partnership for practice with Dr. J. Price, 
which partnership continued for three and one- 
half years. He then came to Atwater, met 
with unequivocal and unqualified success in 
his profession, and here he has since remained. 
Dr. Hiddleson was united in marriage Oc- 
tober I, 1885, with Miss Ella Mendenhall, a 
native of Randolph, and the accomplished 
daughter of W. P. and Aseneth Mendenhall, 
of Atwater, this union resulting in the birth of 
two children, viz: Robert M., July i, 1887, 
and Dorothy, June 30, 1889. The doctor 
and wife are members of the Congregational 
church, in which he holds the office of trustee. 
and are rearing their children in the same 
faith. Fraternally, the doctor is a member of 
Unity chapter. No. 12, R. A. Masons, of Ra- 
venna; holds the office of chancellorcommander 
in the Knights of Pythias order, being a mem- 
ber of Atwater lodge. No. 164, and is past 
commander of the Knights of Maccabees, At- 
water tent. No. 64. In politics the doctor is 
a sound money republican and protectionist; 
holds the office of health inspector of Atwater 
and is a member of the board of education. 
He is genial and courteous, is respected for 
his professional skill, and socially he and wife 
are always welcome at the homes of the best 
people of Atwater township. 



ai 



'ARREN T. HAYES, one of the 
most respected citizens of Streets- 
boro township. Portage county, 
Ohio, and a gallant soldier of the 
late Civil war. springs from an old colonial 
family of Massachusetts, and was born in 
Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, May 31, 1846, 
a son of Elijah and Sallie (Fowler) Hayes. He 
received a good common-school education, and 



enlisted, at the age of eighteen years, at 
Cleveland, Ohio, March 3, 1864, in company 
K, Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years or 
during the war, and served until honorably 
discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, July 13, 
1865 — a period of one year, four months and 
thirteen days. He was always an active sol- 
dier, except one month, when he was home 
on sick furlough with lung fever. The winter 
was extremely cold and the summer hot, and 
Mr. Hayes suffered a great deal from expo- 
sure, from which he has never recovered. 
Warren T. Hayes, as a defender of his coun- 
try's honor and her flag, was unswerving in 
his efforts. He was faithful to the trust im- 
posed upon him, and his services as a private 
in company K, One Hundred and Twenty- 
eighth Ohio volunteer infantry, were promptly 
recognized. His arduous duties were guard- 
ing and taking care of rebel prisoners at John- 
son's Island, but he was frequently called 
upon to help form detachments for important 
services elsewhere. His work during the en- 
listment ofttimes called him in pursuit of the 
rebels in western Virginia, during the year 
1862. Mr. Hayes enjoys the confidence of 
his comrades, as well as those who know him 
in his vicinity. He is possessed of a genial, 
cordial disposition, is sympathetic in manner 
and has a good word for all. The citizens 
of the United States should ever honor those 
brave men who offered their lives, if need be, 
as a sacrifice upon the altar of liberty. 

Mr. Hayes returned to Geauga county after 
the war and engaged in farming until 1870, 
when he came to Portage county, and here 
married, March 22, 1871, in Streetsboro town- 
ship, Laura A. Trotter, a native of the towns- 
hip, born September 17, 1842, a daughter of 
John and Harriet (Johnson) Trotter, the former 
of whom, an old settler of Streetsboro, was 
born in Ireland and came to New York state, 
and thence to Aurora township, where he died 



792 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



a venerable man of eighty-three years. His 
children were Laura A. and Annie. Mrs. Hayes 
was the eldest in her father's family. Her sister 
Annie was the wife of Melville Smith, of Streets- 
boro township. They had one child, Annie, 
and she is the wife of William Bell, who is a 
farmer. Mrs. Smith died October 20, 1873. 
Mr. and Mrs. Haj'es settled on the present 
homestead after marriage, and their children 
are Fred A. and Annie Z. In politics Mr. 
Hayes is a republican, and cast his first presi- 
dential vote for U. S.Grant: is a member of the 
G. A. R. , \\'illiam T. Sherman post. No. 68, 
Hudson, Ohio, and is at present officer of the 
day. Mr. Hayes is a straightforward, honor- 
able man and a good citizen. 

George, great-grandfather of Warren T. 
Hayes, was a farmer of Connecticut and was 
born December 12, 1726. The first of the 
name of Hayes in America was born in Scot- 
land in 1655, came to Windsor, Conn., in 
1680, moved to Simsbury, Conn., in 1698 and 
died there September 2, 1725. He married, 
the first time, at Windsor, Conn., about 1682, 
and had born to him a son, George, who 
died an infant, April 3, 1683. The first wife 
died in 1698, and he ne.xt married, also at 
Windsor; Conn., Abigail Dibble, only daugh- 
ter of Samuel Dibble, of Windsor, by his 
first wife. She was born January 19, 1868, 
and died in 1725. Eleven children are men- 
tioned in his will of April 30, 1725, viz: 
Abigail, born in Windsor 1664 and married 
Paul T. Thompkins; Daniel, born in Windsor, 
April 26, 1686, ancestor of president R. B. 
Hayes: Sarah, born in Windsor, 1687-8, and 
married JohnGossard; Mary, born in Windsor, 
1690 and married William Rice; Joanna, born 
in Windsor, 1690 and married James Hilyer; 
George, the third, born Windsor, March 9, 
1695 and died in or after 1765; William, born 
in Windsor, June 13, 1697: Samuel, born in 
Simsbury, 1699. 



George Hayes, the fourth, was born at 
Windsor, March 9, 1765, and by his marriage 
became the father of the following children: 
Jonathan, Zera, George, Elisha, Jane, Mary, 
David, Benjamin, Jacob, Elija, Amos, James 
and Sarah. 

The Hayes family is of undoubted Scottish 
ancestry, although, since the days of William 
the Conqueror, branches of the family have 
lived in England. Four families by the name 
of Hayes are recorded in New England in the 
seventeenth century — one of them in New 
Hampshire, and the other three in Connecticut. 

First — Thomas, of Milford, Conn., 1645, 
whose descendants removed a few years later 
to Newark, N. J., where they remain to 
this day. 

Second — Nathaniel, of Norwalk, Conn., 
165 I, of whose family no trace is found after 
the year 1729. 

Third — John, of Dover, N. H., who came 
in 1640, from Scotland, and was the founder 
of a widespread and honorable New England 
family, many of whom still cluster around the 
old homes in New Hampshire and Maine. 

Fourth — George, of Windsor, Conn., who 
came, also, from Scotland as early as 1680, 
being then about twenty-five years of age, and 
whom an early tradition among his progeny 
calls a brother of the New Hampshire emigra- 
tion. No proof of this nor any relationship 
has yet appeared, but the tradition shows the 
undoubted Scottish descent of both families, 
and their coming to New England about the 
same time and the unmistakable coincidence 
of names. From George Hayes, of Windsor, 
Conn., ex-President Hayes descended, and 
many of the Ohio branch. A manuscript 
record, written or dictated by Ezekiel Hayes, 
first, of New Hampshire (born 1724 and died 
1807, grandson of George, of Windsor, Conn.), 
says that George Hayes went from Scotland 
to Derbyshire, England, and lived with his 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



793 



uncle. He was anxious to see London, 
whither he went. Having received some ac- 
count of America, he took passage, and came 
to this country. He married, and three chil- 
dren were born to him. His wife died, and 
also his children. Afterward he married Abi- 
gail Dibble, of Long Island, and settled in 
Windsor, Conn., and by her he had ten chil- 
dren. George Hayes died at Simsbury, Conn. , 
September 2, 1725; Daniel is the ne.xt in this 
line; then Ezekiel; then Rutherford, and then 
Rutherford, the father of R. B. Hayes, ex- 
president of the United States. Of Daniel, 
the second generation, it is stated that when 
he was about twenty-two years old he was 
taken prisoner by the Indians, almost in sight 
of his old home, and carried a captive to Can- 
ada, and held four years. An interesting ac- 
count of this is given in Phelps's History of 
Sunbury. For full Hayes genealogy, see life 
of George Hayes, of Windsor, and his descend- 
ants, by Rev. Charles Wells, M. A., West- 
field, N. Y., printed at Buffalo, N. Y.. by 
Wells, Jones & Co. 

Eli Hayes, grandfather of Warren T., 
came to Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, in 
1801, and cleared up a farm of about 100 
acres, and here remained until his death on 
his farm — a venerable man of about ninety- 
three years of age, and a respected pioneer. 
His children were Simeon, Elijah, Amos, 
Amanda, and Polly. 

Elijah Hayes, father of Warren T. , was 
born at Russell, Hampden county, Mass., in 
1784, and came with his parents to Ohio when 
seven years old. He was always a farmer 
and owned a farm of 117 acres of good 
land. To his marriage with Sallie Fowler 
were born the following children: Eber B., 
Arvilla L. , and Warren T. Mr. Hayes lived 
to be eighty-seven years old, and died at Char- 
don, Geagua county, Ohio. He was a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church from the age of 



twenty-one years, and was a class leader. In 
politics, he was a whig and republican, and 
was an honored citizen and upright man. 



St 



ILLIAM H. HARR is a respected 
citizen of Mantua Station, though 
he was born in Green county, Ohio, 
August, I, 1845, the son of Jacob 
and Maria Harr, both of whom came from 
Washington county, Md. 

William H. removed, with his father, to 
Dayton, Ohio, when he was about eight years 
old, and attended first the public school and 
then the free academy, and gained a good 
education. He attended school until i860, 
and then began learning the milling business 
at Tippecanoe City, Ohio. He enlisted in 
August, 1862, at Cincinnati, Ohio, as a seaman 
on the United States gunboat Tyler for two 
years, and served until his time of enlistment 
expired, receiving an honorable discharge at 
Cairo, Ills., on the Clara Dolsen. a United 
States receiving ship, August, 1864. He was 
in the battle of Lake Providence, skirmish at 
Millican Bend, and at Vicksburg, Hayne's Bluff, 
and .in the Red River expedition and a battle at 
Helena, Ark., and in several minor engage- 
ments. Mr. Harr was a good soldier, and 
prompt and cheerful in the discharge of all his 
duties, and served his country faithfully. He 
considers the hardest battle he was in was at 
Helena, Ark. His captain was James Pritchett, 
a regular naval officer, ranking as captain. 

After the war Mr. Harr returned to Tippe- 
canoe City, Ohio, and continued the milling 
business as soon as he was able, one year being 
wasted on account of his disease — the chronic 
diarrhea, incurred in the war, and from which 
disease he has ever since suffered. He came 
to Portage county about 1870, and bought 
Fenn Valley mills, which he still continues to 
run. He, in company with his father, Jacob 



794 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Harr, built in 1876 the Mantua City mills, 
which burned in 1879, and W. H. Harr, who 
then owned the niili, lost about $9,000. He 
then returned to the Fenn Valley mills and 
one year later went to Xenia, Ohio, and 
bought a mill which he sold one year later, 
and then operated a mill in Tippecanoe City 
for two years, and thirteen years ago returned 
to the Fenn Valley mill, which he has operated 
since. 

Politically he is a republican and a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R. , Mantua Station, Bentley 
post, of which he has served as adjutant; 
also is a member of the K. of P. Mr. Harr has 
always been a hard-working, industrious man, 
and was a good soldier, and has always stood 
high for his integrity of character. 

Mr. Harr married, August 18, 1878, Nannie 
J. Crocker, born July 27, 1850, at Hiram, 
Portage county, Ohio, daughter of Amos and 
Mary Jane (Mannis) Crocker. Amos Crocker 
was the son of David and Nannie (Warren) 
Crocker. David Crocker was born in Con- 
necticut and came as a pioneer to Portage 
county, settled in Freedom township, where 
he owned and cleared up a large farm, and was 
a substantial farmer. He was the father of 
Thomas, Amos, Orlando, Lucretia, Charlotte, 
Salomie and Nancy. David Crocker lived to 
be an aged man and died on his farm, a much 
respected pioneer. 

Amos Crocker was born in Connecticut, 
and came when a boy to Ohio with his par- 
ents, and here married Mary J. Mannis. He was 
a blacksmith and wagonmaker, and lived in 
Freedom and Hiram townships all his life. 
He was a mechanical genius and could make 
anything of iron and wood. He made guns 
as well as wagons, and many other things, and 
was a well-known man. His children were 
Nannie J., Emma D., Mary L., Lillie G., 
Olive A., James T., Ella M. and Rose. Mr. 
Crocker was an industrious man, much re- 



spected by all. He died aged fifty-three years. 
His widow lives in Hiram, aged sixty-three. 

Jacob Harr, father of subject, was the son 
of Rudolph, who was the son of Rudolph, and 
this name has been handed down to this 
branch of the Harr family in America for five 
generations. In early times two brothers 
came over — one named Rudolph. They left 
one family home to hold the old family name, 
which was of noble ancestry. The family 
settled on the line of Maryland and Pennsyl- 
vania before the Revolutionary war. Ru- 
dolph, grandfather of subject, was a pioneer 
in Washington county, Md., where he was 
one of the best and largest farmers of that 
county. He sold out and bought a farm in 
Montgomery county, Ohio, as a pioneer, set- 
tling in Dayton, at Shakerstown. Here he 
had a good farm of 160 acres, and here passed 
his active life. He was drowned in the Miami 
river at Tippecanoe City. 

Jacob Harr, father of subject, was born in 
Washington county, Md., and came to Mont- 
gomery county, Ohio, when a young man. He 
had learned the milling trade in Maryland, 
near Baltimore. He was married, in 1837, 
in Daj'ton, to Marie Howard, by Rev. D. 
Winters, and their children were Nettie A., 
William H., Amanda E., Mary C. , and Anna 
M. Mr. Harr worked at his trade, of a miller 
in Dayton, and in the early 'fifties owned the 
largest mill in that city. He located, in 1858, 
in Montgomery, Ala., and engaged in milling, 
but was interrupted by the Civil war, when 
he returned to Tippecanoe, re-engaged in 
milling, and then came with his son, William 
H., to Mantua Station, where he died, in 
1876. He was a member of the old Dunkard 
church, and an honest and upright man. 
Marie Howard was of German ancestry, and 
was the daughter of H. Hunt. Mr. Hunt, 
the grandfather of Mrs. Jacob Harr, was a com- 
missioned officer in the Hessian army during 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



795 



the Revolutionary war, and resigned his com- 
mission from the British arn-iy and joined the 
patriot army. He was captured and was to 
be shot as a deserter, but through Gen. Wash- 
ington's influence he was exchanged. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harr have the following chil- 
dren: Rudolph Howard, born August 20, 
1879; Blaine, born January 9, 1881; William 
Oliver, born January 14, 1883, and John Ben- 
jamin, born February 10, 1885. 



HBRAHAMHUFFMAN. a pioneer 
farmer of Edinburg township. Port- 
age county, Ohio, is a native of Red 
Bank township, Armstrong county. 
Pa., and was born January 27, 1821, a son of 
William and Christina (Money) Huffman. 

William Huffman was a native of Ver- 
mont, and his wife of Pennsylvania, in which 
latter state they were married, and about 
1825 came to Ohio, and for six years lived at 
Deerfield, Portage county. Mr. Huffman then 
purchased a farm of 100 acres in Rootstown 
township, where he followed farming until his 
death at the age of eighty-six years, his widow 
living to reach the advanced age of ninety-two. 
They were the parents of nine children beside 
the subject, who were named Philip, Henry, 
Adam, John, Martha, Catherine, Jacob, Will- 
iam, and Anna, all now deceased, with the 
exception of Abraham (the subject). 

Abraham Huffman, who was but four years 
of age when brought by his parents to Ohio, 
was educated in the only school-house then in 
his neighborhood. This was a rude log struc- 
ture, the light to which was admitted through 
holes cut in the log walls, and protected by 
cheese-cloth. The teacher generally boarded 
with one patron and then wiih another, and 
his fee was $1 per term of three months for 
each pupil, and this old building was situated 
on the farm Mr. Huffman now owns. He 



well remembers the wild animals and birds 
that inhabited the woods when he was a boy 
— among which were bears, foxes, deer, wolves, 
squirrels and turkeys; and he also recalls an 
incident which occurred to his father one 
bright Sunday morning when the latter was on 
his way to church at Atwater. The father 
was threading his way along a narrow path 
through the woods, when he sighted a bear in 
his way, which he succeeded in " treeing; " 
calling for help, he was soon joined by his 
sons, who secured a rifle from their home at 
no great distance, and bruin soon became the 
victim of the deadly aim of the father, who 
then pursued his way to the meeting house, 
while the boys lugged the bear to their home, 
to be further discussed at future meals. 

After leaving school subject went to farm- 
ing with his parents in Rootstown. He mar- 
ried, January 2, 1 842, Miss Jane Summerill, who 
was born March 23, 1824, in Lexmgton town- 
ship. Stark county, Ohio, a daughter of Har- 
rison and Hope (Crockford) Summerill, the 
former a native of Virginia and the latter of 
New Jersey. The father of Harrison was of 
English descent, was a slaveholder in Virginia, 
and met his death at the hand of one of his 
own slaves. Harrison was born in 1789, 
served in the war of 181 2, and died in Indi- 
ana in 1861, while on a visit to some of his 
children and his wife. Hope, who was of 
Scotch descent, born in 1800, died in Lexing- 
ton, Stark county, Ohio, in 1833. After mar- 
riage Mr. Huffman started farming on his 
own account, leasing land from his father, in 
Rootstown, on which he remained several 
years, and then, disposing of his lease to a 
sister, moved to Edinburg township, where he 
purchased a farm three-quarters of a mile 
south of his present place, and this farm of 
fifty-eight acres of improved land he sold to 
Stacy Dole. He then purchased from Stacy 
Dole and John Wilks a tract of 102 acres, of 



796 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



which he sold one acre to the township as a 
site for a school building. This tract Mr. 
Huffman has converted into a comfortable 
home, and here resides with his wife and 
daughter and two grandchildren. The union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Huffman has been blessed 
with three children — Alvira Rosalia, Marion 
J. and Hope Victoria. Of these Alvira R. is 
the wife of Lucius F. Butler, an agriculturist, 
of Rootstown, and is the mother of two chil- 
dren — Mary Lillian and Clarence Metz. Mary 
Lillian is the wife of Dr. Mallott, of Roots- 
town Center, a man of brilliant education. 
Marion is married to Emma Bow, resides in 
Randolph township, and is the father of one 
child, Mertie B., who is the wife of Charles 
Colton and the mother of one child. Glen 
Colton. Hope Victoria was first married to 
William J. Stratton, to whom she bore one 
child — Marion J. — and after the death of Mr. 
Stratton was married to David Luli, by whom 
she became the mother of another child — 
Helen Jane. Hope Victoria resides with her 
two children on the home farm with her 
parents. Mrs. Huffman had three sisters and 
two brothers, and of this family of six there 
are only three survivors, viz: Mrs. Huffman, 
the eldest; Susan, wife of David Wood, a 
native of the Highlands of Scotland, and re- 
siding in Waterville, Minn. ; William, a farmer, 
of Michigan, who married a Miss Howe (now 
deceased), and had born to him seven 
children. Clarence Metz Huffman is employed 
in the pension office at Washington, D. C. 

In April, 1881, Mr. Huffman rented his 
farm and retired to Atwater, where he con- 
ducted the hotel known as the American 
house for eight years, when, failing health 
disinclining him for further business pursuits, 
he rented his hotel and returned to his farm, 
where he is passing his days in peace, as a 
wealthy and honored citizen is well entitled to 
do. Mr. Huffman is not connected with any 



secret order, nor has he ever held a public 
office, although in his political proclivities he 
is a democrat. No man in the township, how- 
ever, is more respected or more favorably 
known throughout Portage county. 



*-|^ lEUT. ASA WHITESTINE, of No. 
I j 1 00 1 East Exchange street, Akron, 
^I^J Ohio, is one of the veteran soldiers 
of the Civil war and a member of 
Buckley post. No. 12, G. A. R., of Akron, 
Ohio. He was born in Perry county. Ohio, 
March 4, 1841, a son of James and Massie 
(Shreve) Whitestine. He was taken by his 
parents to Huntington, Ind., in 1841, when 
he was but six months old. There he grew 
to manhood and enlisted, and was mustered 
into the United States service at Camp Sulli- 
van, Indianapolis, Ind., October (i, 1861, for 
i three years or during the war, in company F, 
Forty-seventh regiment Indiana volunteer in- 
fantry, under Capt. Sextus H. Shearer. He 
was honorably discharged at New Iberia, La., 
December 16. 1863, to enable him to re-enlist, 
on the same date, as corporal in the same or- 
ganization, three years as a veteran. He then 
served until honorably discharged as ,irst ser- 
geant, by reason of the close of the war, at 
Baton Rouge, La., by Capt. Jefferson F. Slus- 
ser, October 23, 1865. 

His first promotion was from corporal to 
fifth sergeant, January i, 1864, at Algiers. 
La., next for meritorious conduct to be first 
sergeant, April 10, 1865, at Blakely. Ala., 
and received his commission as first lieutenant 
July I, 1865 (but was not mustered in as such), 
his commission bearing the signature of the 
famous war governor of Indiana, Oliver P. 
Morton. 

He was in the following-named battles: 
New Madrid, Miss., Island No. 10, Riddle's 
Point, Fort Pillow, Memphis, Tenn., Brown's 




^^ 'jf/iMcZC^ 



I 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



799 



plantation, Haines' Bluff, Bolivar Bluffs, Ark., 
Arkansas Post, Yazoo Pass expedition and 
siege of Fort Pemberton, Miss., Bruimbury 
and Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Bayou Bridge, 
Mill Creek, Champion Hills, Big Black River, 
siege of Vicksburg, the Jackson, expedition to 
Carrion Crow Bayou, La., Grand Coteau, Red 
River campaign and Sabine Cross Roads, Cane 
River, Alexandria Dam, Atchafalaya River, 
Moscow, Tenn., Spanish Fort, Ala., and Fort 
Blakely and Mobile, Ala. 

Lieut. Whitestine was in a fighting regi- 
ment. He was in twenty-five battles, and in 
skirmishes too numerous to mention. He has 
a splendid military record, saw fighting from 
the beginning to the snd of the great war, but 
never received a wound nor was a prisoner. 
He was, however, confined in hospital with 
bloody flux at Helena, Ark, ten days — many 
of his regiment dying away quickly of that 
dread disease. He considers his hardest bat- 
tle to be Champion Hills, and the next hard- 
est Port Gibson. In front of Spanish Fort, 
the rebels charged the picket line at day- 
break. He was sergeant of the picket, and 
held his position until the line broke, and he 
found his squad surrounded, but he escaped, 
leaving but few men killed. For his gallant 
conduct on this occasion he was promoted to 
be first sergeant. He considers the Vicksburg 
campaign to be the most severe in which he 
was engaged, as in this he carried eight days' 
rations, and 120 pounds of ammunition for 
several days. Mr. Whitestine was a very 
hardy soldier, and endured all the hardships 
of a soldier's life with fortitude, and served 
the country faithfully. 

After the war Mr. Whitestine returned to 

Huntington and engaged in contracting and 

teaming. He married there, October 8, 

1868, Rebecca Immel, a native of Ohio, and 

a daughter of David and Elizabeth Immel. 

Mr. Whitestine moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 
33 



1 87 1, and engaged in contracting, and in 
1877 came to Akron, where he has since lived 
and has prospered. Mr. and Mrs. White- 
stine are the parents of the following children: 
David, Celenia, Chester and Jessie. Mr. White- 
stine is a member of the G. A. R., Buckley 
post, Akron, in which he has held the offices 
of officer of the day, senior and junior vice- 
commander. In politics he is a republican. 
He is also a member of the Knights of Honor, 
Spartan lodge, in which he has held office of 
director, and likewise a member of the Royal 
Arcanum, at Akron. Mr. Whitestine is yet 
well preserved, for a man who saw so much 
exposure and service as a soldier. His brother 
George was a private of company E, Seventy- 
fifth regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry, and 
was killed in the battle of Stone River, when 
he was but seventeen years old. 




HOMAS T. HOPKINS, one of tfie 
oldest and most highly respected 
citizens of Palmyra township. Port- 
age county, Ohio, is a native of 
southern Wales, and was born April 9, 1818, 
a son of Thomas and Eleanor (Davis) Hopkins. 
Thomas Hopkins, father of Thomas T. , 
was a farmer in Wales and one of the most 
extensive dealers in live stock in his section of 
the country. To his marriage with Eleanor 
Davis were born eight children, of whom 
Thomas T. is the sole survivor, the deceased 
having borne the names of Samuel, Hopkins, 
Daniel, David, Mary, Margaret and Hannah. 
The father died in 1830, at the age of sixty- 
one years, and the mother in 1861, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-seven years. The father 
never left his native land, but the mother, 
after her husband's decease, crossed the ocean 
to visit her son, the subject, and then returned 
to Wales, where she passed the remainder of 
her days, honored by all who knew her. 



bOO 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Thomas T. Hopkins, when a mere lad of 
fourteen years, came alone to America in 
1832, and for eight years was employed in 
mining at Pomeroy, Meigs county, Ohio; he 
then went to St. Louis, Mo., and for some 
time was engaged in mining in the vicinity of 
that city, then lived in Pennsylvania three 
years, and finally settled down to farming in 
Palmyra township, his present home. Octo- 
ber 27, 1855, he here married Miss Eleanor 
Thomas, who was born in Caemarthen, Wales, 
November 14, 1833, a daughter of Thomas 
and Rachel (Jenkins) Thomas, who came to 
America in 1852, and settled in Palmyra town- 
ship. Mrs. Rachel Thomas was a daughter of 
David and Eleanor (Thomas) Jenkins, and 
bore her husband nine children, of whom five 
are still living, viz: Eleanor, now Mrs. Hop- 
kins; Mary, wife of Edward Jones; Ann, now 
Mrs. Cowell; Thomas, and Rachel, wife of 
Edwin Bigelow; Daniel died in 1862, aged 
fifteen; John died in the army in 1863, at the 
age of nineteen years; David died April 21, 
1890, when sixty-one years old, and one child 
died in infancy. The mother of this family 
died in August, 1853, at the age of forty-four 
years, and the father in 1877, when sixty-nine 
years old. 

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins 
was blessed with three bright children, but 
these were all called to eternal rest, within a 
few weeks of each other, in the fall of 1862 — 
Eleanor died at the age of six years, Rachel 
at four, and Samuel at three years of age — all 
dying of diphtheria. Since his residence in 
Palmyra township Mr. Hopkins has devoted 
his attention strictly to agriculture, and his 
farm is one of the neatest and best in the 
township, over which he still keeps a super- 
vision. He has so lived as to win the love 
and esteem of his neighbors, and his declining 
years are being passed in peace, unmarred by 
any retrospect of an evil action. 



>>j*OHN H. HOFFMAN, tinner, of Deer- 

m field, Ohio, is considered one of the 
/» 1 most enterprising citizens of this town, 
as he is one of the most highly re- 
spected. He comes of a family which traces 
its lineage back as far as the year 1400, to one 
Nicholas Hoffman, a reputable German 
burgher. Mr. Hoffman was born in Moore 
township, Northampton county, Pa., April 4, 
1823, son of John and Maria (Seigfried) Hoff- 
man, natives of that county, who were the 
parents of five children, of whom our subject, 
John H., is the eldest; J. J., Michael S., 
Amanda, wife of George Bartholomew, of 
Northampton, Pa., and Henry E., deceased. 
Both parents are dead, the father dying at the 
age of eighty-three, and the mother at the age 
of eighty-five. Both weie active members of 
the Reformed church. 

Our subject's paternal grandfather, Mi- 
chael Hoffman, was a farmer and distiller in 
Northampton county. Pa. He married a Miss 
Greenameyer, who bore him the following chil- 
dren: Michael, Catherine, John, Paul, Edward, 
William, who has a son who has served in the 
Prussian army and is now living in Manheim, 
Germany, engaged in the consular service; 
Polly, Susan and Samuel. 

The maternal grandfather of our subject, 
John Seigfried, was a native of Northampton, 
Pa., a farmer-miller and a major in the war of 
18 12. He married a Miss Traisbach and had 
two children, our subject's mother and Lavina, 
wife of Samuel Lynemand, who died at Free- 
port, 111. 

John H. Hoffman was reared a farmer, 
receiving what educational advantages the 
schools of his neighborhood offered. At the 
age of eighteen he left the farm and appren- 
ticed himself to the tinner's trade. Upon 
completing this apprenticeship, he went to 
Allentown, Pa., where he remained a short 
time, going thence to Reading, where, for 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



801 



four years, he was employed in a responsible 
capacity as tinner and coppersmith in the 
works of the Reading & Philadelphia Railroad 
company. It was during his residence at this 
place that' Mr. Hoffman was married, in Au- 
gust, 1847, to Miss Rosanna Baker, a daughter 
of Godfrey Baker, a stone and building con- 
tractor, who came to this country when a 
young man, settled at Reading and married a 
Miss Hoyer, who bore him but one child, Ros- 
anna. To this first marriage of Mr. Hoffman 
were born three children, all living: Mary A., 
wife of Jasper N. Gibbons, of Alliance, Ohio; 
Winfield Scott, of Alliance, married Susan 
Luther (deceased), and Mrs. Peters; Joseph- 
ine, who resides at Ravenna. Mrs. Hoff- 
man died June 11, 1862, at the age of si.xty- 
four years, and our subject was married again, 
in September, 1865, to Mrs. Henriette Carber, 
who was born in Deerfield, Ohio. Her father, 
A. H. Wi'cox, is one of the oldest residents 
of Deerfield now living. He was born in 
18 1 2, and for years followed the trade of car- 
penter, then settled on a farm. He tnarried 
Miss Elizabeth Diver (deceased), daughter of 
John and Christina (Hartzeli) Diver, and to 
them were born nine children, si.x of whom, 
Mrs. Hoffman, George, William, Charles, 
Cornelius and James, are still living; Joseph 
and Julia are deceased, and one died in in- 
fancy. In 1852 Mr. Hoffman left Reading, 
and returned to Northampton, where he em- 
barked in the tinning business for himself. 
He remained there for six years, and in 1858, 
settled in Deerfield, continuing in business 
until the war broke out, when the country's 
need claimed his services. He entered the 
service at Cleveland, as private, in company 
F, Forty-second Ohio volunteer infantry, 
Capt. H. Williards. He saw much active 
service, being a participant in the following 
engagements: Chickasaw Bayou, Fort Hind- 
man, Ark., Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Cham- 



pion Hill, Raymond, Miss., Big Black River, 
siege of Vicksburg, and a number of skir- 
mishes. In his first engagement Mr. Hoffman 
was wounded in his left hand by an exploding 
shell, and at Vicksburg suffered a sunstroke, 
from the effects of which he has never fully 
recovered. He received his honorable dis- 
charge at Camp Chase, Ohio, July 30, 1863. 
At the close of his service, Mr. Hoffman re- 
sumed his business at Deerfield, and has been 
thus engaged ever since. In 1867 he was 
elected justice of the peace in this township, 
and held that office for twenty-four years suc- 
cessively. He is at present township clerk, 
and holds a commission as notary public. 
Mr. Hoffman is an honored member of Ra- 
venna post. No. 327, G. A. R., and he and his 
wife are active members of the German Re- 
formed church. 



^^ w ^ ALL ACE HUMPHREY, one of the 
■ ■ I "lost respected citizens of Boston 
^J^^^ township. Summit county, Ohio, 
and a veteran of the late Civil war, 
was born July 7, 1844, in Twinsburg town- 
ship, this county, and is a son of Isaiah and 
Almira (Waite) Humphrey, of English and 
Irish extraction. 

The grandfather of Wallace Humphrey 
was a native of Goshen township, Litchfield 
county. Conn., was named Isaiah, and was 
one of the pioneers of Twinburg township, 
Summit county, Ohio, and his children were 
Judge Van R. , Joseph D. (a lawyer of Can- 
ton, Ohio), Ruby, Josiah, Theodosia and Lo- 
rinda, his wife's maiden name having been 
Lorinda Drake. 

Isaiah Humphrey, father of Wallace, was 
born in Connecticut, and came with his father 
to Ohio. He served five years in the Seventh 
United States regular infantry before his mar- 



802 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



riage to Almira Waite, who was a daughter of 
Benjamin and Zelpha (Howard) Waite, and 
who bore him the following named children: 
Ruby, Edwin, Lydia, Wallace, Isaiah, Almira 
and Delia. Mr. Humphrey was educated at 
Prof. Samuel Bissell's school at Twinsburg, 
was admitted to the bar, and practiced law 
for forty years in Summit county. He died at 
the age of sixty-nine years, in Boston town- 
ship, the owner of 2,000 acres of land. 

Wallace Humphrey received a sound com- 
mon-school education, and read law under his 
father to some e.xtent, and August 16, 1861, 
enlisted at Peninsula, Summit county, in com- 
pany A, Second Ohio volunteer cavalry, for 
three years, and was honorably discharged 
at Mossy creek, Tenn.. January i, 1864, 
in order that he might re-enlist, as a vet- 
eran, for a second term of three years, con- 
ditioned as before, and served until Septem- 
ber 18, 1865, when he was again honorably 
discharged at Benton Barracks, Saint Louis, 
Mo., five months after the war had been 
brought to a close. He fought in the battles 
of Knoxville, Blue Spring, and Jonesboro, 
Tenn., was on the Sanders and Bird raid to 
Knoxville, at Strawberry Plains, and on the 
East Tennessee & Georgia railroad raid, and 
in the fights at Loudon, Tenn., and at Pow- 
der Spring Gap, where the command was 
broken up, lost much of its artillery and many 
of its members through capture or death, and 
and was scattered generally. Mr. Humphrey, 
however, escaped capture, and after wandering 
in the mountains ten days, living mostly on 
pilfered sugar, finally reached London, Ky. , 
where he found himself within the Union 
lines. Mr. Humphrey also took part in the 
battles of the Wilderness, of Spottsylvania 
Court House, Dinwiddie, Cold Harbor, Five 
Forks, Harper's Farm, and was on Wilson's 
raid, and in Shenandoah Valley, under Gen. 
Custer. He was promoted to be corporal for 



meritorious conduct, and was always prompt 
and cheerful in the discharge of duty. 

Mr. Humphrey was united in marriage in 
Northfield township. Summit county, Ohio, 
October i, 1867, to Miss Sarah Smith, who 
was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, October 
I, 1843, a daughter of William and Mary 
(McCarron) Smith. William Smith settled in 
Summit county many years ago, was a pros- 
perous farmer, was the father of three chil- 
dren — Sarah, John and James — and died at 
the age seventy years on his farm in North- 
ampton township. Mr. Humphrey, after 
marriage, settled in Boston township and en- 
gaged in farming and auctioneering. There 
were born to his marriage four children, 
named, in order of birth, as follows: Flor- 
ence, Howard, Irving and Cilley. Mr. Hum- 
phrey is a democrat in politics, and has held 
the office of constable of Boston township for 
eight years. He is a member of George L. 
Waterman post. No. 272, G. A. R. , in which 
he has held the office of vice-commander and 
other positions, is a man of unusual independ- 
ence of character and intelligence, and is 
favorably known and respected throughout his 
own and adjacent townships. 



^V'^ AVID D. JONES, a retired farmer 
I I and highly-respected citizen of Pal- 
/^ ^^ myra township. Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in the south part of 
Wales, June 13, 1830, a son of John D. and 
Margaret ( Richards) Jones, and with them came 
to America in 1832, before he was quite two 
years old. 

John D. Jones was reared a farmer, and on 
settling in Palmyra township purchased 341 
acres of land, of which 141 acres later became 
the property of his son. David D. To the 
marriage of John D. and Margaret Jones were 
born nine children, only two of whom are still 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



803 



living — Owen, of Mahoning county, Ohio, and 
the subject of this memoir. The deceased 
were Richard, who died January 20, 1855, 
aged forty-four years; John D., Jr., died in 
January, 1864, aged thirty-nine; Susan was 
married to James Davis; Elizabeth, was the 
wife of Daniel E. Jones; Margaret, was the 
wife of John D. Davis and afterward wife of 
William D. Edwards; Mary was married to 
Richard Williams, and Isaac died in 1864. 
Both parents died in Palmyra township, con- 
sistent members of the Congregational church. 

David D. Jones received as good an educa- 
tion as the pioneer schools of his childhood 
afforded, and vigorously assisted his father on 
the home farm until twenty-seven years old, 
but in the meantime, December 2, 1856, was 
united in marriage to Miss Lydia Morgan, who 
was born August 7, 1838, in Paris township. 
Portage county, a daughter of John and Sarah 
(Davisj Morgan, natives of Wales, who in 
early life settled in Paris township, where the 
father was engaged in farming until death. 
John Morgan was quite prominent in his town- 
ship and for many years was a justice of the 
peace. To his marriage with Miss Davis were 
born six children, of whom three are still 
living, viz: Job, John and Sarah, the last 
named of whom was first the wife of William 
Lewis and then of Joseph Leonard. The de- 
ceased children were Letty (Mrs. Jones), Mary, 
wife of Isaac D. Jones, and ^^'illiam. 

Three years after his marriage, David D. 
Jones began farming on his own account, and 
acquired a competency through his skill and 
industry, and was amply able, a few years 
ago, to retire from active labor. He had the 
misfortune, however, to lose his wife March 
16, 1883, she dying at the age of forty-four 
years, seven months and ten days, in the faith 
of the Congregational church, leaving no chil- 
dren. Mr. Jones, during his active years, was 
considered to be one of the best farmers of 



Palmyra township, and has always enjoyed the 
respect of the community in which he has 
passed so many years of his useful life. 



HDAR H. JOHNSON, a well-known 
business man of Peninsula, Summit 
county, Ohio, and an ex-soldier of 
the Civil war, was born January 16, 
1840, in Boston township. Summit county, 
a son of Henry and Roxy (Trowbridge) Jack- 
son. He received a common education, was 
reared on the home farm and learned the 
carpenter's trade. He enlisted, at the age of 
twenty-one years, at Peninsula, in company 
A, Second Ohio cavalry, to serve three years, 
was promoted to be corporal in 1863, and re- 
enlisted as a veteran at Mossy Creek, Tenn. , 
January i, 1864. He was with his regiment 
in all the border counties of Missouri and 
Kansas, and in many skirmishes with the guer- 
rillas. He was in the battles of Horse Creek, 
May 7, 1862, Cowskin Prairie, Ind. Ter. , 
June 25, 1862; also Fort Gibson, Ind. Ter., 
July 15, 1862; Lone Jack, Mo., August 28, 
1862; Newtonia, Mo., September 30, 1862, and 
assis'ted to reinstate the Union Cherokees and 
Osage Indians in the Indian Territory. He 
returned with his regiment in the winter of 
1862-3, to Camp Chase, Ohio, when the regi- 
ment was re-organized and re-equipped and 
sent to Kentucky, where it remained the 
greater part of June, 1863, and was then on 
Sander's raid of fifteen days; then at Wild Cat 
Gap, in the Cumberland mountains, and on 
that raid had many skirmishes a long distance 
of forty miles up the Holston river; then in 
the battle of Mount Sterling, Ky., April 14, 
1863; Monticello, Ky. , May 25, 1863; Steuben- 
ville, Ky., June 19, 1863; Richmond, Ky., 
July 28, 1863; London, Ky., September 5, 
1863; Cumberland Gap, September 10, 1863; 
Blue Springs, Tenn., October 10, 1863; Ray's 



804 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Mill, Tenn., October ii, 1863; Blountville, 
October 14, 1863, Russellville, Tenn., De- 
cember 12, 1863; Bean Stations. Decem- 
ber 13, 1863; Rutledge, Tenn., Decem- 
ber 14-15, 1863, and Dundridge, Tenn., 
December 24, 1863. The regiment stood 
second best in the cavalry service, the 
regiment that stood first being the Second 
United States regulars. After the service in 
Tennessee and after veteranizing and reorganiz- 
ation, the Second Ohio cavalry was assigned 
to the army of the Potomac, under command 
of Gen. Wilson, and was in the battle of the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Chan- 
cellorsville, Brandy Station, and when on Wil- 
son's raid assisted in the destruction of the 
Weldon R. R. and had severe fighting on the 
return, being obliged to abandon and burn 
their ambulances, stores, ammunition, wagons, 
guns and artillery, and at the fight at Ream's 
Station lost heavily. The regiment joined 
Sheridan, and, under Custer raided down the 
Shenandoah Valley, destroying by fire all ma- 
terial that could feed or shelter the rebels. 
He was in the battle of Cedar Creek, in 
the spring of 1865, the closing campaign of 
the war. Mr. Johnson was furloughed home in 
February, 1865, rejoined his regiment in May, 
1865, at Washington, D. C, and was present 
in that great militarj' pageant — the grand re- 
view. He then went with his regiment to 
Springfield, Mo., where he was mustered out 
September 12, 1865, having served over four 
years in one of the most active cavalry regi- 
ments of the Civil war. He was not wounded, 
nor a prisoner, nor sick in hospital, or even 
sick a day while in the service, but was strong, 
well and sturdy, served out his complete time 
as an active soldier, and until detached for 
a short service in the ambulance corps, was 
in all the marches, campaigns, raids, battles 
etc., in which his regiment took part. 

After the war, Mr. Johnson returned to 



Peninsula and engaged in carpenter work. 
He married July 4, 1866, at Peninsula, Miss 
Julie E. Cody, who was born in Kilkenny, Ire- 
land, May 6, 1841, a daughter of Richard and 
Margaret (O'Brien) Cody. 

Richard Cody came from Ireland about 
1842, was a farmer, and settled in Boston 
township. Summit county, Ohio, where he 
passed his remaining days, dying a mem- 
ber of St. Marj-'s church. His children were 
Mary, Isabel, Ann, Julia, and Thomas. Mr. 
Cody was a hard-working and industrious 
man, respected by all. His son, Thomas, 
who was in the Civil war — One Hundred and 
Fifteenth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, 
company C — was killed by the explosion of 
the steamer Sultana's boilers. He was in 
several battles, imprisoned in Andersonville 
several months, and was on his way home, a 
paroled prisoner, when he met his death. 

Adar H. Johnson settled in Peninsula, aft- 
er his service to the country, where he has 
since lived. The children are Georgiana, Lil- 
lias B., Helen M. , and Henry R. (who died 
aged eleven years). In politics, he is a stanch 
democrat, and has held the office of assessor 
several terms, and, as a member of the board 
of education, was its treasurer. He is a mem- 
ber of George L. Waterman post, No. 272, G. 
A. R. , at Peninsula, was one of the charter, 
members, and is at present its commander. He 
is also a member of the K. of P., the Knights 
of Maccabees, and the Veterans' Union. Mr. 
Johnson is now a substanial business man and 
was at one time a manager of the Zanesville 
(Ohio) Street Electric railway five years. 

Henry Johnson, grandfather of Adar H., 
was born in New York state, was of English 
colonial stock, was a pioneer of Bedford, 
Ohio, and a soldier in the war of 18 12. His 
children were named William, Wesley, George, 
Henry, Nelson, Maria, and Catherine. Mr. 
Johnson was a carpenter by trade, and settled 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



805 



on a farm near Bedford, and lived to be 
about sixty-five years old, and was a re- 
spected pioneer. His son, Henry Johnson, Jr., 
father of Adar H. , was born in New York 
state and came to Ohio when a boy, was a 
carpenter by trade and married Roxy L. Trow- 
bridge, daughter of John and Lydia L. (Rus- 
sell) Trowbridge. Mr. Johnson settled in 
Boston township, Summit county, after mar- 
riage, and passed his later days in Peninsula. 
His children were Josephine, Helen, Adar H., 
and Lydia. Mr. Johnson lived to be fifty- 
two years old and died a member of the 
Episcopal church, and in politics a democrat. 
He served as township trustee and held other 
offices, and was a greatly honored citizen. 



■^ v' OHN KISSEL, a respected and pros- 
M perous farmer of Randolph township, 
A J Portage county, Ohio, and an e.\-sol- 
dier of the Civil war, was born in 
Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, in April, 1844, 
a son of Michael and Magdalena (Rice) Kissel, 
who were the parents of six children, viz: 
Valentine and John, still living; Margaret, 
who died in November 30, 1866, the wife of 
Andrew Cook; Lizzie, wife of a Mr. Donnes, 
died in Illinois, in 1878; Kate was the wife of 
Nicholas Sams, and is also deceased; one 
child died in infancy. The father of the fam- 
ily died on shipboard when coming to this 
country in 1853 with his family, and the 
mother died here March 16, 1869. 

John Kissel was about ten years of age 
when he landed in America with his mother 
and her family, having been 100 days in cross- 
ing the Atlantic ocean. They settled in 
Rootstown, Portage county, where the mother 
purchased a farm, which was diligently culti- 
vated by her two sons, aided by hired help, 
until the enlistment of her son John, our sub- 
ject, in January, 1865, in company H, One 



Hundred and Eighty-fourth Ohio volunteer 
infantry, in which he served nine months and 
was honorably discharged September 25, 
1865. Returning to Rootstown he worked on 
the farm for his mother until 1868, when he 
married, January 7, Miss Barbara Goodyear, 
a daughter of Peter Goodyear, who was born 
in Germany, but came to America when a 
young man, settled in Randolph township, 
where he engaged in farming and married a 
Miss Bussel, who bore him five children, of 
whom three — John, George and Barbara — are 
still living; Adam died in July, 1897, aged 
sixty-six years, and Lizzie died in 1864. Both 
parents are now deceased, dying in the faith 
of the Church of Rome. The marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Kissel has been blessed with 
eleven children, viz: Elizabeth, who was born 
July 17, 1869, and is the wife of Burt Walters; 
Barbara, born February 14, 1871, is the wife 
of Martin Miller; George, born June 6, 1873; 
Kate, born July 28, 1875, is married to Jacob 
Luli; Mary, born June 2, 1887; Lewis, March 
15. '879; Adam, February 12, 1881; Joseph, 
January 10, 1883; Seth, September 10, 1885; 
Clara, October 29, 1885, and Mina, May 13, 

1893- 

In the spring of 1875 ^^- Kissel bought 
his present farm in Randolph township, on 
which he settled in March of the same year, 
and in addition to general farming has oper- 
ated a threshing machine for the past nine 
years. He is a most excellent farmer, as 
everything around him fully attests, his fields 
being well drained, his fences always in good 
order, and his dwelling and farm structures 
being neat and tasty in appearance. Mr. Kis- 
sel has served as township supervisor one term. 
He and family are members of St. Joseph's 
Catholic church, to the support of which they 
contribute freely and liberally, and they hold 
the-esteem of all the members of the com- 
munity in which they live. 



806 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



*| ^ ENRY WOLFCOMER, a substantial 
l'^^ citizen of Aurora township, Portage 
M. . r county, Ohio, is a son of John and 
Eliza (Kiercoff) Wolfcomer, the for- 
mer of whom was born in Prussia in August, 
1824, the son of a farmer, whose children 
were two in number, Henry and John, who 
both came to America. 

John Wolfcomer learned the carpenter's 
trade in his native land, and was about twen- 
ty-two years old when he came to the United 
States, as he reached this country on the eve 
of the Mexican war. He found employment 
at his trade in Cincinnati, and there married 
Eliza Kiercoff, a native of Germany, to which 
union was born one child — Henry, whose 
name opens this article. About 1856, Mr. 
Wolfcomer removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where 
he worked at his trade until he enlisted in 
company B, Fifty-eighth Ohio volunteer infan- 
try, February 5, 1864, to serve three years, 
unless sooner discharged by reason of the ter- 
mination of hostilities, this termination occur- 
ring in April. Mr. Wolfcomer was honorably 
discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 2, 1865. 
He was one of the guards on the ill-fated 
steamer Sultana, which exploded her boilers 
on the Mississippi river when loaded down to 
her guards with a living freight of volunteers 
who were on their way home after exchange, 
and hundreds of whom lost their lives through 
this dire catastrophe, after having passed 
through all the perils of war for years. To 
add to the horror of the explosion, a confla- 
gration destroyed every remnant of the vessel 
and consumed man}' of the unfortunate pas- 
sengers. Mr. Wolfcomer, who could not 
swim, clung to the burning wreck as long as 
the intense heat would permit, and then 
sprang overboard, landing on the back of a 
mule, which soon sank beneath his weight. 
He was fortunate, however, in catching a 
plank, on which he floated down stream sev- 



eral miles, and was rescued next morning by 
a searching party on a raft. He was badly 
scalded about his head, and was confined in 
hospital until nearly the date of his discharge. 

From Cleveland Mr. Wolfcomer removed 
to Twinsburg, Summit county, Ohio, in the 
fall of 1865, and purchased a farm of fifty 
acres, which he occupied until 1871, when he 
came to Aurora township, Portage county, 
and bought the homestead now owned by his 
son Henry, which comprises 171 acres and is 
improved with substantial buildings. This 
farm Mr. Wolfcomer continued to cultivate 
until his death, which occurred January 30, 
1889, he being then about sixty-five years of 
age. He was a member of the G. A. R. post 
at Hudson, was independent in politics, and 
was a hard-working, upright and temperate 
citizen, who commanded, by his virtuous life, 
the respect of all who knew him. 

Henry Wolfcomer, whose name opens this 
article, was born m Cincinnati, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 3, 1850, was educated in the common 
schools at Twinsburg and Cleveland and was 
reared to manhood on his father's farm. Sep- 
tember 4, 1870, he married Miss Laura A. 
Fisher, who was born in Boston, Ohio, Janu- 
ary 14, 1848, a daughter of Dudley and Jane 
(Fields) Fisher, both families being of Revo- 
lutionary stock. Dudley Fisher was born in 
Akron, Ohio, a son of a pioneer from New 
York state, and by trade a carpenter. He en- 
listed in Akron, in 1861, in the Twenty-ninth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years, fought 
at Vicksburg, but died before the close of his 
term, at his home in Akron, from lung fever. 
His children were named Laura A., Lucy, 
James, Maggie, Phebe (deceased) and Phebe, 
second. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfcomer settled on 
the old homestead at marriage, and they have 
been blessed with eight children, viz: Bert 
J., William D., Frederick J., Jessie L., Bes- 
sie J., Maggie M., Ethel G. and Hazel R. 



1, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



809 



The parents and four children are members of 
the Congregational church at Aurora, and in 
politics Mr. Wolfcomer is a democrat and is a 
member of the board of education. He is a 
substantial, upright and honored citizen, and 
his family is one of the most respected in Au- 
rora township. 



aHRISTIAN KOEHLER, of Streets- 
boro township, Portage county, Ohio, 
is a gallant veteran of the Civil war, 
who is now totally blind from the ef- 
fects of exposure while with Gen. Sherman on 
the famous march to the sea from Atlanta, Ga. 
Mr. Koehler was born in Wurtemberg, 
Germany, March lo. 1839, a son of Jacob 
and Barbara (Sweet) Koehler, received a good 
common-school education, and when about 
twenty years of age embarked at Bremen in a 
sailing vessel for America, and after a boister- 
ous voyage of eight weeks, being nearly lost 
at sea, landed, in 1859, in New York city, 
whence he came to Ohio. In August, 1861, 
he enlisted at Akron, in company D, Thirty- 
seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, for three 
years, and at the end of the term was re- 
leased from duty in order that he might re- 
enlist, as a veteran, in April, 1864, in his old 
regiment, under the same conditions as those 
of his first enlistment. The war having come 
to a close in April, 1865, he was still retained 
in the service until July, of the same year, 
when he was honorably discharged at Little 
Rock, Ark. 

Among the man)' battles in which Mr. 
Koehler took part may be mentioned those of 
Fayettesville, and several others in what is 
now West Virginia; Raleigh, N. C, and 
Charleston, S. C. : the siege of Vicksburg, 
Miss. ; Champion Hills and Jackson, in the 
same state; Missionary Ridge, Dalton, Re- 
saca. Dallas, Pumpkinvine Creek. Kenesaw 



Mountain, the general assault and battle of 
Atlanta, Ga., the charge at Stone Mountain 
Junction, etc., although these are not placed 
in chronological order. He was also at the 
capture of Fort McAllister, and of Columbia, 
having marched " from Atlanta to the Sea," 
and took part in the grand review, in May, 
1865, at Washington, D. C. , which is famous 
as the grandest review ever held in the world. 
The only wound Mr. Koehler sustained during 
his long service was a slight one in the right 
knee at the battle of Missionary Ridge, but he 
had a serious attack of camp diarrhea, and 
was confined in the hospital at Vicksburg, 
Miss., in 1863, for about five weeks. But the 
greatest misfortune which befell Mr. Koehler 
was on the march from Atlanta to Savannah, 
during which he was compelled to wade many 
rivers. In wading through the Edisto, he was 
seven hours in crossing, and much of the time 
was in the water up to his armpits. The con- 
sequence was a severe cold, which resulted in 
an inflammation of his eyes, terminating in 
total blindness in 1887. After the war, Mr. 
Koehler returned to Akron, Ohio, where he 
was sick with fever for awhile, but recovered, 
and for a short time was helper for a stone- 
mason and was otherwise employed, being for 
twelve years janitor of the Spicer school build- 
ing, blind as he was, and was also employed 
about five years in the Buckeye works at 
Akron. 

Mr. Koehler was united in marriage, in 
May, 1866, in Stark county, Ohio, with Miss 
Catherine Klink, and to this union were born 
five children, named, in order of birth, Emma 
(wife of Corwin Mooney, of Streetsboro town- 
ship), Minnie, William, Frank, and Ida, but 
April J9, 1882, Mr. Koehler was bereft of his 
helpmate, who died in the faith of the Lu- 
theran church. In 1885 Mr. Koehler came to 
Streetsboro township, bought 1 16 acres of 
land, and had built for himself a neat and 



810 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



substantial dwelling. He is very happy in his 
disposition, and his hearty laugh gives no in- 
dication of his great affliction. He has done 
much for his adopted country, and. with his 
children, enjoys the respect and honor which 
all true Americans should yield to such as he 
and his offspring are fully entitled to. 



'^t'OHN leisure, a well-known resident 
m of Aurora, Portage county, Ohio, and 
A 1 for four years a soldier in the late Civil 
war, was born in St. Lawrence county, 
N. Y., November 26, 1837, a son of Joseph 
and Mary (Michael) Leisure, of French and 
Irish descent respectively. 

Joseph Leisure attended school until about 
fourteen years of age, when he shipped as 
cabin boy on board a sea-going vessel at New 
London, Conn., and for fifteen years led a 
sailor's life, making his last voyage on the ocean 
as second mate, but later sailed one season 
on the great lakes of the west. In April, 
1 861, he enlisted at Cleveland, Ohio, in Capt. 
Lovejoy's company D, Twenty-third Ohio 
volunteer infantry, for three years, but May 
10, 1862, was captured by the rebels at Giles 
Court House, (now West) Va., and with his 
fellow-captives was sent to Libby prison, 
Richmond, and about two weeks later was 
transferred to Salisbury, N. C, where he was 
held until June 15, 1862, when he was paroled, 
being among the first of the Union prisoners 
of war to receive that favor. He reported at 
Camp Chase, Ohio, and was given transporta- 
tion, by Gov. Tod, to his regiment at Flat 
Top mountain, West Va., but his colonel 
(afterward president), Rutherford B. Hayes, 
refused to permit him to rejoin the regiment, 
which was in active service, as he was on 
parole and not yet exchanged. Returning to 
Columbus, Ohio, Gov. Tod issued him an un- 
limited furlough, and advised him to enlist in 



another regiment. Mr. Leisure then went tO' 
New York city, where he enlisted in October, 
1862, in company K, Fourth New York cav- 
alry, Capt. Burga, and served until the close 
of the war, making a total service of over four 
years. 

Mr. Leisure fought at Carnifax Ferry, 
Cotton Hill, Fayette Court House, Raleigh 
Court House, Princeton and Giles Court 
House, while with the infantry; with the cav- 
alry he fought at Kelley Ford, Va., the Wil- 
derness, Chancellorsville, Winchester, Cedar 
Creek, Mine Run, and with Sheridan in the 
Shenandoah valley, and also at Mill Springs, 
and in skirmishes innumerable. At the battle 
of Cedar Creek he was shot through the left 
hand, and was in the hospital at Chestnut 
Hill, Philadelphia, Pa., for four months, but, 
beside this, his only other confinement was 
with typhoid fever for three weeks. He was 
a brave, active and willing soldier, and cheer- 
fully endured the many hardships of a soldier's 
hazardous life. 

After his military service, Mr. Leisure 
shipped, at New York, for three years, Janu- 
ary 6, 1866, on board the United States trans- 
port, Massachusetts, and was honorably dis- 
charged April 29, 1869, having contracted 
yellow fever in one of the West India ports, 
and his term of service having also expired. 
March 15, 1873, he came to Ohio, and for 
some time worked in Northfield township. 
Summit county, as a farm hand. July 15^ 
1874, he married, at Sharon, Pa., Mrs. Emma 
Alford, a widow, whose maiden name was 
Michael, and this marriage was blessed with 
four children, viz: George (deceased), Zelpha 
(deceased), Ella and William R. Mrs. Lei- 
sure was a daughter of Benjamin and Mary 
(Hagett) Michael. She died in April, 1885, a 
member of the Disciple's church, and a truly 
good woman. Mr. Leisure is a republican in 
politics, cast his first vote for Abraham Lin- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



811 



coin, has been constable of Aurora sixteen 
years, and deputy sheriff of the county four 
years, during which time the Blinkey-Morgan 
trial was held. 

Joseph Leisure, father of John, was also a 
soldier in the Civil war, served three years in 
the One Hundred and Sixth New York volun- 
teer infantry, and among the many battles in 
which he participated was that of the Wilder- 
ness. His three sons, John, Joseph, Jr., and 
Oliver, all served in New York regiments dur- 
ing the same struggle. Mr. Leisure came to 
Aurora, Ohio, October 13, 1874, and worked 
until 1 88 1 for Frank Hurd, a capitalist, and 
for the past three years has been employed by 
W. J. Eldridge. The Leisure family are up- 
right, straightforward in all their dealings, and 
enjoy the respect of the entire community. 



^>^^ EES R. JONES, a prosperous farmer 
I /^ of Paris township, Portage county, 
I^P Ohio, was born in southern Wales Feb- 
ruary 26, 1826, a son of Evan R. and 
Jane (Davis) Jones, and came to America with 
his father in 1838, his mother having died in 
her native country. 

Evan R. Jones was a carpenter by trade 
and was three times married. By his first 
wife, Jane Davis, daughter of Rothera and 
Mary Davis, he became the father of five chil- 
dren, of whom Rees R. is the only one liv- 
ing. Of the deceased, Mary died in October, 
1831, aged eight years; Margaret died at the 
same date, aged three years, and one died in 
infancy. The mother passed away in 1832, 
at the age of thirty-five. Mr. Jones next mar- 
ried, in April, 1838, Miss Mary Morgan, 
daughter of Morgan and Elizabeth (Jones) 
Morgan, and to this union was born one 
daughter, Jane, who died in 1875, aged thirty- 
five years — the mother having died in 1845, 
also at the age of thirty-five. The third mar- 



riage of Mr. Jones was to Jane Evans. Mr. 
Jones departed this life in April, 1863, aged 
seventy-five, and his third wife in 1881, when 
sixty-three years old, members, respectively, 
of the Methodist church and Baptist church. 
Rees R. Jones lived on the farm in Pal- 
myra township. Portage county, where his 
father settled in 1838, and faithfully aided in 
tilling the land until after the death of the lat- 
ter. In 1867 he came to Paris township and 
purchased the farm on which he still lives, 
and which is one of the finest in the township. 
May 29, 1882, he married Miss Jane Davis, 
daughter of Evan T. and Sarah (Williams) 
Davis, and this union has been blessed with 
two children — Evan R. and J. C Mrs. Jane 
Jones was born in Paris township March 22, 
1845, her parents having come from Wales in 
1832. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had six children, 
of whom four still survive, viz: Mary, wife of 
William Thomas, Jane (Mrs. Jones), William 
and Thomas. Benjamin and Thomas were 
the names of the two deceased. Mr. Davis 
died in January, 1894, at the age of seventy- 
three, and Mrs. Davis is still a resident of 
Paris township, having reached the advanced 
age of eighty-six years. 

Mr. Jones has served his township as treas- 
urer, school director and supervisor, and he 
and family are members of the Welsh Meth- 
odist church at Palmyra, of which he has been 
a deacon many years. The family are all 
highly respected, and Mr. Jones is recognized 
as one of the most upright citizens of Paris 
township. 



* ILLIAM T. LEWIS, one of the most 
successful farmers of Palmyra town- 
ship, Portage county, Ohio, was 
born in the southern part of Wales, 
May 5, 1834, a son of Thomas and Mary 
(Jones) Lewis, who came to Ohio in 1838, and 



m. 



812 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



settled in Palmyra township, where the father 
engaged in farming. 

Thomas Lewis was born in Arding, Wales, 
in 1805, a son of David Lewis, and his wife, 
Mary, was born in the same place in 1S03, a 
daughter of William Jones. To the marriage 
of Thomas and Mary Lewis were born eight chil- 
dren, viz: David, Issac, WilliamT., John, Eliza- 
beth (Mrs. Evan Jones), Mary (Mrs. Elisha 
Lord), John, who died in 1838, at the age of 
two years, and Thomas, who died in 1840, 
also at two years of age. The father of this 
family passed away August 6, 1889, and the 
mother's death took place February 2, 1896, 
both devoted members of the Methodist 
churh, in which Mr. Lewis had for many 
years been a deacon. 

William T. Lewis attended public school 
until eighteen years old and remained on his 
father's farm until twenty-three. March 22, 
1858, he married Miss Ann George, who was 
born June 25, 1839, in Palmyra township, a 
■daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Reesi 
George, natives of Wales, who settled in Pal- 
myra township in 1832. Thomas George was 
a miller by trade and also a farmer. To his 
marriage with Margaret Rees, daughter of 
John Rees, there were born eight children, 
six of whom are still living, viz: Mary, widow 
of Thomas Lewis; John C. ; Ann, now Mrs. 
William T. Lewis; Margaret, wife of William 
Richards; Sarah, unmarried, and Thomas Jr., 
who is married to Maggie Williams. The de- 
ceased children were David, who died in in- 
fancy, and Evan, who died in April, 1857, at 
the age of twenty-one years. Mrs. George 
passed away February 1, 1892, at the age of 
€ighty-four years; Mr. George, at the great 
age of ninety-two years, is now a resident of 
Paris township. 

Thomas George, paternal grandfather of 

-Mrs. Lewis, came from Wales to America in 

1833, and settled in Palmyra township. To 



his marriage with Miss Rees were born seven 
children, viz: Ann, Margaret, Thomas, Sarah, 
Rachel, Mary and Evan, all of whom are now 
deceased. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. 
Lewis was killed by a falling tree in 1836. 
His wife's name was Mary. 

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. William T. 
Lewis has been blessed with eleven children, 
nine of whom still survive, viz: Margaret, wife 
of Felix Barger, of Diamond, Ohio; Isaac, 
who is married to Electa Gilbert; Thomas, 
married to Belle Thomas; Evan, married to 
Jane Spencer; Elezer, married to Dollie Man- 
ley; Mary Ann, wife of Charles D. Kistler; 
Arthur, Sarah and Edna, unmarried. The 
two children who have passed away were 
named David, who died in infancy, and Alfred, 
who died December 6, 1884, aged four years 
and nine months. In 1862, Mr. Lewis settled 
on his present farm, which he has placed un- 
der the best possible tillage and improved with 
modern structures, and everywhere about the 
premises are evidences of the care and good 
management of a master agriculturist. Mr. 
Lewis is greatly honored by his fellow-towns- 
men, whom he has served many years as 
school director and supervisor, and the entire 
family is held in the highest possible esteem. 

Mr. Lewis cast his first presidential vote 
for Gen. John C. Fremont, at the birth of the 
republican party, and has ever upheld the 
principles of republicanism. 



ISAAC LEWIS, a prominent citizen of 
Palmyra township. Portage county, 
Ohio, is a native of Wales, was born in 
March, 1832, and has been a resident 
of Palmyra township since 1838, having been 
brought hither by his parents, Thomas and 
Mary (Jones) Lewis. 

As Palmyra township was quite a wilder- 
ness when Mr. Lewis arrived here, at the age 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



813 



of six years, his opportunities for school at- 
tendance were somewhat meager, still he 
succeeded in acquiring a fair education. He 
faithfully assisted his father, when old enough 
for the purpose, in clearing up the home farm 
from the woods until he reached man's estate, 
when he served an apprenticeship of four 
years at the carpenter's trade, under Owen 
Jones, and after the termination of his term of 
indenture continued with Mr. Jones, as a 
journeyman, three years longer, and altogether 
worked at the trade about fifteen years, when 
he engaged in farming. 

The first marriage of Mr. Lewis took place 
in September, 1854, to Miss Elizabeth Evans, 
daughter of Lewis and Mary Evans, and to 
this marriage were born five children, of whom 
John D. , David W. and E. T. are still living; 
William died at the age of three, and Evan at 
one year of age. Mrs. Elizabeth (Evans) 
Lewis was called away November 15, 1870, a 
devoted member of the Welsh Presbyterian 
church, and the second marriage of Mr. Lewis 
was solemnized September 16, 1873, with 
Miss Elizabeth Jones, who was born in Wales 
in 1848, a daughter of Llewellyn and Jane 
(Williams) Jones, and this union has been 
blessed with twins — Hattie and Nettie — now 
over twenty-one years old. 

Llewellyn Jones, father of Mrs. Lewis, 
was a general farm laborer, and a very indus- 
trious man. To his marriage, in 1842, with 
Miss Williams, daughter of John and Jane 
Williams, were born seven children, of whom 
five still survive, viz: Jane, wife of John 
Davis; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Isaac Lewis; 
Samuel; Margaret, wife of John Parry, and 
Isaac; John died at the age of eleven years, 
and Sarah died in 1872, aged fifteen. The 
parents died in Wales in 1877, the father at 
the age of seventy-seven, and the mother at 
seventy-one years, both members of the Pres- 
byterian church — Mrs. Lewis having come to 



America in 1871, accompanied by her brother, 
Samuel. 

David Lewis, paternal grandfather of Isaac 
Lewis, reared a family of five children, viz: 
David, Thomas, John, Richard and Elizabeth, 
all now deceased. William Jones, maternal 
grandfather of Mr. Lewis, reared nine chil- 
dren, of whom one only — Ann — is now living. 

In 1866 Isaac Lewis settled on his present 
farm, and has met with much success in his 
vocation. He is an honored citizen, and has 
served as a republican as township supervisor 
and as a school director for many years. He 
and family are members of the Welsh Presby- 
terian church in Palmyra, in which he has 
held the offices of deacon and elder, and no 
family in the township is held in higher esteem 
than that of Isaac Lewis. 



"^ j* ESSE LING, one of the sailors of the 
m Civil war, and a respected citizen of 
/• 1 Mantua township. Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Monroe county, N. 
Y. , March 3, 1842, a son of Edward and Bet- 
sey (Elsfeck) Ling. He received a common 
education and ran away from home when he 
was between sixteen and seventeen years of 
age, and shipped on board the United States 
man-of-war. Northern Light — Capt. McKnight. 
He was accompanied by an older boy, about 
nineteen years old, who shipped with him, 
but who became tired of a sailor's life after a 
month's experience, and was sent ashore. 
Jesse had more pluck and stuck to the ship. 
He was quick to learn his duties, and the cap- 
tain took a liking to him from the first, and 
Jesse liked the captain. He was one of the 
ship's boys and did a little of everything at 
first, and was promoted to be coxwain's mate, 
and soon became an ordinary seaman, and 
finally, after about two years' service, an able 
seaman while on the Northern Light, which 



«14 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was a full, square-rigged, three-masted ship, 
and carried a crew of about 250 officers and 
men. Jesse visited many parts of the world, 
including the English channel, and saw Scot- 
land, Ireland, England, the Isle of Wight, 
France, and even went as far as India and 
through part of Calcutta. He was on the 
South American coast and saw Honduras. He 
was finally transferred to the ship Tennessee 
off the coast of Virginia. She was a first- 
class man-of-war, and he served one year and 
four months on her as an able seaman. She 
was stationed on the blockade during the war 
— most of the time in the Gulf of Mexico — 
her duties being to chase and capture the 
English blockade runners. She captured sev- 
eral of them, being a large and powerful ship, 
well armed. Jesse received a share of the 
prize mone\. He was an active sailor, served 
faithfully and did his duty promptly. He 
stood well with the captain, officers and men,, 
and became a thorough sailor, and caused no 
trouble of any kind. He was honorably dis- 
charged from the navy at New York in 1862, 
and went to Oneida county, N. Y. He then 
sailed two years on the great lakes, as first 
mate under Capt. England, owner and master, 
and came to Mantua, Ohio, in 1864, and has 
since been engaged in farming. 

Mr. Ling married, October 15, 1866, in 
Mantua township, Roena C. Jennings, who 
was born September 5, 1830, in Mantua 
township, a daughter of Phineas U. and Cle- 
ona (Wilmot) Jennings. Phineas U. Jen- 
nings was born in Vermont, May 4, 1796, at 
■Craftsbury, a son of Benjamin, who was born 
August 29, 1752, and Serene Jennings, who 
was born March 16, 1765, and died April 16, 
1833. They were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, viz: Betsy, Ann, Lucretia, Phineas U., 
Telmon, Lucy M., Elida, and Benjamin. The 
Jennings were an old colonial family of New 
£ngland. Phineas Jennings came, when a 



young man, to Mantua township, and here 
was married, June 16, 1822, to Miss Cleona 
Wilmot, daughter of a pioneer. Mr. Jennings 
settled in Mantua township, and cleared up a 
good farm from the woods. He at first 
bought sixty-four acres on credit, paying $8 
per acre, and by his steady industry and thrift, 
he prospered, and finally owned about 300 
acres, and became a substantial farmer. His 
children were Serene, Cordelia (died young), 
Roena, Cordelia, and Eugenia. Mr. Jennings 
lived to the venerable age of eighty-six years 
and died June 26, 1882. His wife died March 
26, 1 88 1, aged seventy- four. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Jennings were members of the Disciples' 
church, in which he was a deacon many years. 
Mr. Jennings was a man of high character and 
well-known for his sturdy and straightforward 
course in life. He was much respected by the 
old pioneers, and all who knew him, and in 
politics was a republican. 

Jesse Ling, after his marriage, settled in 
Mantua township, and is now one of the most 
substantial and prominent farmers in his pres- 
ent locality. In 1S82 he built a pleasant and 
tasteful residence, and has a fine farm of 240 
acres. He is very independent in his views 
on all subjects. In politics, he is a stanch 
democrat, and a bi-metalist, and voted for 
William J. Bryan, and is strong in the faith. 
Mr. Ling is an honored citizen of his town- 
ship, and has been township trustee several 
times. Fraternally a Mason, he is a member 
of the Blue lodge, at Mantua, and chapter, at 
Garrettsville, Ohio, and is chaplain of the 
Blue lodge and member of the Prudential 
committee. Mrs. Ling is a member of the 
Disciples' church. Jesse Ling owes much of 
his success in life to his early training when a 
boy on a man-of-war. He is a true gentle- 
man, kind and obliging, and is one of the few 
men who has carried into his daily walk in 
life gentle treatment to all who meet him. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



815 



His frank, manly expression is in a great part 
due to his life as a sailor. He lool<s every man 
square in the face, and a stranger in his house 
is treated as well as an old acquaintance. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ling adopted a daughter 
when she was but two years old — Sadie J. 
Ling, By them she was reared as kindly as if 
their own. She received a good education in 
the district school, and later attended Hiram 
college. Mr. Ling has an excellent record in 
the service of his country, and his record as a 
man and as a citizen is equally as good. 



^"V'YLVANUS LOVELAND, a respected 
•^^^ citizen of Mantua Station, Portage 

K^T county, Ohio, and an ex-soldier of 
the Civil war, was born April 22, 
1824, in Vienna township, Trumbull county, 
a son of Aurora and Meloda Loveland, and 
descends from English Puritan ancestors, who 
settled in New Jersey. 

Aurora Loveland was born in Hartford, 
Conn., July 10, 1805, a son of Aaron Love- 
land, and was reared a blacksmith. Aaron, 
also a blacksmith, was a pioneer of Northfield 
township, Trumbull county, Ohio, where he 
settled on a farm, the first in the township, 
and there passed the remainder of his life, 
dying at about the age of eighty years, the 
father of six children, viz: Aurora, Horace, 
Azael, Lucinda, Louisa and Eliza. Aurora 
Loveland was a boy when he was brought to 
Ohio by his parents, learned his trade under 
his father, and at manhood's estate married 
Mrs. Meloda Lora, a widow, who had borne 
the maiden name of Hallibut, the union re- 
sulting in the birth of seven children, viz: 
Sylvanus, Susannah, Harriet, Jehiel, Almeron, 
Jane and Aaron. In politics Aurora Love- 
land was a democrat, held the office of con- 
stable under the auspices of his party, and 
died a most respected citizen at the age of 



about seventy-two years, at Niles, Trumbull 
count}', Ohio. 

Sylvanus Loveland learned the black- 
smith's trade under his father, but when a 
young man went to Michigan, where he 
worked in various towns, among them Kala- 
mazoo. At the first call of President Lincoln 
for three-month volunteers, at the outbreak 
of the Civil war, Mr. Loveland enlisted in 
company I, Capt. Hubbard, of the First 
Michigan volunteer infantr}', in April, 1861, 
and served faithfully through his term, being 
honorably discharged at Detroit, having fought 
at the first battle of Bull Run and doing other 
service in the District of Columbia and Vir- 
ginia. After his discharge Mr. Loveland re- 
turned to his native state, and enlisted at 
Warren, in 1861, in the Second Ohio cavalry, 
for three years, served about two months over 
the term of his enlistment, received a second 
honorable discharge, and was mustered out 
at Columbus, Ohio. Although Mr. Loveland 
was a great deal on detached duty as a black- 
smith, he experienced considerable active mil- 
itary service, and fought in Kansas, southwest 
Missouri, the Indian Territory, Tennessee 
and Kentucky. 

After his return from the war Mr. Love- 
land went to Greenville, Mercer county. Pa., 
on a visit, and there married Mrs. Clarinda 
Loveland, who was born in Mecca, Trumbull 
county, Ohio, September 7, 1834, a daughter 
of Grosvenor and Elizabeth (Headley) Bailey. 
Clarinda Bailey had first been married to Al- 
meron Loveland, a brother of Sylvanus, and was 
born in Knox county, Ohio, January 1 1, 1832; 
he was an iron worker by trade, to whom she 
bore one daughter — Rosa. Grosevenor Bailey 
was born in Pennsylvania, January 5, 1799, 
and was of English descent, was a stonemason 
by trade, and passed the greater part of his 
life in Cortland, Trumbull county, Ohio, of 
which he was one of the first settlers. His 



816 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



children were Sarah, Joseph, William, Sam- 
uel, Wesley, Clarinda and Orilla, of whom 
Joseph served in the lOO-day call for volun- 
teers in the late Civil war. In politics Mr. 
Bailey was a democrat, and he and wife were 
devout members of the Methodist church, in 
the faith of which they both passed away. 

After marriage Sylvanus Loveland and 
wife located in Cortland, Ohio, where he fol- 
lowed his trade for several years, thence 
moved to Mecca, in 1874 moved to Cuyahoga 
Falls, and November i, 1885, settled in Man- 
tua Station, which has since been his home, 
and where he has been living the past few 
years in quiet retirement, respected by all 
who know him, and in the enjoyment of the 
society of his beloved wife and three children 
— Clara, George and William. 



at 



'ILLIAM JARVIS WILLSEY, no- 
tary public, ex-justice of the peace, 
and a prominent farmer of Edin- 
burg township. Portage county, 
Ohio, was born in Fulton township, Schoharie 
county, N. Y., October 3, 1823, a son of 
Henry T. and Orpha (Snow) Willsey, both 
natives, also, of the Empire state. 

Henry T. Willsey brought his family to 
Ohio in 1840, arriving at Atwater, Portage 
county, on the 9th day of December. He 
purchased a tract of about thirty-six acres in 
the wilderness close by, went to work with a 
will, and in a short time cleared off the forest, 
and made a comfortable home for his family. 
He soon afterward added to his first purchase 
sixty acres from the old Snow homestead, and 
later purchased 121 acres of unimproved land 
one-quarter of a mile north, to which he re- 
moved and on which he resided until 1853, 
when he moved to Ashtabula county and pur- 
chased 160 acres in Denmark township, about 
six miles east of Jefferson, which he cultivated 



until his death, which occurred January 6, 
1854; his widow survived until March 28, 
1884, when she expired at the home of her 
son, A. V. Willsey, in Atwater, Ohio. To 
this couple were born five children, viz: Al- 
exander v., now deceased; William J., the 
subject of this biography; Catherine A., wife 
of Rev. Adam Moor; James H. and Moses D. 
William J. Willsey, the subject, was edu- 
cated in the public schools of his native state 
and in Portage county, Ohio, which he at- 
tended until twenty-one years old, and then 
attended the Atwater academy two years; for 
five winters following he taught school in va- 
rious parts of Portage county, working on the 
home farm during the summers. October 6, 

1853, he married Miss Samantha L. Clover, 
at Edinburg, the lady being a daughter of Na- 
than and Hannah (Roll) Clover. The father, 
Nathan Clover, was born in New Jersey, Au- 
gust 16, 1792, and died in Portage county, 
Ohio, September 17, 1872; his wife was born 
June 26, 1797, and died May 15, 1877. They 
were the parents of seven children, viz: Dr. 
Davenport C, who died January 25, 1876; 
Hadassah Hester, Mary Jane, Dr. Roll F., 
who died December 28, 1861; Samantha L., 
Horace Bigelow and Susan Keron. Mrs. Sa- 
mantha L. (Clover) Willsey was born in Deer- 
field, Portage county, July 3, 1833, was pri- 
marily educated in the village school, and 
later attended the high school in Edinburg, 
and after finishing her education remained at 
home with her parents until her marriage. 
She is deeply imbued with the faith of the 
Disciples' church, of which she is a member, 
and has borne her husband one child, Celia 
Lois Adelia, who was born September 30. 

1854, is now the wife of D. Gilbert, and is 
the mother of two children — David William 
and Edith Polly. 

After marriage, subject purchased thirty- 
six acres of land in Atwater township, on 



^r^: 

^^^^^^^^^K 


m^l^H 


^^^^^^K 
^^^^^^K' 


ttt^m, 


^^y^^H 




^^^H 










i_i^^ 'm. ' Hj^". ^' 




f^<^J/^^^^' 




gj ^% ,70^.^, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



821'. 



which he lived four years. In the spring of 
1857 he removed to the Nathan Clover farm 
at Edinburg, of which he had the full manage- 
ment for thirteen years, but in the spring of 
1 87 1 he purchased his present farm of 100 
acres of excellent land, on which he lives in 
comparative retirement. A republican in 
politics, he has been elected justice of the 
peace of Edinburg, and has also served as 
township trustee, assessor, supervisor, school 
director, and as president of the board of ed- 
ucation. He at present holds a notary pub- 
lic's commission, and in every position he has 
held has performed his functions with eminent 
ability and to the entire satisfaction of his 
fellow-citizens, in whose esteem he stands 
very high. In conjunction with a brother, 
Mr. Willsey owns forty-five acres of land at 
Atwater, on which are a store and elevator, 
and a brick dwelling. He has always been 
industrious and practical, and well deserves 
the esteem in which he is universally held. 



I. y'^V HILIP LONG (deceased) was born in 
1 ■ Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, April 9, 
£ 181 3, a son of John and Mary (Cope) 

Long, and was reared to manhood in 
his native province, receiving a good educa- 
tion in the public schools the meanwhile. In 
1836 he embarked for America, and after a 
voyage of three months reached the shores of 
the United States. He was a skillful carpen- 
ter, and for some years followed his trade in 
Pennsylvania, where he first located after 
reaching this country, but later engaged in 
farming. On leaving the Keystone state he 
settled in the woods of Portage county, from 
which he developed a fine farm, and made a 
comfortable home for himself and family. 

He was married, August 7, 1838, at Can- 
ton, Stark county, to Miss Athus Gondy, 

daughter of Joseph and Catherine Gondy, 
34 



the union resulting in the birth of nine chil- 
dren, viz: Catherine, born May 27, 1839, 
and now the wife of Jacob Wise; Mary, who 
died March 30, [894, at the age of fifty-three 
years; Philip, born November 15, 1842; Chris^ 
topher, who died May 21, 1881, when thirty- 
seven years old; John, born February 27, 
1846; Adam, July 21, 1848; Elizabeth, March 
21, 1850, married to Peter Andes; Joseph, 
born February 29, 1852, is a bachelor, and is 
the owner of the old homestead; Eva was born 
December 18, 1854, and lives with her brother 
at the old home. 

Philip Long, the father of this family, be- 
came one of the best known and most highly 
esteemed citizens of Randolph township, and 
reared his family to be equally respected with 
himself. He had the full confidence of his 
neighbors, who chose him supervisor of the 
township and selected him as a member of the 
board of school directors. He was active as a 
member of the Catholic church, in which he 
was a steward for many years, and in the faith of 
which he died March 13. 1889, at the age of 
seventy-five years, his wife being called to 
join him at the advanced age of eighty-five. 

J.ohn Long, father of the late Philip Long, 
was also a carpenter by trade, and followed 
this vocation as long as his physical powers 
permitted. On coming to Ohio he located in 
Canton, Stark county, and there assisted in 
the construction of the first church erected in 
that city. On retiring from carpenter work 
he came to Randolph township, Portage 
county, and purchased the farm on which his 
grandson, Joseph Long, now resides, and here 
passed the remainder of his days. To his 
marriage wits Miss Mary Cope were born nine 
children, all now deceased. 

Joseph Gondy, father of the late Mrs. 
Philip Long, was a native of German)' and 
came to America in 1826; he was a mason by 
trade, and for many years lived in Canton, 



822 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Ohio, but eventually settled in Suffield, Port- 
age county, where he lived the remainder of 
his days. He married Miss Catherine Bare, 
to which union six children were born, all of 
whom have passed from earth. 



>^OHN LYONS, one of the brave de- 
m fenders of his country's flag during the 
A 1 late Civil war, and now a highly-re- 
spected citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio, is a native of Essex county, N. J., was 
born April i, 1843, and is a son of John B. and 
Susan (Freadline) Lyons, well known and 
prominent residents of the Old Line state. 

John B. Lyons, father of John, the subject, 
was also born in Essex county, N. J., a son of 
Benjamin and Charlotte Lyons. He was an 
expert hatter, and also learned the shoemak- 
er's trade, in which he became equally skillful. 
He was united in marriage at Orange, Essex 
county, N. J., with Miss Susan Freadline, a 
daughter of John A. and Susan (Wagoner) 
Freadline, the former of whom came to Ameri- 
ca from Germany. To this happy union six 
children were born in New Jersey, and in 1853 
Mr. Lyons brought his family to Ohio, located 
at Cuyahoga Falls, and engaged in farming. 
At the outbreak of the Civil war, however, 
Mr. Lyons, who was a true American, enlisted, 
in 1861, in battery D, First Ohio volunteer 
light artillery, under Capt. A. J. Konkle, to 
serve three years unless sooner discharged by 
reason of the cessation of hostilities, but did 
not live to see the termination of the great 
struggle, as he died from sickness while still in 
the service. He had proven himself to be a 
brave and faithful soldier, and had fought 
under Gen. Nelson at West Liberty and Pike- 
ton, was with Gen. Buell on the advance from 
Green River, Ky. , to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. ; 
was at Corinth, Munfordville, and with Burn- 



side at the siege of Knoxville, and at Rockford 
and Cumberland Gap, and with Sherman 
through the Atlanta campaign, and was always 
ready and willing to do his duty until over- 
come with sickness. As a civilian, Mr. Lyons 
was an industrious and moral man and was 
greatly respected for his many personal merits. 
Since the lamented death of her husband, 
Mrs. Lyons has patiently and worthily labored 
to rear in respectability her family of nine 
children, who are named Almira, John, Char- 
lotte, Fannie, Katie, Minnie, Julia, Mattieand 
Naomi; Aurelia, the tenth child, died young. 
John Lyons, whose name stands at the 
head of this biography, was about ten years of 
age when brought by his parents to Ohio, and 
here he was reared until his enlistment, in 
July, 1862, at Cuyahoga Falls. He was mus- 
tered in, July 18, at Camp Massillon, Ohio, in 
company G, One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio 
volunteer infantry, for three years, and served 
until honorably discharged, July 4, 1865, at 
Cleveland, Ohio. He fought in the second 
battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn. , when the rebel. 
Hood, made his raid on Nashville, and was 
then placed on guard duty at Fortress Rose- 
cranz, Murfreesboro, for about eighteen 
months, having many skirmishes with guerril- 
las. In 1862, however, he was seized with 
erysipelas, which caused his confinement in 
hospitals at Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio, 
for about one year, and after having experi- 
enced much suffering, he rejoined his regiment 
and faithfully did his duty until mustered out. 
Since his return to Cuyahoga Falls, Mr. Lyons 
has been engaged in various kinds of business, 
but has always been industrious and straight- 
forward, and has achieved an excellent reputa- 
tion and made many sincere friends. He is a 
member of Eadie post, G. A. R., is strictly 
moral, and is ever willing to lend a helping 
hand toward the promotion of any project 
designed for the good of the public. 



OP' PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



823 



BENRY C. McGIRR, one of the most 
enterprising and successful young 
farmers of Deerfield township, Port- 
age county, Ohio, was born in Lex- 
ington township, Stark county, September 9, 
1 86 1, a son of John and Mary (Reeves) McGirr. 
James McGirr, paternal grandfather of 
Henry C., a native of Maryland, born March 
25, 1786, was reared a farmer, came to Ohio 
a young man and married Sarah Hamlin, the 
result of the union being seven children, four 
of whom are still living — John, William, 
James and Henry — and three deceased — Eliza- 
beth, Lydia and Harpley. The mother of 
this family died June 16, 1866, at the age of 
seventy years, seven months and eighteen 
days, and the father's death took place March 
6, 1876, at the ripe age of seventy years and 
twelve days. 

Samuel C. Reeves, the maternal grand- 
father of Henry C. McGirr, was born in New 
Jersey April 4, 1803, and when a mere boy 
was brought to Ohio by his parents, who set- 
tled in Columbiana county, and in his early 
manhood was engaged in school-teaching, but 
later became an agriculturist. He married 
Miss Ann EUyson, who was born June 4, 
1803, and to this marriage were born eight 
children, viz: Melicent and Mark, still living; 
Anna Jane, who died November 23, 1861, 
aged twenty-five years and five months; 
Joshua, who died March 21, 1888, when forty- 
eight years, three months and twenty-four 
days old; Mary, who was married to John Mc- 
Girr, and died March 28, 1890, aged fifty-eight 
years, two months and eighteen days; Benja- 
min, who died July 14, 1890, aged sixty-two 
years, five months and two days, and John, 
who died June 7, 1897, at the age of fifty- 
five years. Samuel C. Reeves, the father of 
this family, passed away December 17, 1883, 
at the age of eighty years, six months and 
thirteen days, and his widow died July 25, 



1885, aged eighty-two years, one month and 
twenty-one days, all the family having been 
adherents of the Quaker society. 

John McGirr, father of Henry C, was 
born in Stark county, Ohio, March 15, 1825, 
learned the spinning-wheel trade, later en- 
gaged in stair building, and also did some car- 
penter work, and is now engaged in the manu- 
facture of extension ladders. November 6, 
1850, he married Miss Mary Reeves, a daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Ann (Ellj'son) Reeves, to 
which union were born seven children, viz: 
Thomas, of Deerfield township; Webster and 
Albert, of Iowa; Henry C, whose name opens 
this article; Sarah A. and Benjamin R. , of 
Iowa, and Charles, who died in infancy, all of 
whom were reared in the Quaker faith. 

Henry C. McGirr lived on the home farm 
until fifteen years of age, receiving in the 
meanwhile a good common-school education, 
and then hired out among the neighboring 
farmers until twenty-four years old. In 1886 
he began farming for himself in Stark county, 
and June 9, 1887, married Miss Maggie Pick- 
ens, born in Stark county, January 2, 1866, a 
daughter of Samuel and Nancy (Brown) Pick- 
ens, and this union has been blessed with two 
children — Edna May and Myrtle Ivy. In 1891, 
Mr. McGirr rented the present farm in Deer- 
field township. Portage county, where he has 
ever since been most successfully engaged as a 
tiller of the soil. 

Samuel Pickens, father of Mrs. Maggie 
McGirr, was born in Franklin county. Pa., 
March 8, 1830. He is a carpenter by trade, 
and married, September 15, 1850, Miss Nancy 
Brown, who was born August 12, 1829, and 
to this union were born three children, viz: 
William H., Susie, wife of Joseph Balmat, 
and Maggie, now Mrs. McGirr. Mr. Pickens 
enlisted as a volunteer, in company I, One 
Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infant- 
ry, in 1862, and served two years. The 



824 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



family are members of the Reformed church, 
and the parents still reside in Stark county. 

Henry C. McGirr has a very pleasant home 
in Deerfield township, and he and wife are 
among the most respected residents of the 
township, Mr. McGirr being one of the steady- 
going, intelligent farmers who always lend a 
dignity to the calling of a husbandman, and 
advance the prosperity of any community in 
which they may chance to cast their lot. 



t^/^ ICHARD H. McGOWAN, a promi- 
I /«^ nent farmer and highly esteemed resi- 
£ , P dent of Deerfield township, was born 
October 6, 1833, in Smith township, 
Columbiana (now Mahoning) county, Ohio, 
son of Adam and Mary (Davis) McGowan. 
Adam McGowan was born in Mahoning 
county, Ohio, in 1802, lived all his life on the 
same farm, and died in 1866. In 1828, he mar- 
ried Miss Mary Davis, a native of Wales, daugh- 
ter of John and Mary (Humphreys) Davis. To 
them were born seven children: Richard H., 
Adam, third, Theresa, wife of William Foutz; 
Eliza Jane, wife of Stewart Taylor, deceased; 
Peter H., Thomas, and J. Miller, deceased. 
Of the eleven children of Adam McGowan, 
first, and Elizabeth Miller, but one, Deborah, 
wife of Ebenezer Hoadley, who resides in In- 
diana, survives. The others were: Eliza, 
Polly, wife of E. Hubbard; Ann, wife of Jacob 
Hartzell; Elizabeth, wife of Joshua Calvin; 
Beniah, who was shot in California during the 
gold fever; Samuel, John, Adam, second; 
Rachael, wife of Peter Hartzell; Rebecca, wife 
of Samuel Walker. Our subject's maternal 
grandparents were Welsh people who came 
to this country in 1820, and settled in Maho- 
ning county, Ohio, where they acquired a large 
farm. They had eight children; two of them, 
John and Thomas, survive. The others were 
Mary Ann, wife of Thomas Gray; Mrs. Mc- 



Gowan; Jane, wife, first, of Martin Becket, 
and, second, of David Borden; Margaret, wife 
of William Wharton; Elizabeth, wife of Hiram 
Hoadley, and Ann, who died during the twelve 
weeks' voyage across the ocean. 

Richard H. McGowan was reared on his 
father's farm, in Mahoning county, receiving 
the common-school education afforded by the 
public schools of that place and period. This 
he supplemented by a course in Mount Union 
college, and in the fall of 1854 he began 
teaching school. For two years he was thus 
occupied and May 1, 1856, he married Miss 
Harriet Mowen, daughter of Daniel and 
Elizabeth (Roodasell) Mowen. Five daugh- 
ters, all of whom are living, have graced this 
union: Cora May, wife of Alonzo Baldwin, of 
Rootstown, Ohio; Mary I., wife of C. Pettit, 
who resides in Kansas; Elizabeth O., wife of 
William Waithman, of Mahoning county; 
Rosa A., wife John Calvin, of Cleveland, and 
Lula, wife of John Robb, of Deerfield. 

Most of Mr. McGowan's life has been 
passed in agricultral pursuits, although he has 
not occupied the old home farm all of that 
time. For eight years after their marriage, 
the McGowans resided on the home farm, and 
then moved to Van Buren county, Mich., 
where for ten years they lived on a farm, dur- 
ing part of which time Mr. McGowan worked 
in a blast furnace. In 1875 they moved to 
Deerfield, remaining a year, after which they 
moved to Atwater, Ohio. While here our 
subject held the elective offices of township 
assessor and supervisor, and followed farming 
and saw-milling. In 1888 the family moved 
back to Deerfield, where they have since re- 
sided on the farm, being prominent among 
the most substantial and highly regarded fam- 
iles of the community. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
McGowan are members and active supporters 
of the Disciples' church, at Deerfield, in which 
the former has held the office of deacon. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



8-J5 



aHARLES C. MEAD, a thriving farm- 
er of Boston township, and an old 
soldier of the Civil war, was born in 
Springfield township. Summit county, 
Ohio, January 14, 1846, a son of Abner R. 
and Barbara (Klofinstein) Mead. He springs 
from old New England ancestry, of English 
descent on his father's side, and from French 
ancestors on his nxjther's side. 

Charles C. Mead received a good common- 
school education, and was reared to farming. 
He enlisted, at sixteen years of age, in 1862, 
at Peninsula, Ohio, under Capt. Means A. L. 
Conger, recruiting officer, for three years, or 
during the war, but being under age, the 
mustering officer would not accept him. He 
tried again, in the winter of 1862-3, to enlist 
in the Twenty-first battery, but was again re- 
jected, as he was taken sick with measles — 
which rendered him deaf. He finally suc- 
ceeded in enlisting, July 19, 1864, at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, for three years, or during the war, 
in company A, Second Ohio cavalry, and was 
honorably discharged at Benton barracks, St. 
Louis, Mo., September i, 1865, the war hav- 
ing closed. He was in Sheridan's command, 
and served under Gens. Wilson and Custer. 
He was in the battle of Opequan Creek, at 
Winchester, which was Sheridan's first en- 
gagement. Mr. Mead was through many 
skirmishes, being nearly every day under fire. 
He was in the battle of Cedar Creek, which 
was desperately fought, and in which the Sec- 
ond Ohio cavalry took an active part. This 
was, in reality, the battle of Winchester, to 
which point Gen. Sheridan made his famous 
ride from Winchester, twenty miles away. 
Mr. Mead saw Sheridan on the battle field as 
he rode up. The Second Ohio cavalry had 
escorted Sheridan to the railroad train about 
two days before. Mr. Mead was in the great 
raids down the Shenandoah valley, in which 
all the barns, straw stacks, and all the mills 



that could give food to the enemy, were de- 
stroyed. The dwellings alone were excepted, 
but many of these were burned by accident. 
Sheridan said that a " crow could not fly over 
the valley without his rations with him." Mr. 
Mead also assisted in the defeat of Early, and 
was always an active soldier, and in all the 
battles, raids, skirmishes and marches in which 
his regiment was engaged, except when sick 
in hospital, two months, at Baltimore and 
Philadelphia, with typhoid fever. He was 
not wounded, nor a prisoner, and endured the 
hardships and privations of war with fortitude. 

After the war, Mr. Mead returned to Ohio 
and married, in Richfield township, Summit 
county, Miss Julia A. Carter, of Boston town- 
ship, a daughter of William and Emeline (Gil- 
lett) Carter. William Carter was born in 
Ohio and his children were Charles, Prof. 
William, a prominent school man, Albert, Ed- 
win, Fanny, Julia, Nettie and Lilly. After 
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mead first located in 
Richfield township and moved to his present 
farm about twenty years since, where he has 
a pleasant home. In politics he is independ- 
ent and voted with the free-silver democrats 
in 1896. He is an honored member of George 
L. Waterman post, G. A. R., at Peninsula, 
Ohio, and has always been an industrious and 
respected citizen. 

Abner R. Mead, father of subject, was born 
in Vermont, a son of Ira Mead, a pioneer of 
Summit county, Ohio, and came to Ohio 
when young. He married, in Summit county, 
Miss Barbara Klofinstein, daughter of Chris- 
topher Klofinstein, who was born in France and 
who was a teacher of foreign languages. His 
children were Joseph, Truman, Charles C, B. 
Frank, Cynthia, Mary, Martha, Flora, and 
Josie. Joseph was a private of Capt. Coul- 
ter's battery, and was among the missing, sup- 
posed to be drowned in the Ohio river. Ab- 
ner R. went to Kansas and there lived about 



826 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



fifteen years, but returned and died in Summit 
county. He was at one time a prominent farm- 
er of Richfield township, and on one occasion, 
with his brothers and father, who were all pot- 
ters as well as farmers, discovered a valuable 
bank of potter's clay in Springfield township, 
and they were the first to open the manufac- 
ture of pottery in that township. 

The following congratulating address to the 
Third cavalry division, issued by order of 
General Custer, at the close of the war, is 
self-explanatory : 

Headquarters Thiud Cavalry Division, i 
Appomattox Court House, Va., v 
April 9, 1865. ) 
Soldiers of the Third Cavalry Division: 

With profound gratitude toward the god 
of battles, by whose blessings our enemies 
have been humbled, and our arms rendered 
triumphant, your commanding general avails 
himself of this, his first opportunity, to express 
to 3'ou his admiration of the heroic manner in 
which you have passed through the series of 
battles, which to-day resulted in the surrender 
of the enemy's entire army. 

The records established by your indomi- 
table courage is unparalleled in the annals of 
war. Your prowess has won for you even the 
respect and the admiration of your enemies. 
During the past four months, although in most 
instances confronted by superior numbers, you 
have captured from the enemy, in open bat- 
tle, one hundred and eleven pieces of field ar- 
tillery, si.\ty-five battle-fiags, and upwards of 
ten thousand prisoners of war, including seven 
general officers. Within the past ten days, 
and included in the above, you have captured 
forty-six pieces of artillery, and thirty- seven 
battle-flags. You have never lost a gun; 
never lost a color, and have never been de- 
feated; and, notwithstanding the numerous 
engagements in which you have borne a prom- 
inent part, including those memorable battles 
of the Shenanhoah, you have captured every 
piece of artillery which the enemy had dared 
to open upon you. The near approach of 
peace renders it improbable that you will 
again be called upon to undergo the fatigues 



of the toilsome march, or the exposure of the 
battle field, but should the assistance of keen 
blades, wielded by your sturdy arms, be re- 
quired to hasten the coming of that glorious 
peace, for which we have so long been con- 
tending, the general commanding is proudly 
confident that, in the future, as in the past, 
every demand will meet with a hearty and 
willing response. 

Let us hope that our work is done, and 
that, blessed with the comforts of peace, we 
may be permitted to enjoythe pleasures of 
home and friends. For our comrades who 
have fallen, let us ever cherish a grateful re- 
membrance. To the wounded, and those who 
languish in southern prisons, let our heartfelt 
sympathy be tendered. 

And now, speaking for myself alone, when 
the war is ended, and the task of the historian 
begins — when those deeds of daring, which 
hove rendered the name and fame of the Third 
cavalry division imperishable, are inscribed 
upon the bright pages of our country's history, 
I only ask that my name may be written as 
that of the commander of the Third cavalry 
division. G. A. Custer, 

Brevet Major-General Commanding. 
Official. 

L. W. Barnhakt, Capt. cS: A. A. A. G. 



*-|-» EELAND A. MERWIN, a retired 
I r farmer of Nelson township. Portage 
^l^J county, Ohio, and residing in Gar- 
rettsville, was born in Nelson town- 
ship, September 29, 1840, a son of Leeland P. 
and Mary E. (King) Merwin, theformer of whom 
was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., Septem- 
ber 18, 1803, a son of Dr. Jesse and Sallie 
Merwin, pioneers of Portage county, Ohio. 

Dr. Jesse Merwin was of New England 
ancestry and came from New York state to 
Ohio in 1821, settling in Nelson township. 
Portage county, where he cut the first timber 
and cleared up the first farm from the wilder- 
ness. He was a practicing physician and was 
well known throughout the surrounding coun- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



827 



try, the pioneers fully appreciating his ability 
and skill. His son, Leeland P. Merwin, fa- 
ther of subject, was born in Onondaga county, 
N. Y., September 18, 1803, and came to Ohio 
with his father in 1821, being at that time 
about eighteen years of age. He assisted in 
clearing up the Nelson township homestead, 
and a few years later married Miss Mary E. 
King, to which union were born Louisa, Sal- 
lie, Helen, Hannah, Martha, Van B., Leeland 
A., John C. and Todd S. All the sons were 
soldiers in the late Civil war — John C. and 
Leeland A. having served in the Second Ohio 
cavalry and Todd S. in the Sixth; Van B. was 
in the 100-day service, was captured by John 
Morgan at Cynthiana, Ky. , but was held two 
days only. Beside these four brothers of the 
Merwin family, a brother of Mrs. Merwin 
served throughout the same struggle. Her sis- 
ter, Angeline, married Harr}' Daily, and Mr. 
Merwin's sister, Sallie, married Henry Merwin, 
and these two gentlemen were also soldiers 
who fought in defense of the Union. The fa- 
ther of this family was called to rest Novem- 
ber 18, 1887, honored by all who knew him. 

Leeland A. Merwin, just before his twenty- 
first birthday, left the Nelson township home- 
stead and enlisted, in Windham township, 
September 25, 1861, in company G, Second 
regiment, Ohio volunteer cavalry, to serve 
three years, and continued in the army until 
honorably discharged at Ba.xter Springs, Kans. , 
October 10, 1862. He fought against Quan- 
trell's guerrillas through all the border counties 
in Missouri and Kansas and in the Indian terri- 
tory, taking part in many skirmishes. He 
suffered a great deal from typhoid-pneumonia, 
contracted from exposure and sleeping on the 
ground in swampy localities, and was confined 
in the hospital at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., 
for six weeks, when he rejoined his regiment 
at Fort Scott, but two months later, on ac- 
count of disability, was discharged at the place 



and time above mentioned. When not con- 
fined by illness, Mr. Merwin was always prompt 
and cheerful in the performance of his military 
duties and was a good and brave soldier. 

On his return to Ohio, Mr. Merwin attend- 
ed Hiram institute two terms and then learned 
the carpenter's trade, which he followed ten or 
twelve years, and then settled on the old Nel- 
son township homestead of about 123 acres, 
which he stills owns, but from the active and 
practical care of which he retired to Garretts- 
ville in 1892, 

The marriage of Mr. Merwin took place in 
Vienna township, Trumbull county, Ohio, 
June 5, 1873, to Miss Margaret J. Lyon, who 
was born in Clarion county, Pa., a daughter of 
John B. and Catherine (McNaughton) Lyon, 
parents of the following-named children: 
James S., Calvin W., Franklin, Thomas, An- 
geline, Margaret J., Barbara A. and Ellen. 
The father, John 1:5. Lyon, was a farmer, was 
a republican in politics, and two of his sons, 
James S. and Franklin, served during the 
Civil war, in a regiment of Pennsylvania vol- 
unteer infantry — Franklin dying from wounds 
received in battle and his remains being in- 
terred at City Point, Va. The father, who 
descended from one of the oldest pioneer fam- 
ilies of the Keystone state, was born in 1815 
and died in 1894. His daughter (Mrs. Mer- 
win) is a lady of great natural abilities, is a 
member of Ora Rebekah lodge, No. 240, I. O. 
O. F. , of Garrettsville, held the office of presi- 
dent of the state assembly from 1895 to 1896, 
and has been presented by the state lodge with 
a beautiful emblem of solid gold, set with 
seven diamonds, as a testimonial of her gra- 
cious conduct and administrative impartiality. 
In politics Mr. Merwin is a republican, and 
cast his first presidential vote for Abraham 
Lincoln. He has filled the office of township 
trustee two years, is a member of Mark Hor- 
ton post, G. A. R., at Garrettsville, in which 



828 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



he has served as junior and senior vice-com- 
mander, and is also a member of Portage 
lodge. No. 456, I. O. O. F., at Garretts- 
ville, in which he has filled all the chairs, in- 
cluding that of noble grand. In religion, the 
family afifiliate with the Congregational church, 
and is one of the most highly esteemed in Nel- 
son township. 



^V^^ EWTON SPERRY. a prominent cit- 
I m izen and one of the wealthiest fami- 
ly ^ ers of Streetsboro, Ohio, descends 
from one of the New England pio- 
neer families of the Western Reserve, and is 
of sterling English ancestry. 

Lyman Sperry, grandfather of Newton 
Sperry, was born in Woodbury, Conn., and 
he first married Deborah Newton, to which 
union were born the following-named children: 
Amadeus, Mary, Amanda, Phebe and Adna. 
After the death of his first wife. Lyman mar- 
ried Lydia Peck, and the children born to this 
marriage were Lyman, Lydia, Elizabeth L. , 
Levinus, Lewis, Ira P., Samuel. Ebenezer, 
and Dr. Willis, the last two born in Ohio. 
Lyman Sperry moved with his family to Ohio 
in 1 8 19, making the journey with horse and 
ox-teams — quite a party coming together. 
Lyman Sperry settled on the north line of 
Tallmadge, a little east of Monroe Falls. He 
bought a lot of 160 acres, which he cleared 
from the woods, aided by his sons. He and 
wife were members of the Congregational 
church, and in politics Mr. Sperry was a 
whig. He died on his farm, quite an aged 
man, greatly honored for his integrity of 
character. 

Amadeus Sperry, father of Newton, was 
born in Woodbury, Conn., March 16, 1798, 
and March 22, 18 19, married Esther Upson, 
who was born November 25, 1799. They 
came to Ohio on their wedding trip, with the 



Lyn)an Sperry party, in 1S19. Andrew set- 
tled on forty acres, a part of his father's tract 
of 160 acres, which he cleared up, sold, and 
bought 100 acres, in 1834, in Streetsboro town- 
ship. Portage county, all in the woods. His 
sons cleared this land, as Mr. Sperry lived 
but eight years after settling in Portage coun- 
ty, his death taking place September 18, 1842, 
aged about forty-four years. He and wife 
were members of the Presbyterian church, of 
Tallmadge, and the Presbyterian church at 
Streetsboro, and in politics Mr. Sperry was a 
whig. He was a man of sterling worth and 
straightforward character. Mrs. Sperry died 
September 12, 1866, aged si.xty-seven years, a 
woman of many virtues. Their children were 
Newton, Lucius, Mary, Clark, Alonzo, Oman, 
Olive E., Eunice and Celia M. 

Newton Sperry was born in Tallmadge 
township, on the old Sperry homestead, Sep- 
tember 2, 1 82 I. He is entirely self-educated, 
and by his home study acquired much practical 
information, being possessed of unusual in- 
telligence. He began work at clearing when 
a small boy, and when but twelve years of 
age was hired out to a farmer in Tallmadge to 
drive a yoke of oxen and plow, and even at 
that early age could do a full day's work, and 
plowed, at this age, with James Chamberlain 
for Andrew Treat. As he was the eldest son, 
he had to work young; when he was twenty- 
one years old, his father died and he was left 
with the care of his mother and eight children, 
and the homestead was not yet paid for; he, 
therefore, worked with great perseverance to 
support the family and pay for the farm. 

Mr. Sperry married. May 13, 1849, in Au- 
rora township, Lucy L. Cannon, who was 
born July 8, 1825, at Kirkland, Lake county, 
Ohio, a daughter of John and Lydia (Rice) 
Cannon. John Cannon was born January 11. 
1787, in Blanford, Mass., of sterling Scotch 
ancestry. The name was originally Carnahan. 




aJ:^2/^ ^?^rn^ 





i.yJ^M 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



833 



and the genealogy is traced to the Pilgrims 
who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. His 
parents were John and Mary Cannon, whose 
family consisted of eight children, viz: John, 
Stephen, George, Eli — one daughter who 
married a Cochran, one who married a Spen- 
cer, Lucy L., and Polly, who married Charles 
Starr. John Cannon came with his mother, 
brothers and sisters to Ohio in i 806, when he 
was a boy. The farm had been selected by 
his brother Stephen, in 1804, in the southwest 
part of Aurora township. He made some im- 
provements, and in 1806 returned for his 
mother and the children, and on the 20th, 
with a genuine pioneer outfit, a huge wagon 
drawn by two yoke of o.xen, lead by a trusty 
horse, upon which the young pioneers of the 
family took turns riding, and for forty days 
they continued their march, crossing hills, 
scaling mountains, wading swamps, threading 
forests, in the early days of December, and, all 
tired out, they made their home in the woods 
of Ohio. John Cannon and his brother Eli 
were both soldiers in the war of 181 2. John 
was in the regular United States service three 
years near the Niagara river. He had a good 
education for his time and taught school in 
Darrowville, and there he married, Septem- 
ber 10, 1820, Lydia Rice, who was born Feb- 
ruary 2, 1787, in Massachusetts. She was a 
school-teacher in Darrowville, and came from 
Massachusetts with William Blair and family 
to Painesville, Ohio. 

John Cannon lived in Painesville for five 
years on fifty acres of land, and in after life 
lived in Aurora, Northampton and Streetsboro 
as a farmer. His children were Lucy L. and 
Norman S. Mr. Cannon was a Methodist in 
religion and democrat in politics, but became 
a republican during the war. He was a man 
of good character and temper and very up- 
right. He died April r, 1872, aged eighty-five 
years, his wife having died November 2, 1868, 



the death of both occurring at the home of 
Newton Sperry. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sperry settled 
on the farm which he had bought and paid for, 
consisting of 1 10 acres, and which was the old 
home of his father. He had also assisted his 
mother to bring up her family. Mr. Sperry 
prospered and eventually became the owner 
of f>oo acres, and was one of the most sub- 
stantial farmers in Streetsboro township, and 
still owns a fine estate of 370 acres. This 
property he has acquired by his thrift and 
sturdy industry and sagacity, working every 
day early and late, and is an entirely self- 
made man. Mrs. Sperry died October 24, 
1896, a member of the Presbyterian church at 
Streetsboro, of which Mr. Sperry has been an 
elder for twelve years, and was deacon several 
years, and to the support of which he always 
liberally contributed. In politics he is a pro- 
hibitionist, being a strong temperance man. 
Mr. Sperry is well preserved and a man of 
active manner, and has always been well- 
known for his straightforward honesty of char- 
acter. Mrs. Sperry was a woman of marked 
character and strong personality, of great in- 
dustry and perseverance and for eight years 
cared for her parents in their declining years. 

The children born to Newton and Lucy L. 
(Cannon) Sperry are Alice E., wife of William 
J. McDowell, an agriculturist, of Woodstock, 
111., with a family of four living children — 
Laney A., Emma M., William A. and Elmer 
N., and one deceased, Mary S. Arthur N., 
was married, but is now deceased, having left 
two children — Robert M. and Arthur G. Fred 
A., a carpenter and builder at Colorado 
Springs, Colo., was first married to Fannie E. 
Kerr, of Tallmadge township, and had three 
children — Berrie L. , Ethel B. (deceased), and 
Marjorie A. — and after the death of his first 
wife in Colorado, October 12, 1895, married 
Mrs. Fannie A. Beebe, of Des Moines, Iowa. 



834 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Lucy E. is at home with her father, is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, is president of 
the C. E. society, secretary of the local union 
of the W. C. T. U., and is superintendent of 
the L. T. I. department, W. C. T. U., for 
Portage county. 



m: 



'ILLIAM T. MENDENHALL, of the 
firm of Mendenhall & Shuman, the 
well-known furniture dealers and 
undertakers, of Atwater, Portage 
county, Ohio, was born in Chester county. 
Pa., May 8, 1832, a son of Stephen and Mary 
(Thomas) Mendenhall, also natives of the 
Keystone state. 

Stephen Mendenhall and wife were the par- 
ents of five children, viz: Margaret (deceased), 
William T. (subject), Edwin D., Maria and 
Thomas C. In 1834, accompanied by his 
wife, and Pennsylvania-born children, Mr. 
Mendenhall crossed the mountains in a wagon, 
and in the course of four weeks arrived in Co- 
lumbiana county, Ohio, where he bought a 
tract of land, cleared up a farm, built a log 
cabin, and engaged in his trade of wagon- 
making, and finally added carriage and buggy 
manufacturing; did a good business for a num- 
ber of years, but eventually moved to Indiana, 
where his wife died in January, 1874, and 
where his own death also took place in No- 
vember, 1894. 

William T. Mendenhall received his earlier 
education in the common schools of Colum- 
biana county, and later attended high school 
in Marlboro, Stark couuty, then for a number 
of years worked at carriagemaking, and then 
came to Portage county, and for ten years op- 
erated a saw-mill in Randolph; for the twenty 
years following he was engaged in farming, 
and in 1883, settled in Atwater, where he en- 
tered into the furniture trade in partnership 
with Mr. Stanford; three years later Mr. 



Stanford sold his interest in the concern to E. 
M. Chapman, and in 1893, Mr. Chapman sold 
to Mr. Shuman, since when, the firm has been 
conducted under the title mentioned at the 
opening of this notice, and now does the 
largest house-furnishing business in the town- 
ship, to which has been added a complete un- 
dertaking equipment. 

June 13, 1855, Mr. Mendenhall was mar- 
ried at Canton, Ohio, to Miss Asenath Mich- 
ener, who was born in Goshen, Mahoning 
county, Ohio, in 1831, a daughter of James 
and Eliza Michener, natives of Pennsylvania, 
who came to Ohio in the same year in which 
their daughter, Asenath, was born. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Mendenhall have been born three 
children, viz: Carrie, now Mrs. D. S. Perkins; 
Nina, married to C. J. Stanford, and Ella, wife 
of Dr. C. S. Hiddleson, whose biography ap- 
pears on another page. 

Mr. Mendenhall is a republican in politics, 
and has held the office of township trus- 
tee, for a period of si.x years. He is very 
popular personally, and his family, as well as 
himself, are among the most respectable resi- 
dents of Atwater township. 



eLIAS MILLER, one of the most re- 
spected, old-time farmers of Bath 
township. Summit county, was born 
in Jackson township. Stark county, 
Ohio, March 12, 1824, and is a son of Peter 
and Mary (Williams) Miller, the former of 
whom was born October 5, 1796, and was a 
son of George Miller, who was born Novem- 
ber 7, 1763. 

Peter Miller married Miss Mary Williams, 
February 13, 1823, and came to Bath town- 
ship, Summit county, in 1838, and settled on 
a farm, one-half mile east of the center there^ 
of, where he continued to follow his life-long 
vocation as an agriculturist, and attained a 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



835 



considerable degree of popularity and influence 
with his fellow-townsmen, whom he served as 
township trustee, school director, and justice 
of the peace, having been elected by the re- 
publican party. In religion, he was converted 
to the Evangelical faith fourteen years prior 
to his death, and was a consistent member of 
the church of that name. He lost his wife, 
Mary, in 1826. She had borne him two chil- 
dren — Elias, the subject of this biography, 
and Robert S., who died in infancy. For his 
second helpmate, he married Nancy Sprankle, 
who gave birth to three children — James, Jo- 
seph (died in infancy), and Milton, the death 
of Peter Miller occurring March 31, 1867. 

Elias Miller was tolerably well educated in 
the district schools of Stark and Summit 
counties, and was reared by his father to the 
honorable and noble pursuit of agriculture. 
He married, April 16, 1848, Miss Sarah 
Sprankle, who was born June 16, 1827, a 
daughter of Jacob Sprankle, who was born in 
Pennsylvania, in 1798. Mrs. Sarah Miller 
died of a tumor. May 10, 1895, the mother 
of the following-named children: Jacob S., 
born November 12, 1849 — died of consump- 
tion of the lungs, May 7, 1878; Etta Ann, 
who was born November 28, 1851, was mar- 
ried to Wait Hopkins, and died of a tumor, 
January 13, 1896; Nancy, born December 18, 
1854, now the wife of Daniel Mull, and a resi- 
dent of Cleveland; Mary A., who was born 
February 27, 1857, is married to Newton 
Hockett, and resides in Bath township; Ama 
G., born February 19, 1859, died of typhoid 
fever, October 3, 1871; Dora, born June 13, 
1864, was married to John Rothrick, and died 
of consumption of the lungs, July 18, 1892, 
and Peter Milten, born in Bath township, 
P^ebruary 6, 1867, died of consumption of the 
bowels, October 22, 1885. The subject of 
this sketch was married again, April 11, 1897, 
to Margaret A. Drushal, which was her maid- 



en name, but who was twice married before 
she married Elias Miller — first to Samuel Tins- 
ler, and secondly to William Watts. 

Mr. Miller had led a very active and indus- 
trious life, having cleared up nearly all of his 
130-acre farm and made all the improvements, 
the buildings being substantial and neat and 
tasty in appearance, while the farm itself, 
which is situated three-fourths of a mile east 
of the center of Bath, presents an aspect of 
thrift and good management unsurpassed by 
any farm of its dimensions in Bath township. 

In politics Mr. Miller affiliates with the 
republican party. He has long been a mem- 
ber of and leader in the Evangelical church, 
and fraternally is a member of Richfield 
lodge, No. 266, F. & A. M., in which he has 
held the chair of junior deacon. He is now 
living in comparative retirement in Homer 
township, Medina county, Ohio, having done 
no practical farm work for the past ten years, 
his ample means affording him the privilege of 
enjoying in ease the fruits of his early indus- 
try, although he keeps a general oversight in 
the management of his estate. He is an 
honorable and upright gentleman in every 
sense of these words, and holds with a lasting 
tenure the respect of his neighbors. 



at 



1 L L I A M B. M I C L E, long a re- 
spected resident of Aurora town- 
ship. Portage county, Ohio, and for 
over three years a soldier of the 
Civil war, was born in Pottsdam, Saint Law- 
rence county, N. Y., a son of Benjamin W. 
and Mary (Hoggett) Micle, who were of 
French descent and had a family of four chil- 
dren, viz: Malinda, Emma, George and Wil- 
liam B. The family early came to Ohio, but 
the parents some years afterward returned to 
the state of New York, where the father 



83H 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



■passed the remainder of his life, and died at 
about the age of forty-five years. 

WiUiam B. Micle, when about nine years 
old, was brought to Aurora township by his 
parents, received a good common-school edu- 
cation, and was reared a farmer. October 7, 
1 86 1, he enlisted, at Streetsboro, in company 
F, Forty-second Ohio volunteer infantry, and 
served until honorably discharged, November 
19, 1864, at Columbus, Ohio. He fought in 
seven rebel states during this period — Ken- 
tucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, 
Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas — and 
among other battles in which he took part 
were those of Middle Creek, Chickasaw 
Heights, Fort Hinman, Port Gibson, Ray- 
mond, Champion Hill, Black River Bridge 
and Vicksburg, and was, beside, in several se- 
vere skirmishes, but passed through all without 
a wound, although several rifle-balls passed 
through his clothing. Mr. Micle is small of 
stature, being but five feet, three inches in 
height, and weighing but 137 pounds, yet he 
endured the long marches better than the large 
men, many of whom fell in the ranks from 
fatigue. His hardest march was with Gen. 
Morgan, from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio 
river, a distance of 237 miles, many skir- 
mishes occurring on the way. The troops 
were without regular rations and subsisted on 
the forage of a very poor country. The reb- 
els captured all the stragglers, and blockaded 
all the roads, and when the troops reached 
the Ohio river, they were dirty, ragged, shoe- 
less and hungry, a little green corn having sus- 
tained Mr. Micle through the march. On two 
occasions he marched with his company 700 
miles, and while many a robust soldier fell ex- 
hausted, Mr. Micle came through intact. He 
was not in the hospital, excepting about three 
weeks in the early part of his service, when 
he was suffering from measles, although for 
four months, during the latter part of his 



term, he suffered from chronic diarrhea, yet 
did not leave his company. 

Mr. Micle was united in marriage, Janu- 
ary 14, 1869, at Shalersville, Portage county, 
with Miss Margaret J. English, who was born 
at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, in 1851, a 
daughter of John and Martha (Piburn) Eng- 
lish. John English came to America shortly 
after the birth of his daughter, Margaret J., 
and settled in Shalersville, where he engaged 
in saw-milling. His children were seven in 
number, and were named Eliza, Martha, Eliza- 
beth, Hattie L. , Margaret J., Joseph and John, 
and of these, Joseph was in the three months' 
service in the late war. Mr. English de- 
parted this life in Shalersville, at the age of 
sixty-four years, a respected citizen, and an 
industrious, temperate, honest man. To the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Micle, have been born 
the following-named children: John, Henry, 
Eugene Arthur, Harry, Maud and Maggie. 
Since the war Mr. Micle has been much dis- 
abled, and for a year at a time has been un- 
able to do any work. Generally, he has 
engaged in teaming in Shalersville, Ravenna, 
Newburg and Aurora, having lived in the last- 
named place since 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Micle 
are consistent members of the Disciples' 
church, and in politics Mr. Micle is independ- 
ent, voting for the candidate he deems to be 
best fitted for office. He is a quiet, unassum- 
ing, honest man, and is held in great respect 
in the community in which he lives. 



@IDEON H. MILLS, Jr., of Twins- 
burg, Ohio, an old soldier of the 
Civil war, springs from old New 
England ancestry, of Holland-Dutch 
stock, and is the seventh generation of his 
family named Gideon. 

Gideon Mills, grandfather of subject, was 
one of the pioneers of Hudson, and Gideon 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



837 



Mills, father of subject, came with his father, 
when a boy, to Hudson, Ohio. The last- 
named Gideon was reared a farmer, and mar- 
ried Matilda Case, daughter of Gideon and 
Temperance (Minor) Case, and to this union 
were born six children, viz: Julia. Lucy, 
Gideon, Eliza O., Almon D. and Harlow. 
Mr. Mills located in Streetsboro, where he 
cleared up a farm. He enlisted as a soldier in 
the Civil war in the fall of 1861 — probably 
September — for three years, and had nearly 
served out his time when he was honorably 
discharged on account of disability, and re- 
turned to Streetsboro. His first wife died, 
and he next married, in Streetsboro, Mary 
Wilcox, and they were the parents of two 
children — Edward and William. Mr. Mills 
was a member of the Congregational church, 
and in pohtics was a whig and republican. 
He was an honored and respected citizen, a 
well-known and substantial farmer and owned 
a good farm, and died at the age of eighty- 
four 3'ears. 

Gideon H. Mills, Jr., was born October 29, 
1834, at Twinsburg, Ohio, received a common- 
school education and became a farmer. He 
enlisted in Capt. George Wetmore's Ninth 
Ohio independent battery, November 2, 1861, 
to serve three years or during the war, was 
promoted to corporal in 1863 and re-enlisted 
in the same organization as a veteran volun- 
teer February 11, 1864, at Tullahoma, Tenn., 
and was honorably discharged July 25, 1865, 
at Camp Cleveland, Ohio. He was in the 
battles of Mill Springs, Cumberland Gap, 
Franklin, Tenn., second battle of Franklin, 
Tazewell, Tyrone, Nashville, Stone River, 
Tullahoma, and Chattanooga, and several 
others, fifteen battles in all. His service was 
principally in Kentucky, Tennessee and Ala- 
bama, and he was always an active soldier, 
prompt and faithful in the discharge of his 
duty. He kept a memorandum in a diary of 



each day's events while in the army, which is 
of great interest. He was not sick in hospital 
nor wounded, nor a prisoner, but was all the 
time with his battery, although he was rup- 
tured in 1863. After the war Mr. Mills re- 
turned to Summit county, and married, Jan- 
uary 22, 1868, in Twinsburg township, Sarah 
White, widow of Elisha White (nee Sarah 
Lane), daughter of Luman and Irene (Thomas) 
Lane. Luman Lane was born at Killingworth, 
Conn., in 1796, and came on foot to Ohio 
with a pack on his back, in 1820, when a 
young man of twenty-four years, in company 
with Hanford White, the father of Elisha 
White, the first husband of Mrs. Mills, and 
located at the place now occupied by our sub- 
ject, then all woods. They built a cabin and 
lived together nearly two years, as bachelors, 
when Luman Lane married Irene Thomas, 
who came from Connecticut with Ethan 
Ailing and family. He cleared up a farm of 
100 acres and made a good home. His chil- 
dren were Charles, Albert, Augusta, Edward, 
Emeline and Sarah. Mrs. Lane died and he 
married Emma Parrish, and they had one 
child — Philena. Mr. Lane was an honored 
pioneer and upright man. He lived to be 
eighty-two years old, and died a member of 
the First Congregational church at Twinsburg, 
and in politics was a republican. 

Gideon H. Mills, Jr., after marriage, first 
lived on the White farm and then twelve years 
in Hudson township, where he bought 106 
acres; then returned to the White farm, 
bought a lot and built a feed-mill, cider-mill 
and a factory, and for twenty years ran a 
threshing machine and a portable saw-mill. 
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Mills are Lottie 
P., and Gideon L. Lottie P. is the wife of 
George M. Wall, a bookkeeper of Wilming- 
ton, Del. They have one son and daughter, 
Adelbert, Marion. Gideon L. is a resident of 
Solon, Ohio, and is an engineer; he married 



838 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Miss Electa Sheets, a native of Ohio. Mr. 
and Mrs. Mills were pupils in the Rev. Samuel 
Bissels Twinsburg institute, and are now 
members of the Twinsburg Congregational 
church, in which he has held the office of 
deacon. In politics he is a republican, casting 
his first presidential vote for Gen. John C. 
Fremont, is a member of the W. T. Sherman 
post, G. A. R. , at Hudson, and has held the 
office of vice-commander. He is a member of 
the school board, and for two years was a 
supervisor. Mr. Mills is a veteran of the late 
war, with a fine military record. The famous 
John Brown of Kansas was a relative of Mr. 
Mills, John Brown's mother having been a 
sister of 'Squire Gideon Mills of Hudson, the 
grandfather of our subject. The Mills are of 
Holland-Dutch stock. The first of the name 
was Peter Walter Mulen, as the name was 
spelled, who came from Holland to America. 
Gideon Mills, Jr., and Samuel Bediant made 
the first traction engine, at Hudson, and ran 
this engine twenty years. 



>Y' OHN B. MOECK, an ex-soldier of the 
m late Civil war and a well known resident 
/• 1 of Stre^tsboro, Portage county, Ohio, is 
a native of Germany, born in Wurtem- 
berg November 12, 1830, asonof John and Mar- 
garet (Ruetz) Moeck. He received a good 
education in the excellently managed public 
schools of his native city, and then learned the 
butchering business. In the latter part of 
May, 1851, he embarked at Havre, France, 
on board the A i swift-sailing packet ship 
Isabel for New York, and landed in that city 
July 2, after a short passage, for those days, of 
a little more than thirty days. He readily 
found emplo3ment and worked in New York 
city, Albany, N. Y. , Philadelphia, Pa., and 
then for a few years in Bucks county, Pa. 

In March, 1862, Mr. Moeck came to Ohio 



and worked in Stowe township. Summit county, 
then moved to Brimfield township, where he 
lived until his enlistment, October 2, 1862, at 
Cleveland, in company C, Sixth Ohio cavalry, 
Maj. Bingham commanding, for nine months, 
but served ten, and was honorably discharged, 
at Cleveland, July 29, 1863. He was assigned 
to the army of the Potomac and took part in 
the destructive raid through the Shenandoah 
valley. He fought at Kelly Fort, Va., was in 
the charge on Fort Thompson, was in the bat- 
tle at Cross Roads, and the engagements at 
Warrenton, and was in many brisk skirmishes 
during Gen. Stoneman's famous raid. At 
Stoneman's headquarter's, Mr. Moeck's com- 
pany acted as body guards, and its members 
were selected as bearers of dispatches, accord- 
ing to trustworthiness and daring, and in 
this hazardous service Mr. Moeck met with 
many adventures and hairbreadth escapes from 
capture. He endured many hardships and 
privations, and at one time, when his boots 
were burnt up by accident in camp, was bare- 
foot for a whole week in cold weather. He 
was taken sick and was in field hospital on the 
Potomac river for about a month, was then 
taken to Washington, D. C, and thence sent 
to Cleveland, where he was discharged at the 
date mentioned above, and given transporta- 
tion to Ravenna, where he was confined to his 
bed for three months, and after recovering en- 
gaged in farm work. 

Mr. Moeck married in Ravenna, October 
15, 1863, Mrs. Barbara Shaffer, who was born 
April 2, 1845, in Germany, a daughter of John 
and Mary (Mades) Shaffer. John Shaffer was 
a farmer in Baden province, Germany, and 
owned his land, which had been in the family 
for generations. To his marriage with Miss 
Mades, daughter of Jacob Mades, a farmer, 
were born Joseph (who died at twenty-four 
years of age), Mary, Visula, Mary A., Eliz- 
abeth, Catherine, Eva and Barbara. Mr. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



839 



Shaffer died March 25, 1850, when his daugh- 
ter Barbara (now Mrs. Moeck) was but five 
years of age, and when si.\ years old she came 
with her sister, Mary, to America. She was 
reared by strangers in Randolph, Portage 
county, Ohio, and at the age of eighteen years 
she became the bride of Mr. Moeck. 

After marriage, Mr. Moeck continued to 
reside in Ravenna until 1867, when he went 
to Minnesota, where he lived three months and 
then returned to Portage county and located in 
Kent, where he resided until 1879, when he 
came to Streetsboro and bought his present 
home. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Moeck has 
been blessed with one child — Rosa — who is 
married to William Shoemaker, and is the 
mother of one son, John. In politics Mr. 
Moeck is a republican. He and wife attend 
the Methodist church, although Mr. Moeck is 
in belief a Lutheran. He has always been an 
industrious, moral, temperate man, and is as 
good a citizen as he was a soldier. 



V^ y *' ALTER E. MOWEN, M. D., a 
mm I physician and surgeon of Portage 
^jL^ county, Ohio, was born July 31, 
1856, in Deertield, in the county 
named, and here he still has his residence, his 
ability in his profession being fully recognized 
by those among whom he was born and reared 
to manhood — a recognition not usually ac- 
corded professional men. He descends from 
a long line of American ancestors, of whom 
three generations, at least, have been resi- 
dents of the Buckeye state. 

Daniel Mowen, the paternal grandfather of 
the doctor, was a native of Berks county. Pa., 
was a tailor by trade, but came at a very 
early day to Ohio and engaged in farming in 
Columbiana county, and later moved to Fred- 
ericksburg. To his marriage with Elizabeth 
Rudisall were born nine children, of whom 



six are still living, viz: Humphrey, T. R. 
(father of the doctor), both residing in Deer- 
tield; Simeon J., of Chicago; Oliver P., of 
Deerfield; Harriet, wife of Richard McGowan, 
and Sophina, wife of Daniel Koons, of Cleve- 
land. Of the three deceased, Nancy died 
April 8, 1857, at the age of nineteen years; 
Hiram, who was a soldier in the Civil war and 
died in Tennessee, and Samantha, the de- 
ceased wife of Orison Diver. The father of 
the family died April 9, 1845. a member of 
the Lutheran church, of which his deceased 
wife was also a member. 

Ephraim Hubbard, the maternal grand- 
father of the doctor, was born February 10, 
1792, in Stratford, Conn., and in 1800 
was brought to Ohio by his parents, who 
settled in Deerfield township. Portage county, 
where they purchased a farm. On this farm 
Ephraim was reared to manhood. He took 
part in the war of 18 12, and later became a 
prominent citizen and a leader of men, repre- 
senting his district in the state legislature two 
terms, and later serving for a number of years 
as chaplain in the state penitentiary, his polit- 
ical affiliations having first been with the whig 
party and later with the republican, and bv the 
latter was elected to nearly all the township 
offices. He first married Miss Mary Mc- 
Gowan, who bore him eight children, of whom 
two are still living, viz: Mrs. T. R. Mowen, 
the mother of the subject of this sketch, and 
Mary, wife of Jesse L. Slack, of Deerfield. 
The deceased were Rebecca, wife of M. L. 
Streetor; Homer, Edgar, Cyrus, Horatius, 
and Samantha, who died suddenly in the rail- 
road station at Alliance, the wife of Andrew 
Slack. Mrs. Mary (McGowan) Hubbard was 
also called away, dying in 1838, and Mr. Hub- 
bard next married, in 1840, Mrs. Julia Reed, 
who bore him two children, viz: Alma, wife 
of Michael Edler, and Helen, who died in in- 
fancy. Mr. Hubbard died on his farm July 



840 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



lo, 1876, at the age of eighty-four years, and 
Mrs. Julia (Reed) Hubbard, his wife, departed 
this life a few years later, aged eighty-eight 
years, and both in the faith of the Disciples' 
church. The father of Ephraim B. Hubbard, 
above alluded to, was also named Ephraim B., 
was a resident of Dutchess county, N. Y. , 
where he married Miss Mary Kidd, a niece of 
the famous Capt. Kidd, for whose supposed 
buried treasures visionaries are digging along 
the banks of the Hudson river, and elsewhere, 
up to the present day. From New York Mr. 
Hubbard came to Ohio and bought a tract of 
land near Deerfield, on which he died in 1825, 
at the age of sixty-one years, the father of four 
children — Sophia, who was married to Harvey 
Mills, of Nelson, Ohio; Ephraim B., subject's 
grandfather, and Stephen A., who became a 
minister of the Methodist church. 

T. R. Mowen, father of Dr. Walter E. 
Mowen, was born in Columbiana county, 
Ohio, April 14, 1824, and when a small boy 
was bound out to a farmer, with whom he re- 
mained until he attained his majority, when he 
began work as a farm hand for the neighbor- 
ing agriculturists, and through frugality was 
enabled to purchase his first farm in 1859, 
which was situated in Deerfield township, ,and 
on which he resided until 1887, when he re- 
tired to the town of Deerfield, where he had 
purchased a fine residence, and where he still 
resides in ease and comfort. The marriage of 
T. R. Mowen took place December 25, 1844, 
to Miss B. E. Hubbard, who was born January 
3, 1824, a daughter of Ephraim B. and Mary 
(McGowan) Hubbard, of whom full mention is 
made in a foregoing paragraph. To this 
union there was but one child born — Dr. Wal- 
ter E. Mowen — who still resides with his 
parents, and of whom further mention will be 
made in the paragraph following. T. R. 
Mowen and wife are devoted members of the 
Disciples' church, of which Mr. Mowen has 



been a deacon for more than thirty years, and 
no family in Deerfield is more highly esteemed 
than theirs. 

Dr. Walter E. Mowen, with whose name 
this biographical memoir is opened, was reared 
on his father's farm, which, to some extent, 
he assisted to cultivate, but the major portion 
of his early days was passed in attending the 
district school and Mount Union college, after 
which he engaged in selling farm machinery 
and agricultural implements until 1886, when 
he succumbed to an ^irgent desire to become 
a physician. Accordingly, in that year, he 
began reading under Dr. Oglesby, of Deer- 
field, and for six months was an assiduous 
student under his preceptorship; the next six 
months' study was had under Dr. C. M. 
Hoover, of North Benton. Ohio, and in the 
following fall he entered the Cleveland Medical 
college, where he studied three years, gradu- 
ating March 9, 1889. He then returned to 
Deerfield and purchased the business which 
had been established by Dr. Henry Powers, 
and this he has since increased from year to 
year, until he has the longest list of patients 
of any physician in Deerfield. 

Dr. Mowen was united in marriage July i, 
1877, with Miss Alice B. Randall, daughter of 
H. S. and Sarah (Alberta) Randall, and this 
happy union has been blessed with four chil- 
dren, named, in order of birth, Don T. , Clif 
S. , Blanch and Ned W. The doctor and 
family are members of the Disciples' church 
at Deerfield, and Mr. and Mrs. Mowen are 
free contributors of their means to its support. 
Fraternally the doctor is a member of Charity 
lodge, F. & A. M., and also of the Cleveland 
Medical society. In politics he is an active 
republican, and is the present chairman of the 
republican township committee. The social 
standing of the doctor and his family is with 
the most respected of the residents of Deerfield 
township, and individually he is highly es- 





, / fdytt^r-yiy\..^K^>^K_ 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



846 



teemed as a gentleman of integrity, morality, 
and unfailing charity, reaching, in fact, the 
virtue of philanthropy. 



(D 



KS. LAWSON WATERMAN, of 
Peninsula, Ohio, is one of the pa- 
triotic ladies of the Civil war. Her 
husband, Lawson Waterman, was 
born in Otsego county, N. Y.. at Decatur, 
January 21, 181 1, and at the age of nineteen 
years went to Rochester, N. Y., where he was 
employed in a ship-yard. He went on the 
lakes as a sailor the following summer and for 
several years was engaged working in the 
ship-yard winters and sailing summers. He 
came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1836, and here 
met Angelina C. Rogers, to whom he was 
married October 24, 1840. Immediately after 
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Waterman came to 
Peninsula, where Mr. Waterman died, after a 
short illness, September 21, 1892. There 
were two sons born to Mr. and Mrs. Water- 
man — George Lawson, who was born Septem- 
ber 5, 1 84 1, and who grew to manhood in 
Peninsula, and Lewis Rogers, who was born 
August 6, 1S44, and died October 20, 1S44. 
Mr. Waterman was a very charitable man, 
and no worthy person in need ever applied to 
him in vain. He was many years in the canal 
boat building business and prospered by his 
steady adherence to his vocation. He began 
a poor man at Peninsula, in 1S38, but suc- 
ceeded in establishing a large business, em- 
ployed many men, built many canal boats, 
and in 1852 built the home where his widow 
now lives. He was a man of sterling integrity 
of character, and much respected by all who 
knew him. The home place consists of 300 
acres of fine land, cleared from the woods. 
Politically a democrat, he was postmaster at 
Peninsula several years, also a member of the 

town board, and was township trustee; like- 
35 



wise a member of Meridian Sun lodge, No. 
266, A. F. & A. M., West Richfield, Ohio. 
He lived to be nearly eighty-two years old, and 
was well known for his sterling qualities. His 
funeral sermon was preached by Rev. H. H. 
Miller, from which is taken the following para- 
graphs: 

In his life Mr. Waterman was a man of 
charity. He was a friend to the poor. No 
worthy person in need ever applied to him for 
assistance in vain. Many there are who can 
testify of his charitable acts to them. He 
clothed the naked and fed the poor. I knew 
him but a few months, but those who knew 
him best give this testimony. 

In his giving he was very unostentatious. 
In a quiet way, his charity was bestowed. He 
has come down to a good ripe age. We can 
truly say of him: "The world was better 
because he lived." His end was a gracious 
one; sick but a few days, suffering but little 
pain, he passed away as one going to sleep. 
He is in the hands of an all-wise and merciful 
God. 

Mrs. Angelina C. (Rogers) Waterman was 
born April 11, 1821, in Kingsville, Geauga 
county, Ohio, a daughter of James Whitelaw 
Rogers, who was born in Swanton, Franklin 
county, Vt. , December 23, 1794, a son of 
George, who was born in Rhode Island of 
English descent, and Mary Whitelaw. March 
3, 1 8 16, he married Martha Thayer, of Ba- 
tavia, N. Y. , and their children were Malvina, 
Harriet, Angelina, Candace, John Randolph 
Maranda and Susan Ettelina. 

Mr. Rogers was a carpenter and joiner, 
and not long after marriage came to Ohio, 'bnt 
a few years later returned to New York, and 
died of fever in 1828 at Cold Creek, where he 
had bought a farm, at only thirty-four years of 
age. He was an industrious, hard-working 
man and a Universalist in religion. '' 

Mrs. Martha (Thayer) Rogers, daughter of 
Berick and Mary (Bingham) Thayer, was borr< 
in Williamstown, Berkshire county, Massachn-" 



846 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



setts, January 14, 1799. She was a woman 
possessed of more than ordinary strength of 
character and perseverance, being left at her 
husband's death to battle the world alone, 
with a family of six children, the eldest being 
but twelve years of age, but she bravely met 
her task and succeeded in bringing them up 
respectably. She lived to see them all well 
settled in life, and respectable members of 
society. She returned to Ohio with her fam- 
ily in 1837, and settled in Cleveland, where 
she died February 28, 1864, at the age of 
sixty-five years; her remains now lie in Lake- 
view cemetery, Cleveland, by the side of two 
of her grandchildren. 

Mrs. Waterman is a member of the Epis- 
copal church, and a lady of many virtues, well 
known for acts of charity, and much beloved. 
She is a woman of high patriotism and gave 
her only full-grown son as a soldier to his 
country. Her maternal grandfather, Berick 
Thayer, was a Revolutionary soldier and was 
also in the war of 1812. He was of a colonial 
family, married in Waterbury, Conn., Mary 
Bingham, and finally settled as a pioneer at 
Batavia, N. Y. , and died there a respected 
citizen. Mrs. Thayer lived to be between 
ninety-eight years and ninety-nine years old. 

George Lawson, son of Lawson and Ange- 
lina Waterman, was born September 5, 1841, 
and was a boy of sterling and reliable charac- 
teristics, acquired a high-school education, and 
was in a commercial college at Cleveland when 
the Civil war broke out. He was a member 
of the Cleveland Greys and volunteered with 
his company for the three months' service at 
the first call of President Lincoln, and was the 
first soldier to enlist from Summit county. 
He left Cleveland with his company for the 
front, April 18, 1861, when he was but nine- 
teen years of age. He took part in the first 
battle of Bull Run and was an active soldier, 
served out his three months' service without 



being disabled, and returned safely to Penin- 
sula, being honorably discharged, and then, 
owing to the wishes of his mother, remained 
home one year, but could withstand his patriot- 
ism no longer and applied for and received a ' 
commission as second lieutenant August 22, 
1862, recruited company C, One Hundred and 
Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, at Penin- 
sula, Ohio, and was mustered in at Massillon 
September 19, 1862. The ladies at Peninsula, 
as a token of the high esteem they had for 
him as a man and soldier, presented Lieut. 
Waterman with a beautiful sword. His com- 
pany was assigned to guard duty at Cincinnati, 
Ohio. In the summer of 1863 they were sent 
to Dayton, Ohio, to preserve order, political 
disturbances having resulted in riot at that 
place. While there Lieut. Waterman se- 
cured leave of absence for himself and sev- 
eral comrades, for a visit home. On the even- 
ing of their departure, while awaiting the hour 
in their tents, a disturbance occurred which 
called them out, and Lieut. Waterman was 
shot by one of the ruffians. Although at first 
his wound was not considered even dangerous, 
it later became serious, "and his mother was 
sent for, but all efforts to save his life proved 
futile, and death resulted September 19, 1863, 
just one year from the day the company was 
mustered. His mother remained to the end, 
and the remains were brought back to the old 
homestead, where the funeral was held. The 
services were conducted by Rev. T. B. Fair- 
child, and it was without doubt the largest 
funeral ever held in Peninsula. After his 
death the officers of the One Hundred and 
Fifteenth regiment passed resolutions in testi- 
mony of his character and sorrow at his re- 
moval, and the private soldiers did the same. 
The day he was shot he had received an ap- 
pointment on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Cox, 
commander of the department of Cincinnati. 
His comrades who still linger on the shores 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



847 



of time, when they came to organize, in Pen- 
insula, the Grand Army of the Republic, per- 
petuated his memory, and in their hall may be 
seen the charter naming the organization 
"George L. Waterman post, No. 272." Al- 
though it is now thirty years since his demise, 
he yet lives in the hearts of his comrades, his 
friends, and, most of all, in the heart of his 
aged mother, who yet survives her husband 
and her son. 

Mrs. Waterman also had two nephews who 
served in the Civil war, to-wit: One, Edward 
I. Ranney, was a son of Moses and Maranda 
(Rogers) Ranney, and enlisted at the beginning 
and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., 
July 4, 1863; the other, Richard H. Snow, is 
a son of Palmer and Harriet (Rogers) Snow, 
who enlisted in the Second Ohio volunteer 
cavalry, served until the close of the war, and 
was then honorably discharged. 

The parents of Lawson Waterman, the 
husband and father, were Elisha and Diana 
(Young) Waterman. Elisha was a son of a 
Revolutionary soldier who served through the 
entire struggle of seven years. Elisha was 
born in Decatur, Otsego county, N. Y. , in 
1791, married Diana Young in 1810, enlisted 
at the opening of the war of 1812, and was 
taken prisoner by the British at the battle of 
Qneenstown, but was soon released on parole, 
and was eventually honorably discharged. To 
his marriage with Miss Young were born four 
children — Lawson, Onesimus, Marietta and 
Ellen. In 1843 he brought his family to Ohio 
and settled on a farm in York township, Me- 
dina county, where Elisha died at the age of 
eighty-four years, and his wife at the age of 
eighty-six. Diana (Young) Waterman was 
also born in Decatur, N. Y. , in 1790, a daugh- 
ter of a soldier of the Revolution, and became 
the wife of a soldier of the war of 18 12, and 
the grandmother of a soldier of the Civil war. 
The father of her husband was also a warrior 



in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Diana Water- 
man was one of nature's noblewomen, deeply 
beloved by her children and respected by all 
who knew her. 



^>/*AMUEL R. MOORE, a prominent 
•^^^k? farmer of Deerfield township, Port- 

K^__^ age county, Ohio, and a veteran of 
the Civil war, was born in Meadville, 
Pa., October 10, 1830, a son of James and 
Margaret (Finley) Moore, natives of Ireland, 
who, on first coming to America, located in 
Pittsburg, Pa., where the father followed his 
trade of stonemason for several years, and 
then went to Meadville, where he engaged in 
farming until 1835, when he brought his fam- 
ily to Ohio, settled in Mahoning county, where 
he passed the remainder of his life, dying on 
his farm, November 11, 1848, at the age of 
forty years; his widow survived until July, 
1873, when she expired, at the age of eighty- 
one years — both in the faith of the Presby- 
terian church. To their marriage were born 
three children, viz: Samuel R., whose name 
opens this paragraph; Andrew, who resides in 
Nebraska, and James, who died in November, 
1873, at the age of thirty-three years. 

Samuel R. Moore was educated in the 
common-schools, which was supplemented by 
an attendance of three months at the high- 
school at Waldron. He then taught school 
three winter terms, working during the summer 
months on his father's farm ; he then devoted 
his entire attention to the assistance of his 
father, until the latter's death, the family hav- 
ing, during the interval, moved to Smith town- 
ship, in the same county. He then managed 
the farm for his mother, until the outbreak of 
the rebellion, when he enlisted October 11, 
1 86 1, in company B, Sixty-fifth Ohio volun- 
teer infantry, for three years, but December 
31, 1863, was honorably discharged for the 



848 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



purpose of enabling him to veteranize in the 
same organization, which design was consum- 
mated, January i, 1864, the service of Mr. 
Moore extending to June 9, 1865, when he re- 
ceived his final honorable discharge, the war 
having been brought to a close. Mr. Moore 
took part in some of the severest engage- 
ments of the war, among which were those 
of Shiloh, Stone River (where he was shot in 
the left shoulder, which confined him to the 
hospital two months); Chickamauga, Mission- 
ary Ridge, Resaca, and Peach Tree Creek, 
and others, besides skirmishes too numerous 
to mention, and was, beside, twice captured 
and imprisoned, at one time being confined 
for nearly eleven months in the foul stockade 
at Andersonville. When not held as a pris- 
oner, or laid up with his wound, Mr. Moore 
was always promptly at his post of duty, was 
a brave and cheerful soldier, and ever ready 
to do his share of the dangerous work in the 
field, and with indomitable fortitude took 
part in all the marches, battles and skirmishes 
in which his regiment was engaged while in 
the service. 

After the war, Mr. Moore returned to Ma- 
honing county, resumed agricultural pursuits, 
and became an influential and popular citizen, 
being elected to serve as constable and town- 
ship supervisor. In April, 1872, Mr. Moore 
was united in matrimony with Miss Ellen C. 
Cooper, and this union has been blessed with 
six children, viz: Annie T., James W., George 
L. , and Howard B., at home; Bessie S., 
who is attending the high school at Deerfield, 
and Edward F. , still under the parental roof. 

James Cooper, the father of Mrs. Ellen C. 
Moore, was born in Chambersburg, Pa., and 
when a young man was engaged in school- 
teaching, and also learned the trade of brick- 
laying. In 1831 he married Miss Susan Thom, 
who was born in Somerset county. Pa., in 
1814, and to this union were born six children. 



of whom four are still living, viz: Frank; Ellen 
C, now Mrs. Moore; James, of Somerset 
county. Pa. , and Sylvester, of Iowa. Thomas 
died in Andersonville prison in 1864, and 
Samuel died in Tennessee in 1877, at the age 
of thirty years. James Cooper, the father, 
died in January, 1854, and his widow in Jan- 
uary, 1892, at the advanced age of eighty 
years — the death of both occurring in Somerset 
county. Pa. 

In 1893, Samuel R. Moore brought his 
family to Deerfield township. Portage county, 
and here he bought the farm on which he still 
resides and which he has placed under a high 
state of cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. Moore en- 
joy the good opinion of their neighbors to the 
fullest extent, and Mr. Moore is esteemed for 
his many fine personal qualities, while his serv- 
ices as a gallant defender of his country's flag, 
in the hour of peril, is never lost sight of. 



aRVAN MURPHRY,ofNorthfield town- 
ship, Summit county, Ohio, with his 
post-office at Chaffee, Cuyahoga 
county, is an old soldier of the Civil 
war, was born in Onondago county, N. Y. , 
May 26, 1847, a son of Thomas L. and 
Catherine (Hill) Murphry, of Irish ancestry. 
He received a common-school education, was 
reared to farming and teaming, and came to 
Cleveland, Ohio, when a small boy, and then 
came to Independence township, Cuyahoga 
county, Ohio. He enlisted at Cleveland, in 
1863, when only sixteen years old, in com- 
pany B, Twenty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
for three years or during the war. He served 
two years on detached duty, guarding cattle 
in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Ken- 
tucky. He returned Cleveland and re-en- 
listed, January 16, 1865, in company B, One 
Hundred and Eighty-eighth regiment, Ohio 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



849 



volunteer infantry, to serve one year, or dur- 
ing the war, and was honorably discharged at 
Nashville, Tenn., September 27, 1865. Dur- 
ing a three days' rain in March, at Murfrees- 
boro, he took a severe cold, and in June 
received a sunstroke in Tennessee, on a march 
between Murfreesboro and Tullahoma, and 
was sick in camp about two weeks, and this 
resulted in deafness. Mr. Murphry endured 
all the harships and vicissitudes of a soldier's 
life with courage, and was a good soldier. 
After the war, Mr. Murphry settled in North- 
field township, and followed farming and team- 
ing. He married June 25, 1894, in Lorain 
county, Ohio, Emma Miller, who was born 
November 18, 1865, in LaGrange, Lorain 
county, Ohio, a daughter of Warren and 
Esther (Underbill) Miller. Warren Miller was 
born in Ohio, of Pennsylvania-German ances- 
try. Dr. G. C. Underbill, grandfather of Mrs. 
Murphry, was born in Rutland, Vt., of Eng- 
lish colonial descent. He was a surgeon in 
the Civil war, and a prominent physician in 
Lorain county, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Mur- 
phry, one child has been born — Edward L. , 
July 15, 1895. 

Thomas L. Murphry, son of William, and 
father of subject, was a carpenter and ship 
builder and cabinetmaker, was born in county 
Wicklow, Ireland, married there, and came 
immediately after to America — first settling in 
New York state, and followed his trade, and 
farmed also. There were born to this marriage 
the following children: Francis D. , William, 
Ulton, Urvan, Lois I. and Florence, and of 
these, Francis D. was also a soldier in the Civil 
war, serving in the Sixty-second Ohio volunteer 
infantry. Thomas L. moved to Ohio when 
our subject was a small boy, and worked in the 
ship-yard at Cleveland, where he lived three 
years, and then came to Independence town- 
ship, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and engaged in 
farming. In politics he was a democrat, and 



a Catholic in religion, and lived to be sixty-five 
years old. 

Warren S. Miller was born in Tuscarawas 
county, Ohio, May 21, 1842, a son of Samuel 
and Susan (Smith) Miller. Samuel Miller was 
a native of Wyoming county, Pa., and mar- 
ried there, and settled in Tuscarawas county, 
Ohio, where he had a good farm. Warren S. 
Miller was a farmer of LaGrange, Lorain 
county, Ohio, having moved there with his 
parents when a small boy. His children were 
Margaret, Lulu, Esther, Bernice, Eola and 
Emma. Mr. Miller is a Baptist in religion, 
is a respected citizen, and has held several 
townsip offices. 

In politics Urvan Murphry is a republican, 
and in religion he and wife are devoted to the 
faith of the Methodist church. They are 
highly respected in the community in which 
they live, and, individually, Mr. Murphry is 
regarded as one of the township's most indus- 
trious and useful citizens. 



m: 



ILLIS MYERS, a native of Streets- 
boro township. Portage county, 
Ohio, prominent farmer and an ex- 
soldier of the Civil war, was born on 
the farm on which he now resides, February 
13, 1 84 1, received a good common-school 
education, and was reared to the pursuit of 
agriculture. 

Stephen Myers, grandfather of Willis, was 
born in Wheeling, Va., whence he moved to 
Beaver county. Pa., where he married Cather- 
ine Graham, and to this union were born nine 
children — Stephen, John, Adam, Jacob, Will- 
iam, Charles, Daniel, Frederick and George. 
About 1838 he brought his family to Portage 
county, Ohio, settled in Streetsboro township, 
within a mile of the place where Willis Myers 
now lives, and cleared up a farm of 160 acres 
from the forest, but later moved, and cleared 



850 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



up another farm of sixty acres, and on this he 
passed away his remaining years, dying in 1864, 
at the patriarchal age of 105 years. He was 
a very intelligent man, was educated in Ger- 
many, and a great student of the Bible. 

John Myers, son of Stephen and father of 
Willis, was a native of Beaver county, Pa., 
and was about thirteen years old when brought 
to Ohio by his parents. He first married, in 
Geauga county, Amelia Hagen, who bore him 
one son, Frederick, and then passed away. 
His second marriage was with Nancy Tucker, 
a daughter of John and Catherine (Nieman) 
Tucker, the former of whom was a pioneer of 
Franklin township. Portage county, where he 
cleared up a fine farm, but later removed to 
Streetsboro township, where he purchased and 
cleared up another farm on which he passed 
the remainder of his life, dying at the ad- 
vanced age of ninety-one years. John Myers 
was the original settler on the farm now owned 
by Willis, which he brought out from the 
woods and on which he built a saw-mill. He 
was a hard-working, honest man, was a demo- 
crat in politics, and died at the age of seventy- 
one years. 

Willis Myers, on attaining his majority, en- 
listed, August II, 1862, at Cuyahoga Falls, in 
the Ninth Ohio battery of artillery, to serve 
three years, or during the war, and was honor- 
ably discharged at Chattanooga, Tenn., June 
16, 1865, with the rank of corporal. He took 
part in all the marches and campaigns in which 
his regiment was engaged and endured all the 
hardships of a soldiers' life, performing his 
duties cheerfully and promptly, and received 
his promotion for meritorious conduct on the 
battle field. It may here be mentioned that 
Frederick Myers, half-brother of Willis, as al- 
luded to above, was also a corporal, served in 
company F, Thirteenth Michigan cavalry, in 
the three years' service, and was wounded in 
battle. After his discharge from the service. 



he returned to the old homestead, and married, 
March 25, 1868, Miss Ellen Miner, who was 
born March 8, 184=;, in Goshen, Ohio, a 
daughter of John and Mary (Hornish) Miner. 
Mr. Miner was a farmer of Columbiana county, 
of American birth, but of English descent, and 
his wife, Mary, was of Pennsylvania-Dutch 
stock. They were the parents of eight chil- 
dren,, who were named Joseph, John, Thomas, 
William, Samuel, Lucinda, Matilda and Ellen. 
Of the sons, Thomas served in a Michigan 
regiment during the Civil war, Samuel was in 
the Sixth Ohio cavalry and was wounded in 
the battle of the Wilderness, and Joseph and 
William were in the Ohio infantry. The fa- 
ther of the family died in middle age. After 
marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Myers settled on the 
old homestead, and their union has been 
blessed with the following children: John, 
James, George, Jesse D., Frank, Edith, 
Mamie and Sylvia. In politics Mr. Myers was 
formerly a republican, but is now a free-silver 
democrat. Fraternally he is an ex-member of 
A. H. Day post. No. 185, G. A. R., of which 
he was junior vice-commander, and was a 
member of Brady lodge. No. 183, I. O. O. F., 
both of Kent. Socially Mr. Myers and family 
stand very high, and personally he is greatly 
respected for his strictly moral character. 



HLMON NIMAN, a progressive farmer 
of Aurora township. Portage county, 
Ohio, and an ex-soldier, was born in 
Streetsboro, this county, August 6, 
1 84 1, a son of Frederick and Pamelia (Van) 
Niman, of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock, and 
whose ancestors were pioneers of the Key- 
stone state. 

Frederick Niman was born in Westmore- 
land county, Pa., Setember 5, 1804, a son of 
Adam Niman, and came to Ohio a single man, 
and married Pamelia Van, whose name had 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



851 



been shortened from Van Guilder, and whose 
parents were natives of Vermont, but doubt- 
less of Holland parentage. Mr. Niman cleared 
up a good farm of lOO acres in Streetsboro 
township, and to his marriage were born the 
following-named children: Perry, George, 
Electa, Orrin, Laura, Almon and Alvin W. 
Of the sons, Alvin W. and Almon enlisted at 
the same time and place, and in the same 
company, as will be noticed further on. Al- 
vin W. was seized with typhoid fever, and 
died in Cumberland, Md., hospital, March 7, 
1862, and his brother Almon, who was granted 
a furlough for the purpose, brought his re- 
mains home for interment. Frederick Niman, 
the father, was a democrat in politics, and 
lived to reach the venerable age of ninety 
years, dying in Kent, in 1894, a pious mem- 
ber of the Disciples' church, to which his 
wife also belonged, and was a devoted believer 
in its teachings. 

Almon Niman received a good common- 
school education, was reared a farmer on the 
homestead, and when about twenty years old 
enlisted, in Ashtabula county, in company D., 
Capt. P. C. Hard, Twenty-ninth Ohio volun- 
teer infantry, for three years, but was honor- 
ably discharged, at Camp Dennison, Ohio, 
September 25, 1862, an account of disability, 
caused by chronic diarrhea, with which he 
he had been confined in the hospital, at the 
camp mentioned, from July 12, of the same 
year. He served in Maryland and Virginia, 
was in the famous Shenandoah valley raid 
under Phil. Sheridan, was on several forced 
marches, and greatly exposed to inclement 
weather, but was always promptly at his post 
of duty, and active, willing and cheerful in its 
performance, until seized with a disorder that 
nearly proved fatal, and from which he has 
never since thoroughly recovered. 

The marriage of Mr. Niman took place in 
Akron, Ohio, April 16, 1862, to Miss Emma 



Larkins, of Hudson, Ohio, but who was born 
in Akron, a daughter of John and Sophronia 
(Low) Larkins. John Larkins was born in 
1800, in the state of New York, was reared a 
farmer, and was married in Pennsylvania, his 
wife being of German descent. He was a 
pioneer of Akron, Ohio, in 1836, settling there 
when it contained one store only, which was 
owned by P. D. Hall. For some time he 
burned charcoal, or, rather, made it, but 
finally moved to Hudson, in 1853, where he 
bought a farm, which he partially cleared up, 
but converted the remainder into an excellent 
home. To his marriage there were born the 
following children: Hannah, Louisa, Emma, 
Samantha, John, Clarinda, Walter and Alice. 
In politics Mr. Larkins was a democrat. He 
died in 1877 in good circumstances, having 
realized a competency through his excellent 
management of his affairs, and by living a 
temperate, honest and industrious life. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Niman lived 
in Franklin township, Portage county, near 
Akron, where, in 1873, he bought three acres 
of land, and for two years was engaged in 
teaming. In 1885 he came to Aurora, and 
purchased a fine farm of 173 acres, on which 
he has since resided. His marriage has been 
blessed with six children, named Frederick 
H., Ella L., Charles A., Carrie E., Edgar A. 
and Ida A. Of these, Charles A. is a graduate 
of Hiram college, of the class of 1895. Po" 
litically he is a democrat, and in 1897 he was 
a candidate of the democracy to represent 
Portage county in the legislature, and ran 250 
ahead of his ticket. Frederick H. is a farmer 
of Geauga county, and is married to Miss Cor- 
nelia Point, a native of Portage county. Ella 
L. is the wife of W. G. Eldridge, a farmer of 
Streetsboro township. Carrie is a student at 
the Aurora high school, as are also Edgar A. 
and Ida A. 

In politics Mr. Niman is a democrat, has 



«0'4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



held the office of township assessor, and for 
twenty years was a member of the school 
board. 

^"V'AMUEL H. NORTON, of Mantua 
•^^^k* Station, is one of the representative 
^ ^ J citizens and old soldiers of the late 
war, who was born October 2, 1834, 
at Southington, Trumbull county, Ohio, the 
son of Joseph H. and Elizabeth (Hatch) Nor- 
ton. He was earlj' taught the habits of in- 
dustry and economy and received the usual 
common-school education, and in early man- 
hood began to learn the carpenter's trade. 

Sarnuel H. Norton was united in marriage 
October 25, 1852, with Miss Bessie Morris, 
who was born in Nelson, Ohio, in February, 
1834, the daughter of David and Rosannah 
(Hawley) Morris. This felicitous marraige has 
resulted in the birth of the following-named 
children: Sarah E., Samuel C. and Charles 
O. Mrs. Norton died February 18, 1894, and 
May 7, 1895, Mr. Norton married Miss Sarah 
Parker, of Canton, Stark county, Ohio, who 
was born at Redmile, Leicestershire, England, 
daughter of John and Comfort (Derns) Parker, 
and she came to America in early childhood. 

Mr. Norton, soon after his first marriage, 
located in Southington, Ohio, where he con- 
tinued to live for several years, and from this 
town he enlisted, October 6, 1861, and was 
mustered into the United States service at 
Cleveland, Ohio, October 8, 1861, as a private 
of company H, Forty-first regiment, Ohio 
volunteer infantry, to serve three years, unless 
sooner discharged. He was one of the unfor- 
tunate boys that went into the service, and on 
November i, 1862, he received an honorable 
discharge at Nashville, Tenn., on account of 
wounds received in the battle of Murfreesboro, 
Tenn., in which engagement he had three 
fingers shot off of his left hand, after which he 
was required to stay in field hospital three 



days, which is the e.xtent of his hospital record 
during his service. He participated in the 
battles of Pittsburg Landing and at Shiloh 
Church, along with the engagement in which he 
received his wound, beside a number of hard 
skirmishes. Mr. Norton proved to be an ac- 
tive and brave soldier, and from the time he 
joined his regiment he answered to the roll 
call each morning, and participated in all the 
service that his regiment saw until he was 
discharged at Nashville, Tenn., as before 
stated. Beside the wound that he received on 
his hand, his hearing was affected, which re- 
sulted from exposure, while on picket duty in 
March, 1862, at Nashville, Tenn., and the 
same has resulted in almost total deafness. 

After his return from the war he rejoined 
his family at Southington, Ohio, and resumed 
farming and carpentering. He, at this time, 
owned a good farm of 100 acres, which he put 
in a high state of cultivation, and continued to 
reside here until 1876, when he moved to 
Mantua Station and lived four years, after 
which he returned to the farm, and subse- 
quently, in 1892, he rented his farm and re- 
turned to Mantua, where he has resided ever 
since. While residing upon the farm he was 
elected several times to serve as township 
clerk and trustee of his township, which offices 
he filled to the satisfaction of his constituents. 
Politically Mr. Norton is a stanch republican 
and has been such all through his life, casting 
his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont. 
He is an honored member of the G. A. R. , 
Bentley post, at Mantua Station, and has 
always been a straightforward and respected 
citizen, and he and wife enjoy the confidence 
and esteem of their vicinity. Mr. Norton, 
after locating in Mantua the second time, in 
the year 1893, built his pleasant residence, 
which is one of the good homes of his village, 
and where comfort and contentment abide. 

Joseph H. Norton, the father of our sub- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



853 



ject, was born of English parentage in Con- 
necticut, his parents being early settlers of 
that state. In the year 1812, Joseph H. Nor- 
ton came west and located in Ohio, where he 
purchased land, and then returned to his 
native state, though he remained in the east 
only a short time, when he returned to his 
pioneer home and became one of the early and 
substantial farmers of the Western Reserve. 
His children were Samuel H., Theodocia and 
Sarah M. Mr. Norton was a member of the 
Methodist church, and in politics a member of 
the whig party, and died a man of middle age. 

Samuel H. Norton, the subject of this 
sketch, inherited one-third of the old home- 
stead, and later bought his sister's share, 
which makes him a valuable farm of 100 
acres, which is now cared for by his son, 
Charles O. Samuel C, the elder son, is an 
engineer, and lives at Meadville, Pa. He 
married Carrie Bowles, and to them have been 
born two children — George and Harry. 
Charles O., the second son, and youngest of 
the family, and who resides on the old home- 
stead of his grandfather, married Aggie Tift. 
They have two children — Chrissible and Jo- 
seph H. 

John Parker, the father of Mrs. Norton, 
came to America in the year 1850, and settled 
at Newton Falls, Ohio, and the year 185 1, 
having found a desirable location, sent for his 
family. Later Mr. Parker purchased a home 
at Warren, Ohio, where he resided fifteen 
years, when he sold and removed to Cheboy- 
gan county, Mich., where he purchased land 
and lived the remainder of his life. His chil- 
dren by his first wife, who lived to grow to 
maturity, were Michael, Sarah, Fannie, Anna, 
James, Emma, beside six who died in in- 
fancy. By his second wife. Miss Betsy Broad- 
bent, there were five children born, only one 
of whom, Ashton, grew to maturity. Mr. and 
Mrs. Parker were members of the Episcopal 



church, and Mr. Parker was a republican in 
politics, and his sons, Michael and James, 
were soldiers in the Civil war. 



m. 



■» ALTER NOTMAN, a mo.st suc- 
cessful farmer and a highly re- 
spected citizen, was born on the 
farm he still occupies in Deerfield 
township. Portage county, Ohio, April 4, 
1839, a son of George and Ann (Pick- 
ren) Notman, the former of whom was a 
native of Scotland and the latter of England. 
John Notman, the paternal grandfather of 
Walter, was yet a young man when he brought 
his family from Scotland to America and 
settled in Deerfield township, being among 
the pioneers, and here reared his four children — 
John, George, father of Walter, subject of this 
notice, and Mary, wife of Joseph Barnes. 
The maternal grandparents of Walter Notman 
were also early settlers of Deefield towhship, 
and reared a family of seven children, of 
whom, however, only one survives — Lewis. 
The six deceased were Mrs. George Notman, 
William, James, Caroline (wife of George 
McGowan), Elizabeth (wife of Ralph Scran- 
ton) and Mary Ann. The grandparents, on 
both sides, were strict members of the Meth- 
odist church. 

George Notman, father of Walter, learned 
the trade of blacksmith in Scotland, and this 
he followed for forty years, but his later years 
were passed in farming. He was twice mar- 
ried — first, to Miss Ann Pickren, who bore him 
nine children, of whom three are still living, 
viz: Walter, the eldest, whose name stands 
at the opening of this biography; Alvey, of 
Deefield township, and Julia, wife of Eugene 
Bow, of Alliance, Ohio; the deceased passed 
away in the following order: George, Decem- 
ber 18, 1844; Mary Ann, December 25, 1844; 
Levi, May 11, 1846; Solomon, February 28, 



854 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



1849; Eliza, in May, 1853, and one who died 
in infancy. The mother of this family was 
called from earth November 22, 1854, and in 
1855 George Notmaii married Mrs. Ann Clark, 
who bore him seven children, five of whom still 
survive, viz: Theressa, wife of Andrew Strong; 
Josephine, now Mrs. Charles Strong; George 
O., married to Lucy Steele; Warren, married 
to Ida Shively, and Bell, the last named being 
married to Harry Carver. Olive and a younger 
child are deceased. George Notman died 
April 4, 1884, a devoted member of the Meth- 
odist church, to which church his widow still 
adheres. George Notman was a most ingenious 
mechanic, and was the inventor of the binding 
machine, for which he secured the first patent; 
was an industrious man, and was highly re- 
spected wherever known. 

Walter Notman received a verj- good com- 
mon-school education and was reared to man- 
hood on his father's farm. He has been twice 
married — the first time, December 7, 1861, to 
Miss Margaret Hagley, daughter of William 
and Jane (Notman) Hagley, the marriage re- 
sulting in the birth of four children, viz: 
George H., who married Rosa Marsh and re- 
sides in Deerfield; Jennie; Annie, wife of Frank 
Burkey, of Deerfield, and Ida, now Mrs. Ed- 
ward McGowan, of Michigan. Mrs. Margaret 
Notman having been called away April 28, 
1875, Mr. Notman chose for his second help- 
mate Miss Mary E. Barnes, whom he married 
May 9, 1878, and this union has been blessed 
with one son — Clarence. Mr. Notman has al- 
ways led an agricultural life, with the excep- 
tion of one year, when he resided in the town 
of Deerfield, where he had charge of a cream- 
ery. In politics Mr. Notman is a stanch 
republican, and has served as school director 
many years; he is also a member of the Deer- 
field Agricultural society, is its present treas- 
urer, and for twenty years has been a director 
of the same. 



Mrs. Mary E. Notman was born in Deer^ 
field December 27, 1847, a daughter of James 
and Elizabeth (Haines) Barnes, the former of 
whom was born in England, February 14, 
1806, and the latter in Salem county, N. J., 
August 22, 181 8. James Barnes was a young 
man when he settled in Deerfield township, 
was a farmer by occupation, and in 1838 mar- 
ried Miss Haines, who was a daughter of 
Joseph and Elizabeth (Carman) Haines, the 
union being blessed with twelve children, six 
of whom still survive, viz: John, who mar- 
ried Mary Kerr, of Canada; Joseph, married to 
Ellen Kerr; James, who married Elizabeth 
Strong, resides in Edinburg, Portage county, 
Ohio; Mrs. Notman; Sarah, wife of James 
Robinson, of Canada, and Mivert, who is 
married to Alice Diehl and lives in Ellsworth, 
Ohio. William, James H. , Willson, Matilda, 
Rebecca and another, all died when small. 
The father of this family passed away May 23, 
1876, at the age of sixty-eight years, the mother 
having died November 5, 1875, aged fifty- 
six, and both faithful members of the Method- 
ist church. William Barnes, paternal grand- 
father of Mrs. Notman, died in England, the 
father of nine children, four of whom came to 
America, viz: John, Harry, James and Joseph. 

Joseph Haines, the maternal grandfather 
of Mrs. Notman, came from New Jersey to 
Ohio in 1825 and settled in Smith township, 
Mahoning county, where he followed his trade 
of shoemaking for many years, but later be- 
came a farmer. To his marriage with Miss 
Carman were born twelve children, ten of 
whom are still living, viz: Sarah, wife of Will- 
iam Snowed; Mary Ann, wife of Jeremiah 
Koon; Susan, now Mrs. John Baker, of Mich- 
igan; Joseph, of Williams county, Ohio; Tam- 
mer, wife of Anthony Yeagley, also of Will- 
iams county; Hugh, married to Ellen Eatinger; 
John is married and lives in Atwater, Ohio; 
Naomi, wife of Samuel Foley, of Edinburg. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



855 



Ohio; Hannah, now Mrs. Jared Weaver, of 
Alliance, Ohio, and Ann, married to William 
Seacrist, also of Alliance. Benjamin died at 
the age of fifty-four years, and the mother of 
the family died in 1842, while the father lived 
until 1877, reaching the advanced age of 
ninety-four years. The family all were or are 
devoted members of the Methodist church, to 
which Mr. and Mrs. Notman also belong, and 
of which Mr. Notman has been a deacon for 
many years, and it may well be said that no 
family in the township is held in higher respect 
than his. 

<>^ROF. CALVIN T. NORTHROP, su- 
II m perintendent of Garrettsville public 
J schools, and president of the board 

of examiners of Portage county, is a 
native of New York, born in the city of Pough- 
keepsie. May 17, 1858, his parents being John 
and Julia (Williams) Schoonoven. At the 
breaking out of the late rebellion John Schoon- 
oven tendered his services to his country, 
enlisting August 28, 1862, in company C, One 
Hundred and Fiftieth New York infantry, with 
which he shared the fortunes and vicissitudes 
of war until stricken with typhoid fever, from 
which he died at Louisville, Ky. , June 26, 
1864. His wife died three weeks previous to 
that date, her death also being caused by 
typhoid fever. 

Four small boys were now left orphans, 
the eldest eight years and the youngest but 
two years old; these children were taken into 
four different families, and all but the eldest 
adopted the names of their respective foster 
parents. William, who alone retained the 
family name, lived for some years in the fam- 
ily of Albert Martin, a farmer of York state, 
and he adopted the pursuit of agriculture as 
his life work. He married and resided at Ox- 
ford, N. Y. , where his death occurred at the 
early age of twenty-seven. 



Richard S., the second son, was reared in 
the family of Calvin Thomas, a farmer near 
Worcester, N. Y. , whose name he adopted, 
and with whom he lived until about fifteen 
years of age. He attended the public schools 
of Worcester, and afterwards, by leaching, 
earned sufficient means to complete the pre- 
scribed course of the State Normal school at 
Albany, from which he was graduated. Later 
he attended the Madison university, and is now 
a prominent educator, being at this time super- 
intendent of the schools at Akron, Ohio. He 
married Estella Saxton, of Madison, and is 
the father of two children, a son and a 
daughter. 

Charles E., another brother, the fourth in 
order of birth, was two years old when left an 
orphan, and grew to maturity in the family of 
Ira Carey, of Morris, N. Y., by which name 
he has since been known. When in his teens 
he left the farm and began to secure an edu- 
cation, teaching in the meantime in order to 
defray expenses incurred while pursuing his 
studies. He early united with the Methodist 
church and intended to enter its ministry, and 
while gaining his education frequently preached 
the gospel. He concluded his studies at the' 
seminary in Cazenovia, N. Y. , and has since 
been engaged in teaching, his present position 
being the superintendent of the schools of 
Warren, Ohio. He married Ekie Smith, and 
is the father of one son. 

Calvin T., whose name introduces this 
sketch, was reared in the home of Alonzo 
Northrop, a merchant of Worcester, N. Y. , 
whose name he adopted, and at the age of 
sixteen left home and began the struggle of 
life upon his own responsibility. His element- 
ary education was received in the public 
schools of Worcester, and later he was grad- 
uated from the academy of that town, having 
taught school at intervals while attending that 
institution. After leaving the academy. Prof. 



856 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Northrop had charge of the schools of Rich- 
inondville, N. Y. , later accepted a similar 
position at Portlandville, that state, and was 
for some time superintendent of the schools of 
Worcester. In 1891 he accepted the superin- 
tendency of the schools of Garrettsville, Ohio, 
the duties of which he has since discharged in 
a manner highlj- creditable to himself and 
satisfactory to all concerned. The educational 
system which Prof. Northrop inaugurated at 
Garrettsville compares favorably with that of 
any other city in northern Ohio, and reflects 
great credit upon him as an organizer and suc- 
cessful instructor. From the primary to a 
complete course in the school is here placed 
within the reach of all, rich and poor alike. 
The entire course is twelve years, divided into 
four-year periods, namely, primary, grammar 
and high school. Pupils graduating are eli- 
gible to enter any normal or college throughout 
the state without further examination. The 
average enrollment lists three hundred pupils, 
and the curriculum is broad, including full 
English and full Latin-English courses. The 
schools are noted for being up to the highest 
standard of educational efficiency and the corps 
of teachers have been selected because of the 
professional standing which they have attained. 
Since his incumbency Prof. Northrop has 
accomplished many reforms in a gradual way, 
and in all departments has greatly heightened 
the standard of efficiency. He has acquired 
more than a local reputation as an instructor, 
and is widely and favorably known among the 
educators of Ohio. 

Prof. Northrop was married August 27, 
1879, in Middlefield, N. Y., to Hattie E. Blair, 
daughter of Erastus Blair, a well-known citi- 
zen of that town; they have had one child, a 
son, that died in infancy. Politically Prof. 
Northrop is a republican, and fraternally be- 
longs to the F. & A. M., in which he has risen 
to the thirty-second degree, and is also a mem- 



ber of the Mystic Shrine; he is an active 
worker in the I. O. O. P., and, with his wife, 
belongs to the Congregational church of Gar- 
rettsville. Mr. Northrop was appointed a 
member of the county board of school examin- 
ers of Portage county in August, 1893, and has 
served as president of the same. 



* w ^ IRAM S. RANDALL, one of the most 
l''^\ highly respected citizens of Deerfield 
M , . r township, Portage county, Ohio, was 
born in Kent, Litchfield county. 
Conn., March 23, 1828, a son of Walter and 
Mary Martha (Smith) Randall, who came to 
Ohio in 1840, and located in Palmyra, Port- 
age county. 

Walter Randall's father was born in 
Dutchess county, N. Y., and his mother in 
Kent, Litchfield county. Conn. Walter was 
a clothier by trade, and to his marriage with 
Mary M. Smith, were born five children, of 
whom three still survive, viz: Hiram S., 
Walter and Edwin D, The two deceased 
were Sabra, who died in 1873. at the age of 
forty-three years, the wife of John Benton, 
and Smith Randall, who died about 1887. 
Walter Randall, a few months after reaching 
Palmyra, Ohio, removed to Nelson, in Port- 
age county, where he was engaged in farming 
for eighteen months, and then moved to Trum- 
bull county, where he bought another tract of 
land, on which he passed the remainder of his 
days, dying in February, 1843, at the age of 
forty years, his wife dying in Palmyra, at the 
same age, in February, 1848, both in the faith 
of the Presbyterian church. 

Elias Smith, maternal grandfather of Hi- 
ram S. Randall, was a native of Litchfield, 
Conn., and was actively engaged in farming 
until, when in his prime, he was precipitated 
a distance of twenty feet from a falling bridge, 
and so badly crippled that he was compelled 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



857 



to withdraw from active labor, although he 
kept a supervision over his farm, until death 
called him away. To his marriage with Miss 
Dodge were born twelve children, viz: Marian, 
Harry, John, Reuben, Philemon, Stephen, 
Chauncy, Sabra, Mary, Flora and two who 
died in infancy. Mr. Smith was eighty years 
of age at the time of his death in 1852; his 
wife died a few years later, and both were de- 
voted members of the Presb3'terian church. 

Hiram S. Randall received a good com- 
mon-school education, and until his father's 
death lived on the home farm. Being then 
about fifteen years of age, he began learning 
the tanner's and currier's trade under Amos 
Spaulding, at Palmyra, Ohio, served an ap- 
prenticeship of three years, and then worked 
as a journeyman at different places, until the 
death of his former employer, when he re- 
turned to Palmyra and closed up the latter's 
business. In March, 1848, Mr. Randall, be- 
ing but twenty years old, bought a tannery in 
Deerfield, Portage county, and carried on a 
very successful trade until about 185 i, when 
he sold his plant, and worked as a journey- 
man, for about two years, at Kinsman, Trum- 
bull county. He next went to Mahoning 
county, where he was employed at his trade 
by Walter Smith for a year, and for four years 
following engaged as a traveling salesman in 
handling stoves, chain pumps and other com- 
modities, and then for a year worked again as 
a journeyman tanner. 

The first marriage of Hiram S. Randall 
took place August 21, 1 851, to Miss Sarah Al- 
lerton, who was born November 9, 1829, a 
daughter of James and Eleanor (Kellogg) Aller- 
ton. The father of Mrs. Randall, James 
Allerton, was born November 11, 1798, and 
his wife, May |, 1792. They had a family 
of five children, of whom one is still living — 
Oliver, born May 23, 1825; the deceased were 
Catherine, born April 18, 1827, died April 7, 



1846; Sarah (Mrs. Randall); Eleanor, born 
March 19, 1833, died August 22, 1835, and 
Jane, who was born January 2, 1836, and died 
April 14, 1837. The parents of this family 
have both passed away. To the marriage of 
Mr. Randall and Sarah Allerton were born 
seven children, of whom three are still living, 
viz: Williard C, born March 24, 1854; Alice, 
born May 24, 1859, now the wife of Dr. M. 
E. Mowen, of Deerfield, and Eliza, born May 
15, 1864. The four deceased children were 
Mary E. , who was born July 18, 1852, and 
died October 15, of the same year; Warren 
T., born September 7, 1857, died when twen- 
ty-three years old; Myrtle M., born August 22, 
1867 — died October 12, the same year, and 
Wallace, who was born April 30, 1861, died 
May 31, 1894. Mrs. Sarah (Allerton) Randall, 
the mother of this family, died on the present 
farm, in Deerfield township, in 1869. The 
second marriage of Mr. Randall took place 
August 17, 1870, to Miss Emeline Grate, 
daughter of Lewis and Catherine (Kebler) 
Grate, but to this union no children have 
been born. 

But it is necessary to resume the recountal 
of Mr. Randall's business career. On re- 
linquishing his trade as a journeyman tanner, 
in 1856, he engaged in butchering in Deer- 
field, in conjunction with .shipping live stock, 
doing a very large business in the latter trade 
and being the first to ship a train-load to the 
army at the outbreak of the Civil war. While 
engaged in this trade, he bought a farm in 
Atwater township, which he cultivated about 
four years, and in 1864 purchased his present 
farm in Deerfield township — then known as 
the Thomas Mead farm. About this time, 
also, Mr. Randall erected a cheese factory in 
Deerfield, and, later, another in Edinburg, to 
which town he removed, after renting out his 
farm in Deerfield, and there lived one year, 
when he sold out his Edinburg plant and re- 



858 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



turned to Deerfield, where he followed his 
trade as journeyman for two years in the em- 
ploy of Henry Muerman. He then returned 
to his farm, where he has since remained. 

The father of Mrs. Emeline (Grate) Ran- 
dall was born July i6, 1808, in Columbiana 
county, Ohio, and her mother was a native of 
Virginia, and the fact that Mr. Grate was a 
butcher, may have led Mr. Randall to embark 
in that business. Mr. Grate married, February 
21, 1833, Catherine Kibler, daughter of Henry 
and Elizabeth (Shank) Kibler, to which union 
were born six children, viz: Emeline (Mrs. 
Randall), born August 26, 1834; Drusilla, born 
March 19, 1836; Lavorus, born July 30, 1839; 
Maryette, born November 24, 1841, and mar- 
ried to Daniel Kimmel; Angeline, born Decem- 
ber 9, 1846, and now the wife of John M, 
Forder, and Sarah S., born July 16, 1854, and 
married to Wallace Gilbert. Mr. Grate in his 
later years relinquished has trade of butcher 
and passed his declining years on his farm in 
Deerfield township, where he died June 7, 
1894, at the age of eighty-five years; his 
widow, now also eighty-five years old, makes 
her home with Mr. Randall. 

George B. Grate, grandfather of Mrs. Ran- 
dall, was born in Ohio, December 22, 1777, 
and his wife, Susanah (Thatcher) Grate, was 
born April i, 1783 — their marriage taking 
place January 26, 1802. Their ten children 
were born in the following order: Betsey, 
October 13, 1803; Jeremiah, December 10, 
1805; Lewis, July 16, 1808; Isaac, January 
24, i8n;Reson, December 6, 1812; George 
B., December 5, 1814; Benjamin, March i, 
1817; Eleanora, July 23, 1820; John, Novem- 
ber 22, 1822, and Reson, September 12, 
1825. George B. Grate, father of this family, 
did January 31, 1851, and his wife May 30, 
1867, both in the faith of the Baptist church. 

Hiram S. Randall has always enjoyed the 
esteem of his fellow-citizens, and in politics 



was first a whig and then a republican. In 
1850 he was elected constable, and served 
thirty years, and for many years had been a 
member of the school board. 

Adelaide, half sister of Mr. Randall, was 
reared by a family named Steward, who 
adopted her, so she assumed the same name. 
She is the wife of Simeon Card, of Cleveland, 
Ohio. He was a mechanic, and a soldier in 
the late Civil war, served three years, and 
now draws a pension. They have two chil- 
dren, Florence and James Garfield Card. 



Sr-» ORING J. PHILLIPS, a well-known 
I r citizen of Everett, Ohio, and one of 
^J_^^ the old soldiers of the Civil war, was 
born in Richfield township. Summit 
county, Ohio, June 23, 1847, a son of Jason 
and Alvira (Gillett) Phillips. He received a 
common-school education, and when seventeen 
years old enlisted in company A, Second Ohio 
cavalry, July 19, 1864, for three years, or 
during the war, and served until honorably 
discharged, September 17, 1865, at Benton 
barracks. Mo. He was in the battles of 
Opequan Creek, near Winchester, and at the 
battle of Cedar creek — this was the battle at 
Winchester where Gen. Sheridan rallied the 
troops. He was in the Shenandoah Valley 
campaign, when Sheridan destroyed all the 
mills, barns and forage, so that the enemy 
could not exist, and said a crow could not fly 
over the valley unless he took his rations with 
him. He was with his regiment in all the 
border counties of Missouri and Kansas, and 
in many skirmishes with the guerrillas. He 
was in the battles of Horse Creek, May 7, 
1862; Cowskin Prairie, Ind. Ter.. June 25, 
1862; Fort Gibson, Ind. Ter., July 15, 1862; 
Lone Jack, Mo., August 28, 1862; Newtonia, 
Mo., September 30, 1862, and assisted to 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



859 



reinstate the Union Cherokees and Osage 
Indians in the Indian territory. 

He returned with his regiment in the win- 
ter of 1862-3, to Camp Chase, Ohio, where 
the regiment was re-organized and re-equipped 
and sent to Kentucky, where it remained the 
greater part of June, 1863, and was then on 
Sander's raid of fifteen days; then at Wild 
Cat Gap, in the Cumberland mountains, and 
on that raid had many skirmishes, a distance 
of forty miles up the Holston river; then in the 
battle of Mount Sterling, Ky., April 14, 1863; 
Monticello, Ky. , May 25, 1863; Steubenviile, 
Ky., June 19, 1863; Richmond, Ky., July 28, 
1863; London, Ky., September 5, 1863; Cum- 
berland Gap, September 10, 1863; Blue 
Springs, Tenn., October 10, 1863; Ray, Tenn., 
October 11, 1863; Blountville, October 14, 
1863; Russellville, Tenn., December 12, 1863; 
Bean Station, December 13, 1863; Rutledge, 
Tenn., December 14-15, 1863, and Dundridge, 
Tenn., December 24, 1863. The regiment 
stood second best in the cavalry service, the 
regiment that stood first being the Second 
United States regulars. After the service in 
Tennessee, and after veteranizing and reor- 
ganization, the Second Ohio cavalry was 
assigned to the army of the Potomac, under 
command of Gen. Wilson, and was in the 
battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court 
House, Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, and 
when on Wilson's raid assisted in the destruc- 
tion of the Weldon railroad, and had severe 
fighting on the return, being obliged to aban- 
don and burn their ambulances, stores, am- 
munition wagons, guns and artillery, and at 
the fight at Ream's Station lost heavily. The 
regiment joined Sheridan, and, under Custer, 
raided down the Shenandoah Valley, destroy- 
ing by fire all material that could feed or 
shelter the rebels. It was in the battle of 
Cedar Creek, and in the spring of 1865, the 
closing campaign of the war. 



Mr. Phillips was for a short time sick in 
hospital at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, of 
chronic diarrhea, but outside of this he was 
always an active soldier, and performed his 
full duty promptly and cheerfully. He was in 
all the battle.s, skirmishes, campaigns and 
marches in which his regiment took part, and 
did not miss a day from duty. He was not 
wounded nor a prisoner, and endured all the 
hardships of a soldier's life with fortitude. 

On a reconnaissance in the valley cam- 
paign, just before the Winchester fight, Mr. 
Phillips became separated from his comrades, 
who were firing at the enemy in a gulch. Mr. 
Phillips entered the gulch and discovered the 
rebels. He kept boldy on, and commanded 
them to surrender, saying, "Surrender, or I 
will fire." Much to his surprise, the colonel 
of a South Carolina regiment and the major of 
the same regiment rose up from the brush and 
surrendered — they being separated from their 
commands. They looked very sheepish when 
they found they had surrendered to but one 
Union soldier. Mr. Phillips took them to the 
lines and turned them over to his commander, 
Col. Purrington, and returned to the same 
gulch with comrade Milton Abby, of Akron, 
and captured a squad of rebels. On approach- 
ing, he told them so surrender, or he would 
bring up the guns and open fire. They threw 
down their arms and complied, and were taken 
to the Union, lines. Thus Mr. Phillips cap- 
tured, almost single handed, two officers and a 
full squad of Confederates, which is a splendid 
record for one soldier. After the war Mr. 
Phillips returned to Summit county and has 
been engaged in farming and butchering. He 
was a good soldier and is an equally good 
citizen. In politics he is a stanch republican. 

Jason Phillips, father of Loring J., was 
born in New York state, and came as a pioneer 
to Richfield township. Summit county, Ohio, 
in 181 1. He married Alvira E. Gillett, and 



860 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



their children were Sylvia, Ida, Inez, Irving 
C, Loring J. and Bryan F. Mr. Phillips 
cleared up a farm, lived to be eighty-three 
years old, and died a highly-respected citizen. 



,><^ ELSON W. FENN, of Tallmadge, 

I M Ohio, descends from one of the pio- 

J ^ neer families of Tallmadge township, 

Summit county, and is of sterling 

English ancestry. 

Benjamin Fenn, the first of the family of 
whom we have any trace, was born in 1612 in 
the parish of Whitdington, Buckinghamshire, 
England. He was a Puritan and came to 
America in 1639, a single man. He settled in 
Milford, New Haven county. Conn., and mar- 
ried Sarah Baldwin, who was born at Dun- 
bridge, England, a daughter of Sylvester and 
Sarah Baldwin, and of noble ancestry, having 
a coat of arms. Sarah Baldwin Fenn died in 
Milford, Conn., in April, 1663; Benjamin Fenn, 
died in 1672. He left a valuable landed estate 
in England, from which his heirs never re- 
ceived anything. In his will, admitted to pro- 
bate court in 1672, he fully describes this 
property and bequeathed it to his son Benja- 
min. His children, by his wife Sarah, were 
Benjamin, Joseph, Sarah, Mary and Martha. 
After the death of his first wife he married, 
March 12, 1865, at Milford, Conn., Sarah 
Wood, and the children by this wife were Sam- 
uel, Jamesand Susannah. Benjamin Fenn was 
elected deacon of the Congregational church 
at Milford in 1650 and held this office with 
but one interruption until his death. He was 
magistrate from 1656 to 1668 and again elect- 
ed in 1671, holding this office also until his 
death. 

His son, Benjamin, was born at Milford, 
in 1640, and there died in 1693; he had mar- 
ried, December 21, 1660, Mehitable Gunn, a 
daughter of Jasper Gunn, one of the first set- 



tlers, and they had seven children, viz: Ben- 
jamin, Samuel, Samuel (second), born Septem- 
ber 16, 1667, and died young; Susannah; Sam- 
uel (third), born July n, 1671 and died 1693; 
Mehitable and Hannah. Benjamin Fenn, 
third son of above, was born in 1661 at Mil- 
ford and died August 29, 1752, aged seventy - 
one 3'ears. He married Sarah Clark, who 
died May 26, 1727, aged si.\ty-four, leaving 
two children, Benjamin and Mehitable. Ben- 
jamin, third, was elected deacon of his church 
and made his will in July, 1727. 

Benjamin, fourth son of above, was born at 
Milford, in 1690; ne married Sarah Prince, 
and died in 1776, aged eighty-six years. The 
children were Benjamin and Hannah. Ben- 
jamin, fourth, was a ruling elder of the Pres- 
byterian church of Milford, and captain of a 
militia company. 

Benjamin Fenn, fifth, born 1720, died 
February 20, 1778, at Milford. He married 
Mary Peck, November 4, 1741, at Milford, 
and she died about 1800, quite aged. Benja- 
min Fenn, fifth, was captain of a militia com- 
pany from 1770 to 1774, and was then elected 
colonel, holding his commission until his death. 
His children were Benjamin, Nathan, Mary, 
Sarah and Samuel. Benjamin Fenn, sixth, 
born at Milford, Conn., died October 27,' 
1780, in Milford. He married Sarah Treat, 
great-granddaughter of Gov. Robert Treat, 
twenty years governor of Connecticut. She 
died in Tallmadge, Ohio, August 12, 1838. 
aged ninety-three years. They were the par- 
ents of seven children, viz: Benjamin, Peck. 
Treat B., William, Sarah B., Clemence and 
Richard B. Benjamin, sixth, was appointed 
quartermaster of the Second regiment, Con- 
necticut cavalry, in October, 1756; in May, 
1759, was appointed lieutenant of a troop 
of horse. Second regiment; in October, 
1776, was made lieutenant-colonel. Sec- 
ond regiment of militia, and in Novem- 




RICHARD FENN. DECEASED. 




TREAT FENN . DECEASED. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



865 



ber, 1776, was appointed ensign of the Sec- 
ond battalion, continental service, certified 
by Kitty F. Mclntyre — clerk in secretary of 
war's office, Washington, D. C. When the 
British entered New London, Conn., he was 
in a fight which occurred near the city, on the 
west. On the night of this day, a son (Rich- 
ard), was born (July 4, 1779), and he went 
from the iield of battle to the bedside of his 
wife, after the birth of his son. He died early 
in the fsith of the Lord, with consumption, 
during the Revolutionary war. 

His widow (nee Sarah Treat Fenn), married 
Maj. Ezra Fellows, October 20, 1797, of Shef- 
field, Mass., where he died July 7, 1806; she 
came to Ohio in 18 17, with Peck and Richard 
Fenn, her sons, and passed her remaining 
days at Tallmadge. She was left a goodly 
property by Maj. Fellows. In Revolutionary 
times, in Connecticut, her house was sur- 
rounded by tories, and she was kept under 
surveillance. She recognized one of the 
tories, and told him that she knew him as a 
neighbor, though he was masked, and called 
him by name. She told him that he would be 
remembered, and after that he was forced to 
leave the country, and went on board a Brit- 
ish vessel. Mrs. Fellows was a member of 
the Congregational church, and assisted in the 
establishment of the church at Tallmadge. 
She donated the communion service, which is 
still in use, and is very handsome. She de- 
lighted to relate her Revolutionary experi- 
ences to her grandchildren. 

Peck F"enn, son of Benjamin, was born 
February 28, [768, at Milford, Conn., and 
died at Tallmadge, Ohio, March 12, 1824, 
aged fifty-six years. He was a farmer, re- 
ceived a common education, and married in 
Milford, Conn., January 28, 1794, Urenia 
Durand, born in Milford, November 23, 1769, 
a daughter of John and Ann (Downs) Durand. 
John Durand was descended from John Du- 

36 



rand, a French Huguenot — exiled from France 
in 1630, and a settler in Connecticut. Peck 
Fenn died at Tallmadge, September 15, 1824. 
He was appointed deacon of the Congrega- 
tional church at .Milford, near Orange, in 
1805, and held the office until he moved to 
Tallmadge in 1818. Peck and Richard Fenn 
came to Ohio and entered land in 1817, 
making the journey with a horse team. Peck 
entered 500 acres in different parts of the town- 
ship, north, northeast, and east. Richard 
entered 120 acres in the east part of the town- 
ship, and both returned to Connecticut. On 
August 9, both men, with their families, and 
the connections of their families, including 
Grandmother Sarah Fellows (aged seventy 
years), Benjamin Fenn. Dr. Philo Wright, son 
of Deacon Elizur Wright, a resident of Tall- 
madge, and a large landholder. Twenty-three 
persons in all, came back to Ohio. The jour- 
ney was made with vehicles drawn by horses 
and oxen. A two-horse wagon was used to 
carry the women and children, and an ox team 
for the effects. They came via Buffalo and 
Cleveland overland, camped out and slept in 
the wagons. The arrived at Tallmadge, Oc- 
tober 5, 1818, having been six weeks and six 
days en route. Peck Fenn settled one mile 
north of center of Tallmadge, on 105 acres of 
land — twenty acres partly cleared, and a log 
cabin built. He cleared up this farm and died 
in 1824. His children were Miranda, Will- 
iam, Miranda, second, Harvey, Joseph, Clar- 
inda, Eliza, Sereno, and Andrew A., all now 
deceased, except the last. Peck Fenn was a 
thrifty and substantial pioneer farmer, and left 
500 acres of land in Tallmadge township. 

Richard Fenn, fifth son of Benjamin 
(sixth), was born July 4, 1779, at Milford, and 
came to Tallmadge in 18 17 or 18 18. He 
had married, in Milford, Mabel Piatt, born 
March i, 1781, in Milford, Conn., a daughter 
of Capt. Piatt. She died in Tallmadge Jan- 



866 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



uary i8, 1855, aged seventy-four years. Rich- 
ard was a substantial farmer and a hatter by 
trade. His children were Dennis and Willis 
(twins), born February 14, 1803. Dennis 
died November 16, 1827, aged twenty-four 
years, and Willis died November 11, 1880, 
aged seventy-eight years; Treat, born Decem- 
ber 10, 1804, and died November 23, 1886; 
Mabel, born October 6, 1808, and died Octo- 
ber 21, 1826; Delia, born June 23, 1812, and 
died March 5, 1882, aged seventy years; Sallie, 
born June 3, 1815, and died November 29, 
1886, aged seventy-one years; Martha, born 
May 22, 1817; Julia A., born in June, 1820. 
Mr. Fenn was superintendent of the Sunday- 
school and proved an excellent member. He 
lived to be eighty-nine years of age, and was 
active up to his last days and a much respected 
pioneer citizen. The foUoving is a copy of a 
letter of advice, written by Benjamin Fenn to 
his infant son, Richard Fenn. 

MiLFORD, Conn. 

Aug. 5, 1780 
My Dear Son : Now an infant at the age 
of thirteen months, you are not now sensible 
of the value of earthly parents, and know not 
the loss you sustain, when they are taken from 
you. You are born into the world in a time 
of great fear and trembling — the enemy then 
having invaded New Haven, to oppose which 
your now departed father exposed his life in 
the field of battle, but the weapons of death 
were not permitted to hurt; my life was spared, 
and I am left to languish and waste away with 
a lingering consumption. I leave you these 
few lines as the choicest gift I can confer upon 
you. By this, you may know you had a father, 
though you may not remember him. These 
few lines I leave for your perusal and I entreat 
you, my dear son, not to forget the instruc- 
tions here given: 

Firstly — Let religion be your main study. 
See that you make your peace with God, that 
as you increase in years you may increase in 
grace, and in knowledge in things heavenly 
and divine; this will support and comfort you, 



under the trials of this militant state, by en- 
abling you to stay your mind on God, and 
make you appear lovely in the sight of man, 
and glorious in the sight of God, and cause 1 
you to spend a glorious immortality at his \ 
right hand. 

Secondly — As you are deprived of the in- 
structions of a father, kindly receive the advice 
of your mother, pay due respect to her, com- 
fort her in affliction, obey her lawful com- 
mands, and conduct yourself toward her as 
becomes a dutiful son. 

Thirdly — Love your brothers and sisters, 
pay proper respect to persons of any denom- 
ination; shun evil of every kind, remembering 
that at the great day you must be judged by 
the Lord Jesus Christ for every thought, word 
and action; be diligent and zealous in the wor- 
ship of God, both public and private. Avoid 
all wicked and profane company, all quarrels 
and unnecessary disputes. Study the Holy 
Scriptures and make them the rule of your 
faith and practice. Strive for knowledge in 
things temporal and spiritual, that you may be 
a blessing to yourself, of service to mankind, 
and be made happy, eternally happy, here- 
after, with God in glory. 

Fourthly — Should God spare your life and 
make you capable of entering upon any par- 
ticular calling, be steady in it, remembering 
that slothfulness and negligence will clothe a 
man in rags. I advise you to learn some use- 
ful trade to get a livelihood with. Be kind 
and faithful to the master with whom you may 
live, and likewise one of his family. And to 
conclude, my dear child, prepare for death, 
and to stand before God, in judgment. Pre- 
pare to meet your Father in heaven, where I 
hope to spend my eternity, through my glori- 
ous Lord and Savior. 

Receive my instructions, remembering it is 
the advice of a dying father. Follow the ex- 
ample of Jesus Christ, that at last we may 
meet in heaven. May God grant this for 
Jesus Christ's sake. This, my dear son, is 
the prayer of your now departed father, 

Benjamin Fenn. 

This relic of parental affection and confi- 
dence in the covenant of faithfulness of God, 
written by my father, near the close of his life, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



867 



and in the sure prospect of death, to me, 
Richard Fenn, when a babe of thirteen months, 
was dehvered to me according to the super- 
scription by his executor. It has been care- 
fully preserved, not merely as a legacy from a 
respected father, but as a token of the confi- 
dence with which he took hold of the Apostolic 
assurance — the promise is to you and your 
children. And now, at the age of seventy- 
eight years, not knowing how soon I may be 
called to my last account, I enclose in this 
form for preservation to my children and chil- 
dren's children, that they may see and under- 
stand the solicitude of Christian parents for 
their children. It exhibits the best desires 
and instructions that I can express for my 
posterity. Not riches, nor wordly honors, but 
sincere piety and devotion to God. Let me 
meet you at the right hand of Jesus Christ, 
our covenant head; this is my dying request. 

Richard Fenn. 
Tallmadge, Summit County, Ohio, July 4, 
1857. 

Nelson W. Fenn, subject of this sketch, and 
one of the substantial farmers of Tallmadge 
township, was born October 23, 1847, in Tall- 
madge, on the farm where he now lives. He 
received a common-school education, and at- 
tended the academy at Tallmadge six years, 
and has an excellent education. He married 
November s. 1885, in Akron, Mary L. Gun- 
saulis, who was born in Perrysville, Allegheny 
county. Pa., August i, 1851, a daughter of 
John H. and Mary Ann E. (Eichor) Gunsaulis, 
and to Mr. and Mrs. Fenn was born Irene M., 
February 8, 1889. They have also an 
adopted son — Oliver Albert Fenn, a son of 
Mrs. Fenn's sister, Emeline. Mr. Fenn has 
a good farm of 135 acres, part of the original 
Richard Fenn farm. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fenn 
are members of the Congregational church, 
and Mr. Fenn is a man of marked ability and 
intelligence, and was one of the original mem- 
bers of the grange in his township. He stands 
high as a citizen, and has always been an in- 
dustrious, straightforward man. He is a son 



of Treat and Harriet (Bierce) Fenn, and 
Treat Fenn was a son of Richard and Mabel 
(Piatt) Fenn. Treat Fenn and wife were the 
parents of Curtis T. , Philo B., Frederick B., 
Emily A., Helen A., Harriet F. and Nelson W. 
Mrs. Treat Fenn died, and Mr. Fenn mar- 
ried Mrs. Rachel Baldwin (nee Fuller), and 
they had one child, Sarah E. Mrs. Baldwin 
was the widow of Stephen Baldwin, and they 
were the parents of Stephen and Ellen. 

Treat Fenn was born in Milford, Conn., 
December 10, 1804, and came with his par- 
ents in 1818, and settled on part of the Rich- 
ard Fenn homestead, and cleared up the farm 
where our subject now lives, in 1833. He 
was a member of the Congregational church, 
was an honorable citizen, and held the usual 
township offices. He lived to be eighty-two 
years old, and died November 23, 1886, on 
his farm. He was a man of excellent moral 
character, and a well-known pioneer. The 
Gunsaulis family is of sterling French ancestry, 
and came in early colonial times to Allegheny 
county. Pa., where they were pioneers. Mr. 
Gunsaulis, grandfather of subject, was a son 
of William and Delilah (Lucas) Gunsaulis, who 
were pioneers in Allegheny county, Pa., while 
the Indians were yet there. William Gun- 
saulis was a farmer, and cleared up a farm of 
200 acres on Lowrey's Run, Kilbuck town- 
ship, and was a substatial farmer. His chil- 
dren were Delilah, John H., Margaret, Mary, 
William. Philip, Rachel and Sarah (twins). 
William Gunsaulis lived to be seventy years 
old, and died in 1862; his mother lived to be 
ninety-four years old. He was a member of 
the United Presbyterian church, and a much 
respected pioneer. 

John H. Gunsaulis was born in Allegheny 
county. Pa. , October 22, 1825. Hehadagood 
education for his day, and was a man of marked 
intelligence, and good mind. He was a wagon- 
maker by trade, and lived in Perrysville, Pa., 



868 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



for some years, then moved to Beaver county, 
and settled on a farm, where he died two 
years later, January 9, 1861, at only thirty- 
seven years of age. He and wife were mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian church. The Gun- 
saulis family is of the same stock as the 
famous minister, Rev. Gunsaulis, of Chicago. 
The children of John H. are Mary L.. Mar- 
garet T. and John C. 

Treat Fenn married, November 5, 1861, 
for his third wife, in Ashtabula county, Ohio, 
Augusta F. Wright, born June 21, 1814, who 
still survives him, being now aged eighty-three 
years — she having lived with her husband 
twenty-five years. She is a daughter of Col. 
David (of the war of 181 2), and Laura (Knowl- 
ton) Wright. Laura Knowlton was one of a 
large family, and came with her parents to 
Ohio, from Winstead, Conn., in 1801-1802, 
and settled in Morgan township, Ashtabula 
county. Col. Stephen Knowlton, of Revolu- 
tionary fame, was of this stock. 

David Wright was born in Winstead coun- 
ty. Conn., and came to Ohio in 18 12, and 
settled as above. This is the same family as 
that which settled in Tallmadge. David Wright 
had three brothers who came out with their 
father, John Wright, to Ohio. Mrs. F"enn is 
a venerable lady of remarkable memory and 
intelligence, and has a fund of valuable facts 
at command. John, Amos and Alpha, sons of 
John Wright, settled in Tallmadge township. 



OSCAR F. REED, formerly of Boston 
township. Summit county, Ohio, but 
now manager of a cheese factory at 
Peninsula, and one of the ex-soldiers 
of the Civil war, springs from sturdy German 
stock. He was born in Wolcott, Wayne 
county, N. Y., April 17, 1844, a son of Otis 
and Harriet A. (Hickey) Reed, and came with 
his parents, in 1854, to Richfield, Ohio, and was 



here reared to farming. He enlisted at Rich- 
field, Ohio, August, 29, 1864, as a private of 
company H, Capt. Tracy, One Hundred and 
Seventy-seventh regiment, Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, to serve one year or during the war, 
and was honorably discharged at Camp Cleve- 
land July 7, 1865, the war being closed. He 
was in the battles of the Cedars, at Murfrees- 
boro, but was taken sick with chronic diarrhea 
in January, 1865, and was confined in hospital 
at Camp Dennison, Ohio, until January 23, 
when he was transferred to Cleveland hospital 
and rejoined his regiment, the latter part of 
April, 1865, at Greensboro, N. C. Mr. Reed 
was always an active soldier and prompt and 
cheerful in the discharge of his duties. He 
returned home, however, much debilitated, 
and for a long time was seriously troubled with 
his disorder, and to this day is a sufferer. 

On returning to Richfield, Mr. Reed worked 
at any kind of labor until he married, the first 
time, July 24, 1871, at Akron, Emma C. Dei- 
terlen, who was born in Germany, near Wur- 
temberg. She lost her father when fourteen 
years old, and then came to America with her 
mother, who had married Jacob Spredel. 
Mrs. Reed died without issue, and Mr. Reed 
married Mary J. Spencer, a widow of Wey- 
mouth, Medina county, born at Bordman, 
Ohio, a daughter of William C. and Belinda C. 
Streeter. She had been previously married to 
Nathan Spencer, and their children were 
Eveline, Ella and Jesse. Mr. and Mrs. Reed 
have no living children. 

Mr. Reed moved to South Akron in 1893, 
and has been engaged in the cheese factory 
since 1872, and has become a skillful cheese 
and butter maker. He is now managing the 
cheese factory at Peninsula and is a straight- 
forward and skillful man, and has always stood 
high for his integrity of character. He is a 
member of A. N. Goldwood post. No. 104, G. 
A. R., West Richfield, and has held the office 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



869 



of chaplain and quartermaster five years. In 
politics he is a republican, and cast his first 
vote for A. Lincoln's second term as president 
of the United States. 

Otis Reed, father of O. F. Reed, was born 
in Massachusetts, was a shoemaker and mar- 
ried in Wolcott, Wayne county, N. Y., Har- 
riet \. Hickey. The Hickeys were of English 
descent, and to them were born Margaret, Cor- 
delia, Charles N., Edward B., Charlotte A., 
Oscar, F. and Minerva M. Mr. Reed came to 
Ohio and settled at Richfield in the fall of 1854 
and followed his trade until his death. In 
politics he was an original republican, but for- 
merly an old-line whig, and lived to be seventy 
years old. He had two sons in the Civil war — 
Edward B. was in company G, One Hundred 
and Fifteenth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, 
in the three years' service, and was on guard 
duty at Nashville and Chattanooga railroad, 
and was in many skirmishes with bush-whack- 
ers. Mr. Reed has always been a sober, in- 
dustrious and moral man, and is highly es- 
teemed wherever known. 



* » ^ ARRISON H. RICE, one of the re- 

»^^ spected citizens of Mantua township, 
M. . r an^i 3.11 ex-soldier of the Civil war, 
was born in this township January 22, 
1841, a son of Cyrus and Sarah (Nooney) 
Rice. He received a common education in 
the district schools and then for two years at- 
tended Hiram Eclectic institute, when James 
A. Garfield was its president. He next en- 
gaged in school-teaching in Portage, Franklin 
and Geauga counties, Ohio, meeting with much 
success. Mr. Rice enlisted at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, in the United States navy, August 30, 
1864, and was assigned to service on the Mis- 
sissippi river, under Admiral Lee, of the gun- 
boat Argosy, for one year, but was honorably 
discharged June 30, 1865, at Carmi, 111., on 



account of the closing of the war, having been 
promoted for meritorious conduct to be quar- 
ter-gunner. September 12, 1863, he was 
commissioned first lieutenant of company C, 
Second regiment, O. M., in Geauga county, 
by Gov. David Tod. 

After the war Mr. Rice returned to Ohio, 
and taught school in Geauga county, at Au- 
burn, and then in Cass county, and in Jackson 
county. Mo. He married on October i, 1868, 
in Auburn, Geauga county, Ohio, Julia Mes- 
senger, who was born September 6, 1842, at 
Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio, a daughter of 
Clement and Pleades (Skinner) Messenger. 
Clement Messenger was born in Massachusetts 
of old colonial stock. Major Messenger, 
father of Clement, came to Mantua township 
as a pioneer, and at first bought about 500 
acres, but this land he sold, and bought a 
large farm near the line of Hiram township. 
Mr. Messenger married, in Massachusetts, Ruth 
Miller, and died in his 'sixties, a prominent 
and respected citizen. 

Clement Messenger, the father of Mrs. 
Rice, married, in Mantua, Pleades L. Skinner. 
He was a prosperous farmer, owning a good 
farm. of 250 acres. In politics he was a dem- 
ocrat, but voted for A. Lincoln on his second 
nomination, and was a strong Union man. He 
was a respected citizen, was township trustee, 
and a man of great industry and integrity. He 
died, aged eighty-three years, in 1891. After 
marriage, Harrison H. Rice settled near Ray- 
more, Cass county. Mo., where he bought 100 
acres of land, and where Mr. and Mrs. Rice 
both taught school for a time, Mrs. Rice hav- 
ing received her education in the district 
schools at Auburn and at Burton, Ohio. 

The first school taught by Mr. Rice in 
Missouri was in 1867, in Jackson county. It 
was the first school taught under the new sys- 
tem of public taxation — the old method in 
Missouri and throughout the south, when they 



870 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



had any schools, being by subscription. When 
he settled there it was directly after the Civil 
war, and the country was in a very unsettled 
condition. He settled about twelve miles 
from Harrisonville, Cass county, near the home 
of the famous guerrillas and border outlaws, 
the notorious Younger brothers, now confined 
in the penitentiary at Stillwater, Wis. The 
native Missourians nearly all went armed, 
carrying their revolvers in their belts; there 
were many fights growing out of the Civil war, 
as they were very bitter against the Yankees, 
yet Mr. Rice had no trouble, and was not 
molested in any way. Mr. and Mrs. Rice 
remained in Missouri twelve years, and then 
returned to Ohio, and settled at Burton in 
1 88 1. Here Mr. Rice bought a farm of lOO 
acres and remained until 1887, when he moved 
to Hiram, where he resided two years, and 
then moved to Garrettsville, where he lived 
three years, and in the spring of 1893 bought 
his present farm near Mantua Station, which 
he has improved with a pleasant residence. 
In politics he was first a republican, but is now 
abi-metalist, and voted for W. J. Bryan. Mr. 
Rice held the office of township clerk in Au- 
burn, and is a well-read man, of much practice 
and experience in life, and stands high among 
the people. 

Cyrus Rice, the father of Harrison H., was 
of old New England ancestry, of English 
descent. Mr. Rice came to Mantua when he 
was about sixteen years old, in 1821, and 
bought fifty acres southwest of Mantua Center. 
He cleared up his land from the woods, and 
married Sarah Nooney, who was born in 
Massachusetts in 1807, a daughter of Capt. 
James and Sarah (Hawkins) Nooney. Capt. 
Nooney was a pioneer, and served in the war 
of 1 81 2, at Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Rice cleared 
up his land, but afterward sold, and located 
in West Mantua, sold again and moved to Au- 
burn township, where he bought 100 acres and 



there died May 27, 1890, at eighty-four years 
of age; his wife died December 28, 1886, aged 
seventy-nine years. He was a substantial 
farmer. His children were Henriette, Sylves- 
ter C. , Harrison N., Cynthia and Austin. In 
politics he was a republican, and in religion 
was a member of the Methodist church, in 
younger days. He had two sons in the Civil 
war — Harrison H. and Sylvester C. , the latter 
enlisting August 30, 1862, and serving in bat- 
tery I, First Ohio volunteer artillery, for three 
years, and was in many battles, among them 
being Chancellorsville and Gettysburg; he was 
discharged June 30, 1865, at Chattanooga, 
Tenn., by order of the secretary of war. He 
was a good straightforward citizen, and much 
thought of. 



(D 



RS. LORENZO RILEY, of Twins- 
burg, Ohio, is the daughter of Israel 
and Lucinda (Parks) Cannon, was 
born at Blandford, Mass., April 13, 
1822, and was eleven years of age when she 
came with her parents to Portage county, 
Ohio, in 1833. She received her education 
in the district school, in the academies at 
Aurora and Ravenna, and taught school at 
eighteen years of age at Twinsburg, at Ripley 
high-school, and one year on the Ohio river, 
where her sister and husband, William I-?issell, 
a graduate of Harvard college, were teaching. 
She was married at Twinsburg, where her 
father was then living, April 24, 1845, to Lo- 
renzo Riley, who was born October 19, 1820, 
at Aurora, a son of Eppy and Rebecca (Par- 
rish) Riley. 

Eppy Riley was born at Chester, Mass., a 
son of Julius Riley, a Revolutionary soldier 
for seven years. He was of old colonial 
Massachusetts stock, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, 
and came to Aurora, Ohio, in 1807, when he 
was a young man, and walked back to Massa- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



871 



chusetts after his wife, and then came out on 
horseback in 1808. He bought land at Au- 
rora, where his son, Gerdon Riley, now lives. 
He cleared up a good farm from the woods, 
and became a substantial farmer. His first 
wife was Rebecca Parrish, born at Chester, 
Mass., and their children were Olive, Orsmon, 
Lorenzo, Tallman and Betsy. His first wife 
died, and Eppy then married a sister of that 
lady, Diana (Boies), nee Parrish, and by this 
wife Gerdon was born. Eppy Riley was a 
member of the Congregational church, and 
lived to be between eighty and ninety years 
old, and died on his farm. He was a man of 
shrewd wit, and of rare intelligence. 

Lorenzo Riley received his education at the 
district school and attended the famous school 
of Samuel Bissell, at Twinsburg, three winter 
terms. He farmed and did business, and was 
a very enegetic and industrious young man, 
and began life with a horse, cow and 100 acres 
of swamp land in Twinsburg township. He 
married Sarah Melissa Cannon, of Twinsburg, 
April 24, 1845, and after marriage Mr. 
and Mrs. Riley settled in Twinsburg town- 
ship, and here he passed the rerriainder 
of his life — his land laying two and one-half 
miles northeast of Twinsburg Center; and he 
bought sixty acres adjoining the swamp land, 
and by hard, patient labor cleared up his land, 
drained it, and, aided by his faithful wife, made 
a good home. He was a shrewd business 
man, and accumulated property until he owned 
over 2,000 acres in Twinsburg and Aurora 
townships, was an excellent cattle and horse 
raiser, and was the largest landholder in Port- 
age and Summit counties. In politics he was 
a republican, and although frequently solicited 
to accept nominations, would refuse all public 
offices. He was a member of the Congrega- 
tional church, and was a man noted for his 
honest and straightforward character, and 
possessed a native ability as a business man. 



Mr. Riley died February 5. 1893, deeply 
mourned by his family and numerous friends. 

Mrs. Riley is now living in Twinsburg. 
She has an excellent memory of pioneer events, 
and remembers many of the earlier settlers. 
She is a member ot the Congregational church 
at Twinsburg, and has contributed largely to 
its maintenance. At her husband's request 
she has given the Congregational church, at 
Aurora, 180 acres of farm land, and the Con- 
gregational church, at Twinsburg, $35 per 
year, which is to be paid by Lewis Cochran, 
and has given a fine farm of 100 acres to said 
Lewis Cochran, a poor boy, whom Mr. and 
Mrs. Riley reared to manhood. Mrs. Riley 
also gave sixty acres of land to Charles Riley, 
who lived with them from the time he was 
eleven years old. He was a nephew of Mr. 
Riley, and he is to have a future bequest of 
eighty-seven acres. Mrs. Riley is a lady of 
marked intelligence, a woman of excellent 
business qualifications, and manages her large 
property with the assistance of her brother, 
Hon. Rueben P. Cannon. 

The following facts of the early history and 
genealogy of the Cannon family were gath- 
ered during a period of thirty years. Hon. R. 
P. Cannon spent a great deal of time and labor 
to obtain these facts, which are undoubtedly 
correct. The original name was Carnahan, 
and it is thought the change to Cannon came 
gradually through two generations. They 
were of Scotch-Irish descent, and came to 
America during the first quarter of the seven- 
teenth century, and their first settlement in 
America was at Hopkinton, twenty-nine miles 
west of Boston, now Landbury. There were 
two brothers and one sister, probably un- 
married, but the time of their settlement is 
not known. 

Hopkinton, and surrounding lands, were 
owned by Harvard college, and rented very 
cheaply — two or three cents per acre. The 



872 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



town was built and peopled by a Scotch-Irish 
colony, that came in the year 1718, arriving 
August 4; five ships, with people of the same 
faith, came at this time. In after years, his- 
tory says, many more of the same faith joined 
them. It is a well-established fact, that the 
Cannons were among the early settlers of 
Hopkinton, and that some of the name, and 
relatives, remained in that town and vicinity 
for half a century after their settlement. 

From this place nine emigrated to the 
then territory of Tennessee in early times, 
and one was later governor there many years. 
Many years later, another large family went 
from Hopkinton to (ienesee county, N. Y., in 
its first settlement. With descendants of that 
branch, this writer has corresponded. An- 
other branch went from West Hopkinton to 
Blandford, Mass., first called Glasgow. That 
t(jwn was settled in 1736 by a colony of fifty 
families, receiving two si.xty-acre lots, and 
among those that followed were the Carna- 
hans or Cannons. That colony was made up 
at Hopkinton, their former residence, and 
again we find them, soon after settlement, oc- 
cupying two of the original lots — one of the 
first, and one of the second division. The 
first settler of the name in Blandford was 
William Carnahan. The time of settlement 
cannot be given, but his location was on first 
division. Town street. The next generation 
in the town was William and John, brothers, 
supposed sons of William, Sr. William, Jr., 
occupied the first division homestead, which 
the family held in descent for a century, and 
John (calling his name Cannon), occupied the 
second division, which the family held in de- 
scent for a century and more, two miles east 
of Blandford. In 1775, William was chosen 
to represent the town in the congress of the 
colonies, and he served also in the Revolution- 
ary war, in two enlistments. 

The founders of the family in America were 



two brothers and a sister, all probably unmar- 
ried, who came with the Scotch-Irish Presby- 
terian colony to Hopkinton, arriving August 4, 
1718. Their names are unknown. The first 
name known is William Carnahan, believed to 
be a son of one of the two brothers, who was 
the original founder of the family, but William 
Carnahan may have been one of these broth- 
ers, as he settled at Blandford in 1736. His 
sons were John and William. From John 
Carnahan our subject descends, or, as he 
spelled the name. Cannon. He was a resident 
of Blandford, Mass., and a farmer. He mar- 
ried Rebecca Gibbs, and their children were 
Nathan, John, Isaac, Ezekiel and Rebecca. 
William Cannon died at Blanford, Mass., 1790. 
Nathan, his son, next in descent, was born 
at Blandford, Mass., December 2, 1759, and 
married April 5, 1785. 

Elizabeth Gilmore was born in 1760, in 
Chester, Mass., a daughter of James Gilmore, 
a Revolutionary soldier who enlisted twice. 
Nathan and wife were the parents of Israel, 
born April, 1796; Sylvester, born 1790; Na- 
than, born 1800; Sallie, born 1788; Artemesia, 
born 1793; Olive, born 1795; Salomie, born 
1797, and Tryphena, born 1807. Nathan 
Cannon was a farmer, and a resident of Bland- 
ford, on the old homestead, all his life. He 
served three enlistments, of from three to six 
months each, in the Revolutionary war. His 
first enlistment was in Capt. Carpenter's com- 
pany, regiment of Col. Sheppard, for three 
months, stationed at Springfield, Mass. The 
third enlistment was in Capt. Samuel Sloper's 
company, for six months, and was mustered at 
Northampton. Of his second enlistment no 
record is held in Massachusetts, but he en- 
listed, with four others, from Blandford town- 
ship, viz: William Butler, John Taggert, 
Reuben Blair and William Knox, in Spring- 
field, Mass., served three months, and was 
discharged at Hartford, Conn., and paid off 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



873 



with continental money and one ration. Bland- 
ford was forty-five miles distant. They ate 
their ration, and walked one da\'. They 
found they could buy no food for their conti- 
nental money, and it was not until they reached 
Westfield, Mass., where they were known, 
they obtained food. Their continental money 
was never redeemed. He held at one time the 
office of commissary in a regiment in Connecti- 
cut. He was a member of the Presbyterian 
church and died in 1846. 

Col. Israel Cannon, son of above, was the 
father of subject, was born May 2, 1786, at 
Blandford, on the old homestead of John Can- 
non. He received a common-school educa- 
tion, was a farmer, and married, in Blandford, 
Lucinda Parks, who was born October 21, 
1786, in Russell township, Hampden county, 
Mass., a daughter of Reuben and Mary Parks. 
Mr. Cannon lived on the old farm until 1833. 
Here all the children were born, viz: Polly, 
born November 25, 1808; Betsy, March 2, 
181 1 ; Franklin, October 10, 1813; Horace, 
April 8, 1817; Reuben, January 13, 1820; 
Melissa, April 13, 1822, and Lewis, August 7, 
1827. Mr. Cannon was a prominent man in 
Blandford. In politics he was a whig. He 
represented his town in the state legislature in 
Boston in 1 828-1 831. He was minute man 
in the state militia during the war of 181 2, 
was a colonel in the Massachusetts state 
militia, and held the ofifice of justice of the 
peace many years; was also one of the board 
of selectmen, and held other offices. In 1833, 
having met with reverses by becoming surety 
for other parties, he came to Ohio, making 
the journey by canal to Buffalo, N. Y. , and 
then by water to Cleveland on the steam- 
boat Enterprise — the first steamer between 
Cleveland and Buffalo, and was twenty-four 
hours from port to port, and used wood for 
fuel. He came to Aurora with wagons and 
settled on a tract of land, and here he lived 



ten years, and then moved on iio acres in 
Twinsburg township, which he had bought the 
second year after he came. This was all in 
the woods, but Mr. Cannon cleared his land, 
improved it with good buildings, and made a 
substantial, comfortable home. In his old 
age he bought a house and lot in Twinsburg, 
where he died, aged eighty-one years, January 
19, 1865, a strict member of the Congregational 
church, in politics a whig and republican, an 
honored citizen, and trustee of township and 
church. 

Hon. Reuben P. Cannon was born January 
13, 1820, at Blandford, Mass. He attended 
common school in Massachusetts, and came 
with his parents to Aurora, in 1833, when he 
was thirteen years old. He attended the 
academy at Aurora three years and thus re- 
ceived a good education — to which he added 
by keeping up with the times and taking a 
great interest in politics. He was sent as a 
delegate to the whig congressional convention 
at Ravenna when he was but twenty-two years 
old, and in 1848 was elected clerk of the 
township unanimously, although it was a dem- 
ocratic township, and after that he held all the 
township offices. In 1867 he was elected to 
the state legislature and served two terms — 
four years — and during that time was chairman 
of the agricultural committee, and was the 
writer and promoter of the bill which gave 
Ohio the agricultural college, which now has 
become the state university of Ohio, and as a 
result of his labors he was elected to the state 
board of agriculture, and re-elected twice, 
served six years, and was one term, in 1875, 
its president. Hon. R. P. Cannon was elected 
justice of the peace in 1865, and has held the 
office of commissioner covering a period of 
twenty-five years, and during this time has 
done much legal business, and has settled a 
great many estates, acting as administrator, 
and has married many couples. He himself 



874 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



married, October i8, 1843, Betsy Baldwin, 
born at Aurora, .Ohio, January 14, 1822, a 
daughter of Alonson and Ruth (Wallace) Bald- 
win. Alonson Baldwin was born March 28, 
1799, in Danbury, Conn., a son of Samuel and 
Rachael Baldwin. Alonson Baldwin and wife 
were the parents of Betsy, Hannah, Melissa, 
Lucy, Lois, Alonson and Sophronia. Mr. 
Baldwin came to Aurora when he was about 
nine years old, with his parents. He married 
in Franklin township, and settled on a farm 
of 300 acres in Aurora. He was a prosperous 
pioneer, and was one of the early merchants in 
Aurora, in company with S. D. Kelly, under 
the firm name of Baldwin & Kelly. He was a 
member of the Disciples' church, and church 
trustee. In politics he was a democrat and a 
respected and honored man, and held the 
office of county commissioner several terms, 
and that of justice of the peace many years. 
He was also associated with Harvey Baldwin, 
Sr., in the cheese-shipping business, and in 
the pork-packing business, and was a well- 
known pioneer. He died, aged sixty years, in 
Aurora, November 9, 1859. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cannon settled in Aurora, on 
the farm on which they lived two years, and 
then came to his present farm. Mr. Cannon 
has prospered by his industry and good man- 
agement, and has now 300 acres. He is a 
self-made man, and, assisted by his faithful 
wife, has succeeded. The children are Addie 
A., Mary Alice, Ella O. and Ruth L., members 
of the Disciples' church; in politics he is a 
republican. Mr. Cannon is a substantial citi- 
zen, and has always been a straightforward 
gentleman. 

,>^ANDOLPH ROBINSON, a prosper- 

I /"^ ous farmer of Boston township, and 

M . P an old soldier of the Civil war, was 

born February 10, 1841, in Bath, 

Summit county, Ohio, a son of James and 



Ruth (Welker) Robinson. He received a com- 
mon district-school education, and was reared 
a farmer. He enlisted, aged twenty years, at 
Cleveland, Ohio, in an independent company, 
known as the Continental guards, in 1861, to 
serve three months, but was honorably dis- 
charged at Cincinnati, Ohio, after a service of 
two and one-half months; there being no 
arms, the company never reached the front. 
He then enlisted at Cincinnati, in June, 1861. 
in company H, Second regiment Kentucky 
volunteer infantry, to serve three years, or 
during the war, and was honorably discharged 
at Covington, Ky., in June, 1864. His serv- 
ices were in what is now 'West 'Virginia, 
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama. 
Georgia and Mississipi, and he was always 
on active duty, and had no furlough home. 
Company H, Second regiment, Kentucky 
volunteer infantry, was organized at Camp 
Clay, Ohio, on May i, 1861, for the three 
months' service, and was mustered into the 
United States service, June 13, 1861, by Maj. 
Burbank, for three years, unless sooner dis- 
charged. On the 9th of July, the company 
was ordered to West Virginia; on the morn- 
ing of the iith, they disembarked at Guyan- 
dotte; on the 13th, the regiment attacked Col. 
Jenkines' guerrilla band at Barbersville, and 
after some fighting, succeeded in driving them 
from the crest of a large hill. The loss 
was two killed, and fourteen wounded. In 
the evening the regiment arrived at Camp 
Poco, in the Kanawha Valley, sixteen miles 
below Charleston. On the evening of the 
17th, Col. Woodruff, Lieut. -Col. Neff and 
Capts. Neff, Austin and Hurd, were taken 
prisoners. The regiment remained in West 
Virginia until January 5, 1862, in the meantime 
participating in all the tedious marches and 
skirmisnes, during the Sewell mountain cam- 
paign. February 8, 1862, the regiment arrived 
at Jeffersonville, Ind., and went into Camp 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



875 



Joe Holt; arrived at Bardstown, Ky. , January 
20, 1862; February 14, they marched south- 
ward, and at the battle field of Shiloh, on the 
evening of April 6, and on the 7th of April, 
were actively engaged all day in this gceat 
battle. The regiment lost si.xteen killed, fifty- 
five wounded, and seven missing, and in the 
siege of Corinth, lost two killed, and fourteen 
wounded. The regiment was kept busily en- 
gaged, and nearly always in advance, through- 
out the campaign of 1862, and pursued Bragg's 
retreating forces, marching thirty miles 
through Cumberland Gap. At the battle of 
Stone River, the regiment displayed great 
gallantry, and did not retreat until over- 
whelmed by numbers. There the regiment 
lost eleven killed, fifty-seven wounded, and 
eleven missing. After the enemy retreated 
from Murfreesboro, the regiment went into 
camp at Cripple creek, eight miles east of 
Murfreesboro. The latter part of August, 
1863, the regiment marched to Sequatchie 
valley — thence to the Tennessee river, and 
arrived at Shell Mount, September 19, 1863; 
then went to Chattanooga, was in both days' 
fight on the banks of the Chickamauga, and 
lost si.xteen killed, sevent3'-two wounded and six 
missing. Of the commissioned officers of this 
regiment, from its organization up to October 
I, 1863, three were killed, one died of disease, 
fourteen were wounded and four were trans- 
ferred; four were taken prisoners of war, 
twenty-three resigned, six were relieved for 
promotion, two were dismissed, and one was 
cashiered — a total of fifty-eight. Of the en- 
listed men, seventy-six were killed, thirty- 
seven died of disease, 182 were wounded, 1 10 
discharged for disability, sixteen discharged 
for promotion, three discharged on account of 
minority, nineteen discharged to enter other 
regiments, and twenty-seven transferred ; 
eleven were missing in action, four were 
drowned and 166 deserted. Mr. Robinson 



was always an active s jldier, being a strong, 
hardy young man, and endured all the hard- 
ships and privations of a soldier's life with 
fortitude. He was sick in regimental hospital 
at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1861, for one month, 
and this is his entire hospital experience. 

After the war he returned to Ohio, but 
married in Michigan, at Ridgeway, Lenawee 
county. Miss Mary Point, who was born in 
Geauga county, Ohio, December 29, 184S, a 
daughter Elibbeous and Amanda (Gould) 
Point. Her mother's people were from Ver- 
mont, of German ancestry. Elibbeous Point 
was a farmer and old settler of Summit county, 
Ohio. His children were Mary, Henry, Anna, 
and Cornelia, all living. Mrs. Point died in 
Ashtabula county, Ohio, and he next married, 
in Michigan, Elizabeth Faust, and their chil- 
dren were Frank and Frances (twins), Na- 
thaniel, Lillie and William (twins), Emma 
and Amanda. Mr. Point moved to Buena 
Vista county, la., about 1877, had a large 
farm of 640 acres of land, and was a sub- 
stantial farmer and good citizen. After mar- 
riage Mr. and Mrs. Robinson .settled on their 
present home farm, which he purchased in 
partnership with his brother William, and 
which then contained 297 acres, but they have 
since divided, and Randolph Robinson now 
owns 151 acres of fine land, on which he has 
made good improvements, building a good 
farm house and substantial barns. The chil- 
dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are Cora 
M., Flora A., Henry and James. In politics 
he is a republican, cast his first presidential 
vote for Lincoln, and is a member of George 
L. Waterman post, No. 272, G. A. R., at 
Peninsula. Mr. Robinson is a much-respected 
citizen, and an industrious, hard-working man. 

James Robinson, father of subject, was 
born in England, and came from London when 
a boy of twelve years, working his way on a 
ship. He married in Chippewa, Ohio, and 



876 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the children born to this union were WilHam, 
Elizabeth, Mahala, Randolph and Andrew. 
Three of the sons were in the Civil war — 
William, Andrew and Randolph. William 
and Andrew were in the Twenty-ninth Ohio 
infantry, three years' service, and were in sev- 
eral battles in the army of Virginia. James 
Robinson was a soldier in the war of 1812, and 
lived many years in Summit county, Ohio. 
He lived to be seventy-eight years old, and 
died in 1863, a hard-working, industrious citi- 
zen. Simon Gould, uncle of Mrs. Robinson, 
was a soldier in the Civil war. 



Ky^\ -^VID RITTERSBACH, a well-known 
I I and highly respected citizen of Akron, 
/^^^ Ohio, and a veteran of the late Civil 
war, in which he gallantly served 
from start to finish, was born in Canton, Ohio, 
October 2, 1839, a son of George and Elizabeth 
(Hess) Rittersbach, prominent residents of 
that city. 

David Rittersbach received a very good 
common-school education and had just begun 
learning the machinist's trade at Canton when 
the alarm of war was sounded, at which, early 
in the spring of i<S6i. he went to Kankakee, 
111., and enlisted, April 24, in company G, 
Twentieth Illinois volunteer infantry, for three 
months, but, before the expiration of his term 
was permitted to enlist for three years, or for 
the war, at Joliet, 111,, June 13, 1861. He 
served si.\ weeks longer than the stipulated 
time, and was honorably discharged at Chat- 
tanooga. Tenn. He then came to Akron, and 
again enlisted February 17, 1865, this time in 
company I, One Hundred and Eighty-eighth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for one year or during 
the war, and served until again honorably dis- 
charged at Nashville, Tenn., September 21, 
1865 (the war having terminated), with the 



rank of sergeant, although at the time he was 
serving as orderly-sergeant. 

Mr. Rittersbach took part in many battles 
and met with several mishaps, although none 
of them was of a serious character. He 
fought at Frederickstown, Mo. ; Charleston, 
Mo. ; Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh and 
Brittain Lane, Tenn. ; Port Gibson, Raymond, 
Jackson, Champion Hill and \'icksburg. Miss., 
and was beside in many skirmishes. At Fort 
Donelson, two rifle-balls pierced his overcoat; 
at Shiloh, a ball passed through his blouse and 
a comrade in his immediate rear was killed; at 
Raymond, he was struck in the face by a 
splinter, but did not leave the field. For three 
weeks, in July, 1863, he was laid up with in- 
termittent fever in hospital at Vicksburg. At 
the battle of Brittian Lane he was captured by 
the enemy, but, the rebels being on the re- 
treat, he was hastily paroled within twenty- 
four hours and returned to his regiment. Da- 
vid Rittersbach was in the Seventeenth army 
corps. Gen. Logan's division, at Vicksburg; 
during the siege it lay in front of Fort Hill, 
the key to the city. When the Union troops 
blew up Fort Hill, a negro was thrown into 
their lines and struck on his head without 
being hurt; he told Gen. Logan that his master 
was going up as he was coming down. After 
the battle of Raymond, Gen. Logan came into 
camp and counted ninety-one holes in the 
colors of the Twentieth 111. regiment. Mr. 
Rittersbach had three brothers, and they were 
all in the Union army and one disabled for life. 

At the conclusion of his war service, Mr. 
Rittersbach returned to Akron and was here 
married, October 11, 1866, to Miss Sarah 
Lawrence, daughter of Aaron and Mirtilla 
(Miller) Lawrence, the union resulting in the 
birth of one daughter, Eva, now the wife of 
Harry Cleveland. He here resumed his trade 
of machinist in the Buckeye works, where he 
remained twenty-six years, and then engaged 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



877 



in the manufacture of a canteen for veterans 
of the late war, decorated in a highly artistic 
manner, in colors, with the G, A. R. badge, 
and inscribed with the designating letter of 
their company, number of their regiment, and 
the name of their state, and of this beautiful 
souvenir a large number of his comrades have 
made purchase. As a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, Mr. Rittersbach has 
filled the offices of junior and senior vice-com- 
mander and commander. In politics he is a 
republican, and for the past eight years has 
been president of the board of park commis- 
sioners, and no man in the city of Akron is 
more respected to-day than the valiant soldier, 
David Rittersbach. 



A~V' ARAH E. RUSSELL, of Streetsboro, 
•^^^k* Ohio, descends from an old colonial 

p<_y family of Connecticut, of English Pur- 
itan ancestry, three brothers, John, 
Jacob and William Russell, having come from 
England between 1730 and 1750, and locating 
in Hebron, Conn., whence they moved to 
Windsor, where they made permanent settle- 
ment. 

William Russell, above mentioned, was the 
father of five sons, Samuel, Ebenezer, Ellis, 
Jonathan and Hezekiah. Of these, Samuel, 
was born in England about 1714, married 
Mary Huffman, and died in Windsor, Conn., 
at the age of sixty-five years, the father of six 
children — Jacob, Stephen, Cornelius, John, 
Elizabeth and Rachel — his sons all taking 
part in the war of the Revolution, and some 
of them holding offices of high rank. His 
death occurred at West Windsor, Conn., and 
was caused by the accidental falling of a rail 
on his thigh, breaking the bone. 

John Russell, youngest son of Samuel, 
married Patty Thrall, settled in Rodman, Jef- 
ferson county, N. Y., and there died June 22, 



1844. Of his children, Alanson died in Cleve- 
land, Hezekiah at Chagrin Falls, Cayahoga 
county, Ohio, Elizabeth was married to a Mr. 
Young, and Rachel married a Mr. Cook. 

Jacob Russell, eldest son of Samuel and 
Mary (Huffman) Russell, was born in West 
Windsor, Conn., April 26, 1746, served in the 
war of the Revolution, and came to Ohio in 
1812. He married, in West Windsor, Esther 
Dunham, who bore him the following children: 
Elijah, born July 13, 1773, and died February 
2, 1857; Esther, born October 25, 1774, mar- 
ried David Benjamin, and died in March 1864; 
Return, born March i, 1778, died October 5, 
1834; P21isha, born November 14, 1779, died 
October 15, 1862; Samuel, born January 14, 
1781, died June 8, 1853; Jerusha, born Feb- 
ruary 24, 1785, and now the wife of Moses 
Deming; Content, born May 7, 1794, died 
March 5, [866, the wife of Risley Harley; 
Ralph, born August 3, 1789, died December 
28, 1866; Roxana, born March 10, 1792, mar- 
ried Gershom Sheldon, and died September 
15, 1872; Obedience, born May 23, 1794, was 
married to Joseph Pelton, and died April 29, 
1862, and Rodney, born May 17, 1796, died 
September 3, 1880. The father of this family 
died in Warrensville, Ohio, August 29, 1821, 
and the mother in Solon, Ohio, September 16, 

•835- 

The paternal grandfather of Sarah E. was 
Return Russell, who was born in Windsor. 
Conn., March i, 1778, and died October 5, 
1834. He was married, February 22, 1 800, to 
Jerusha Osborne, daughter of Ezekiel Os- 
borne, of the state of New York. She was 
born December 20, 1780, and died March 23, 
1854, both being members of the Shaker so- 
ciety, and are buried in Warrensville, Ohio, 
in what was Shaker ground. Their children 
were: Luther, father of Sarah E; Jerusha, 
born July 3, 1803, died June 22, 1854, lived a 
Shaker and lies buried in Warrensville Shaker 



878 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



grounds; Edward, born July i8, 1805, died 
June 18, 1885, and is buried in Streetsboro; 
Samuel S., born May 14, 1807, died at 
Mantua Station, December 14, 1893; he mar- 
ried Adeline, daughter of Elijah Russell, 
April 6, 1859. She was born July 10. 1810, 
died December 26, 1853, both are buried in 
Streetsboro; Rachel, born May 25, 1809, died 
January 14, 1894; she lived and died a devout 
Shaker, and is buried in Shaker grounds near 
Dayton; Robert E., born February 30, 181 1, 
died October 16, 1888, in Sumner, Iowa; he 
was twice married, his first wife being Hannah 
Williams; they had four children; one son, 
Robert E., Jr., served in the Civil war, and 
died in Andersonville prison. His second wife 
was Mary A. Joy; by her he also had four 
children — six children survive him; William 
H. H., born August 21, 18 13, died December 
5, 1889, in San Diego, Cal. ; Mary A., born 
May 21, 1 816, long a helpless invalid is living 
with her husband, Nelson Phillips, who was 
born March 3, 1827, in Hinckley, Ohio — 
in the home of Sarah E. ; Sanford J., 
born May 11, 181 8, a Shaker, at Union 
village; Lydia, born June 6, 1820, died at 
Mantua Station, September 7, 1868, buried 
in Streetsboro; Roxanna, born June 9, 1822, 
died March 25, 1852, a Shaker, and is buried 
in Warrensville Shaker grounds. 

Luther Russell, son of Return Russell, and 
father of Miss Sarah E. , was born in West 
Windsor. Conn., November 9, 1801, received 
a good common-school education, was reared 
a farmer, and came to Ohio in 1821. He 
married, March 3, 1828, in Aurora, Ohio, 
Miss Polly Russell, who was born March 25, 
1806, a daughter of Samuel and Hepzibeth 
(Ellsworth) Russell. From Aurora, Luther and 
wife came to Streetsboro, about 1830, and 
settled on the farm now owned by Miss Sarah 
E. Russell. The farm, which consisted of 105 
acres, was covered by a dense growth of 



heavy timber, which Mr. Russell cleared off 
by patient industry and hard work, and im- 
proved with substantial buildings, making a 
comfortable home. His children, in order of 
birth, were named Martin L., born December 
29, 1829, died July 2, 1855; Cynthia M-. born 
May 22, 1832, died December 25, 1834; Sarah 
E., born June 3, 1834; Marion B., born No- 
vember 10, 1837, died January 18, 1879, and 
Helen M., born November 16, 1841, died 
November 28, 1881. Mr. Russell was a man 
of excellent judgment, and high moral char- 
acter. In politics he was a democrat, and in 
religion a Spiritualist. For more than fifty 
years he was identified with the moral, intel- 
lectual and material prosperity of Portage 
county, and, being well read and of profound 
thought, he was often selected by his neighbors 
as a counselor and abitrator of their various 
little difficulties, rather than seeking adjust- 
ment by litigation. He was of a kind dispo- 
sition, and very benevolent, and a most affec- 
tionate husband and father. Successful as a 
business man and a good manager, and with 
the aid and economy of his devoted wife, they 
realized a competence through their individual 
exertions, and at his death, which occurred 
August 5, 1878, left the unincumbered farm 
now occupied by his daughter, Sarah E., and 
granddaughter, Mrs. Nellie A. (Saddler) Gor- 
don. His wife was called away September 9, 
1896. Many are the orphaned children now 
grown to womanhood and manhood, who live 
to bless their memory. 

Helen M. Russell, youngest child of Lu- 
ther and Polly Russell, was married, January i , 
1865, to Johnson J. Sadler, a native of Trum- 
bull county, Ohio, and a son of Thomas and 
Ann Sadler, who were of Scotch-Irish extrac- 
tion. Johnson J. Sadler was a soldier in 
the Civil war, and later a coal dealer at Man- 
tua Station, where he died May 19, 1882, at 
the age of forty-four years, a man of excel- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



879 



lent moral character, and in politics a repub- 
lican. The only living child born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Sadler was named Nellie A., and she was 
married, August 9, 1893, to Oliver P. Harris, 
a farmer, who was born at Sugar creek. Tus- 
carawas county, Ohio, February 27, 1871, a 
son of Joseph and Leah (Gordon) Harris, and 
who died of typhoid fever in Streetsboro, De- 
cember 16; 1895, leaving his widow with one 
son — Jack Oliver Harris, born September 22, 
1895. Her second marriage was consum- 
mated December 31, 1897, with Elmer E. 
Gordon, who has spent most of his life in the 
mercantile business. 

Elmer E. Gordon was born in Bedford 
county. Pa., July 29, 1871, a son of L. M. 
and Margaret A. Gordon, is a graduate of 
Pleasantville Normal school, and a member of 
the Patriotic Sons of America. 

The maternal grandfather of Sarah E. was 
Samuel Russell, whose date of birth and death 
have been given; his wife was Hepzibeth Ells- 
worth, of Connecticut; she was born August 30, 
1785 and died February 6, 1837. About the 
year 1 8 1 1 , they, with their three little children, 
braved the toil and suffering attendant upon 
what at that time was a long and tedious jour- 
ney, sometimes walking, sometimes riding in 
the rude wagon which bore their scanty sup- 
plies, and sometimes riding on the back of the 
patient ox, which bore them with slow but sure 
steps from the home of their nativity the wilds 
■ of Aurora, Portage county, Ohio. No wonder 
the tears of the young wife and mother mingled 
with those of her home-sick children or that 
fear drove sleep from their eyes when the 
hours of night were filled in by the howling of 
the hungry wolf, the stealthy step of the prowl- 
ing bear, and oftentimes visits from the red 
man of the forest, but time and energy changed 
this lonely place into a desirable home; here 
they lived, here they reared their family and 
from here they passed to peaceful rest and now 



lie buried in the country cemetery less than a 
mile from the old home. 

The children of this family were as follows: 
Polly E., the mother of Sarah E. and whose 
date of birth and death have been given; Sam- 
uel, Jr., born February 15, 1808, father of four 
children, survived by only five grandchildren; 
Cynthia, born May 22, 18 10, died February 
12, 1828; Laura, born July 8, 1812, in Aurora, 
died February 28, 1864, in Mendon, 111., the 
wife of Dr. Jacob Haymaker. Dr. Haymaker 
was a man of most generous deeds; he died in 
Kent, April 15, 1881; children they had none, 
but by a second marriage to a Miss Harriet 
Whitcolm three lovely daughters were born to 
him; this second wife died in Kent September 
30, 1897; Newil, born July 27, 18 17, in Aurora, 
died in Winnemucca, Nev. ; his wife was 
Pauline Blachley of Blachleyville, Ohio, They 
married June 11, 1850; she died in Quincy, 
III., July 29, 1867, leaving five children. The 
father was of a free, kind, genial nature; he 
served in both the Mexican and Civil wars; Hor- 
ace, born December 6, 18 19, in Aurora, died 
March 15, 1857; his wife was Elizabeth Kent, 
of Aurora; she died January 3, 1866, leaving 
the old Russell homestead unincumbered to 
their four children; the home has now passed 
into another name; but two children now sur- 
vive. Bell M. Clark and Horace Z. 

Of the children of Newil Russell, Chester N. 
came into the home of Luther and Polly April 
23, 1864; following the death of their mother; 
the remaining four children came to this home; 
their names are as follows: Frank P., born 
October 29, 1852, in Valparaiso, Ind., was 
married to Miss Lillie Tucker, of Streetsboro, 
May 13, 1880; three daughters are born to 
them; he is a practicing physician in Suffield, 
Ohio. 

Chester N., born March 19, 1855, in Coun- 
cil Blnffs, Iowa, married Lizzie Inglehart of 
Brimfield, October 5, 1885; is practicing law 



880 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Agnes V., wife of 
J. F. Seaton, Omaha, Neb., was born at Council 
Bluffs, Iowa, September 24, 1858, and is the 
mother of five children; Lola L. . wife of W. 
A. Folger, Akron, Ohio, was born at Council 
Bluffs, Iowa, March 4,1861, and is the mother 
of three daughters; Charles H. was born De- 
cember 23, 1864. in Quincy, 111., andisa rail- 
roader. He was niarried Janurj- 14, 1891. 
to a Miss Mary Lewis, who was born October 
I, 1870, and died February 11, 1895, leaving 
two children; March 2, 1896, he was married 
to Miss Ina Hemingway, who was born January 
5, 1866. 



at 



•ILLIAM ROWLAND, a deceased 
farmer of Paris township. Portage 
county, Ohio, was born of Welsh 
parents, in Monmouth, England, at 
midnight — December 31, 1795, and January 
I. 1796 — a son of Edward and Ann Rowland. 
Edward Rowland was a blacksmith by 
trade, and reared a family of ten children, 
viz: Miles, Charles, Edward, Henry, Ed- 
mund, Adam, William, John, Thomas, and 
Ann, all now deceased. The children on the 
maternal side were seven in number, of whom 
one only survives — Via, now the wife of Joshua 
Andrus. 

William Rowland was reared in Wales 
until twenty-nine years of age. In 1825 he 
sailed from England and landed in New York, 
where he remained one year; then visited 
Canada, and then returned to England, where 
he married, February 15, 1826, Miss Catherine 
Edmunds, daughter of Edmund and Johanna 
Edmunds, and this marriage was blessed with 
ten children — three of whom were born in 
England, and six of whom still survive, viz: 
Ebenezer, of Colorado; Sarah, Adelina, Henry 
(of Youngstown, Ohioi, Edward (on the old 



Paris homestead), and Edmund, of Michigan. 
Ann died in 1849, at the age of twenty-one 
years; Susan died in April, 1882, aged fifty- 
three, the wife of David James, also deceased; 
Adam died February 11, 1895, at the age of 
sixty years, and William died May [i, 1896, 
aged forty-eight. 

In 1832 Mr. Rowland brought his wife and 
English-born children to America, and located 
in Utica, X. Y., where he left his family and 
came to Ohio, and bought the tract of land in 
Paris township on which his son Edward now 
resides. He was the first Welsh settler in the 
township, and cleared up from the wilderness 
a neat farm, his family coming here a year 
after his own arrival. Mr. Rowland, just 
after the arrival of his family, visited Pitts- 
burg, Cincinnati and St. Louis, in a fruitless 
search for a brother who had come to America, 
and then settled down to solid work. He had 
learned the carpenter's trade when young, and 
this he followed in conjunction with farming, 
securing, through his industry and skill, a 
competence. He served as school director 
and supervisor for a number of years, and 
died, an honored citizen, June 12, 1871, and 
was followed to the grave by his widow Janu- 
arj" 4, 1874 — both being consistent members 
of the Welsh Presbyterian church. Mr. Row- 
land was one of the greatest pedestrians which 
this part of the country has seen. \t one 
time, about 1835, he started from Pittsburg, 
Pa., for Paris township, his home. It was 
at six o'clock in the morning when he started, 
and at nightfall he had landed in Deerfield 
township, a distance of ninety-six miles. 

Edward Rowland, son of above, and his 
sisters, Sarah and .\deline, reside on the old 
homestead and are still unmarried. Edward 
has served as school director, supervisor and 
township trustee for several years, and is one 
of the most respected agriculturists of Paris 
township. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



881 



aHAUNCY A. BARTHOLOMEW, an 
ex-soldier of the Civil war, and a 
highly-respected citizen of Mantua 
township, Portage county, Ohio, de- 
scends from one of the oldest colonial families 
in America, of which the genealogy, as far as 
possible, will be traced in the paragraphs fol- 
lowing: 

William Bartholomew, the founder of the 
family in this country, was born in Buford, 
England, in 1602 or 1603, was a son of Will- 
iam and Triswede Bartholomew, who belonged 
to the peerage and bore his coat of arms, 
and yet the father conducted a mercantile 
establishment. William, the younger, was 
also reared a merchant, and was married in 
London to Ann Lord, a sister of Robert Lord, 
who subsequently became his near neighbor in 
Ipswich, Mass. Before coming to America 
he had entertained, at his home in London, 
the famous Ann Hutchinson, renowned for her 
free thought and free speech, and who, in 
1635, was banished, on this account, by the 
Massachusetts colony, and accompanied Roger 
Williams and his colony to the new settlement 
of Rhode Island. On September 18, 1634, 
William Bartholomew, in company with Rev. 
Zachary Symmes, Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, Rev. 
John Lathrop, and some thirty of the latter's 
congregation, of which he was probably a 
member, debarked from the sailing vessel 
Griffin at Boston, Mass. , whence he went to 
Ipswich, where he took an active part in public 
affairs, represented the residents in the general 
court in Boston, and held several local offices 
of trust and honor. About March, 1670, he 
moved to Boston, where he followed mercan- 
tile pursuits, and filled several important 
offices, among them being that of treasurer of 
the colony. There his death took place Janu- 
ary, 18, 1682, at the age of seventy-eight 
years, and his remains were interred in the 

Phipps street cemetery, beside those of John 
37 



Harvard, famous as the founder of Harvard 
college. His old residence in Ipswich stood 
intact until 1894. 

William Bartholomew (second), son of the 
colonist, William, was born in Ipswich, Mass., 
in 1640 or 1641, was married, December 17, 
1663, in Roxbury, Mass., to May, daughter of 
Capt. Isaac and Elizabeth (Porter) Johnson, 
and a granddaughter of John Johnson, sur- 
veyor of all the armies of the king in America, 
and who was killed while leading his men over 
the bridge and fallen timber into the Indian 
fort of the Narragansetts — known in history as 
the battle of Fort Narragansett. Mr. Bar- 
tholomew was a carpenter by trade, and was 
working in Hatfield, Mass., when the Indians 
destroyed the town, killed twelve white men. 
captured thirteen, and wounded four. Of the 
prisoners, his daughter, Abigail, aged four 
years, with the other twelve, were carried 
through the forests to Canada, where they 
were ransomed, eight months later, by the 
payment of 200 pounds sterling. Mr. Bar- 
tholomew later removed to Branford (now in 
Connecticut), erected a saw-mill, was appoint- 
ed ensign of a military company, then pro- 
moted to be lieutenant, and still later settled 
in Woodstock, which town he represented in 
the general court at Boston, and died in Wood- 
stock in 1697. 

Joseph Bartholomew, son of William (sec- 
ond), was born in Branford in 1682, married, 
November 12, 171 3, Elizabeth, daughter of 
Nathaniel Sawyer, was a farmer of Wood- 
stock, Conn., and died at the age of forty-two 
years. His son, Joseph, was a corporal in 
Capt. Cheney's company, Choat's regiment, 
and was in the expedition against Louisburg, 
on Cape Breton island, at the entrance of the 
gulf of St. Lawrence, which fortress had cost 
the French government millions of dollars to 
build, and was considered to be the strongest 
in the world, but which fell under an attack 



882 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



by a few thousand Yankee farmer boys, led by 
Col. Pepperrell, of Maine, who was knighted 
for its capture, by the government of England, 
the event taking place in 1745, during the war 
between England, George II being on the 
throne, and the French government, then in 
possession of Canada — the colonies of America, 
of course, being participants in the cause of 
the British. 

Passing now to Joseph Bartholomew, the 
fifth of the name, and the great-grandfather of 
Chauncy A. , it is proper to state that he was 
born in Wallingford, Conn., August 25, 1752, 
and married a widow, Mrs. Esther Cleveland. 
About 1790 he moved to Hamilton, and thence 
to Cornwall, Conn., and in 1793 settled in the 
town of Pompey, N. Y. , where he built the 
first hotel in 1796; and conducted it until 
1808. He was also a prosperous farmer and 
held the office of road overseer. 

Chauncy Bartholomew, ne.xt in line, was 
born in Wallingford, Conn., April 15, 1776, 
married in Pompey, N. Y. , Susannah Scho- 
field, and died in Cornwall, N. Y., in 1808. 
He, like his father, was a prosperous farmer. 

Jonathan P. Bartholomew, father of 
Chauncy A., was born in Cornwall, N. Y. , Sep- 
tember 26, '1799, and married, March 4, 182 1, 
Mary \\'ilson, a daughter of Andrew and Mary 
Wilson. At the early age of fifteen he en- 
listed in the volunteer army, and in the war of 
1812-15, took part in the battle at Sackett's 
Harbor, N. Y. He afterward learned black- 
smithing, and in 1822 came to Ohio and built 
the first blacksmith shop in Auburn, Geauga 
county. He also owned several farms, and had 
born to him a family of twelve children, viz: 
Charity, Alvirus P., Nelson S., Julia A., 
■Chauncy A., Betsy A., James D., Sarah, 
Mary L. , Alonzo D., Thomas C. and Andrew 
— of whom nine lived to rear families of their 
own. Jonathan Bartholomew was in politics 
at first a whig, then a republican and abo- 



litionist, and gave much attention to the man- 
agement of the "underground railroad" in 
assisting runaway slaves to freedom. He 
held a captain's commission in the old Ohio 
state militia, was pirominent as a member of 
the Methodist church, and died in that faith at 
Auburn, February 3, 1862. 

Chauncy A. Bartholomew, son of Jonathan 
P. and May (Wilson) Bartholomew, was born 
in Auburn, Geauga county, Ohio, August 31, 
1828, was reared a farmer, and married, No- 
vember 25, 1852, in Mantua township. Portage 
county, Ohio, Miss Emily Winchel, who was 
born in Mantua township, September 21, 
1832, a daughter of Chauncy and Perses 
(Parker) Winchel. 

John Winchel, grandfather of Mrs. Bar- 
tholomew, was a native of Connecticut, born 
in Suffield, and there married Roxie Coombs, 
who bore him eight children — Ariel, John, 
Chauncy, Eli, George, Daniel, Roxie and 
Clarissa. Mr. Winchel was a well-to-do 
farmer in Connecticut, but late in life came to 
Ohio, and until his death resided with his son, 
Chauncy, the father of Mrs. Bartholomew. 
Chauncy Winchel was born in Suffield, Conn., 
in 1800, and on coming to Ohio, at the age of 
fourteen years, was accompanied by his 
brother George, aged twelve. They had a 
brother, Eli, living in Aurora, Portage county, 
with Zenas Kent, and trudged all the way on 
foot to visit him. He was the owner of one 
dollar on his arrival, but found work at clear- 
ing land, and before his marriage, in Aurora, 
to Perses Parker, had earned money enough 
to buy a comfortable home, and died, at the 
age of eighty-four years, the owner of 1,360 
acres in Portage and Geauga counties, and the 
father of twelve children, who all grew to ma- 
turitj-, viz: John, Roxie, Alden, Daniel, 
Emily, Pamela, Chauncy, Abel, Henr}-, Hor- 
ace, Luther and Caroline. Three of these 
sons served in the Civil war — Abel, Horace 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



883 



and Luther, and Henry also volunteered, but 
was rejected on account of his diminutive 
stature. Abel and Horace were students in 
Hiram college, under James A. Garfield, and 
enlisted in the Fort\--second Ohio volunteer 
infantr}', of which Garfield was the colonel; 
Abel died in Camp Chase, Ohio, of disease 
contracted in the service, and Horace was 
seized with typhoid fever while in the field at 
Big Sandy, and for want of medical attendance 
became insane, and now draws a pension of 
$72 per month, and on adjustment of his 
claim for back pay, etc., was awarded $14,- 
595.17. Luther was for three years in com- 
pany B, Forty-first regiment, Ohio volunteer 
infantry, took part in all its engagements, and 
now lives in Geauga county, one mile north of 
the residence of Mr. Bartholomew, in Portage 
county. 

Chauncy A. Bartholomew, after marriage, 
settled on his present farm, which he mainly 
cleared with his own hands, and built the resi- 
dence he now occupies. Descending from a 
race of American patriots, who had served in 
the war of the Revolution and that of 18 12, he 
and two brothers also became soldiers — Nelson 
S. serving for three years in the Fifth Michi- 
gan cavalry, and re-enlisting for three years 
longer; Alonzo D. was in the Twenty-third 
Wisconsin infantry, famous for its bearing the 
war eagle. Old Abe; was taken prisoner at 
Port Hudson, and for a long time was con- 
fined in Libby prison; Chauncy A. enlisted at 
Chardon, Ohio, September 22, 1862, in com- 
pany B, Forty-first Ohio infantry, and served 
until honorably discharged at Nashville, Tenn. , 
January 22, 1863, and took part in several 
battles and many severe marches, notably 
that from Lousiville, Ky., to Columbia, Tenn., 
at the rate of thirty-six miles daily. At Nash- 
ville, Tenn. , he was confined in hospital with 
malarial fever, pneumonia and chronic diar- 
rhea, but on all other occasions was ever at his 



post, doing good and active service. Since 
the war he has lived on his farm in Mantua 
township. He is a member of Bentley post, 
G. A. R. , at Mantua Station, and of the 
Masonic lodge at Twinsburg. In politics he 
is a republican, and has alwaj-s been an in- 
dustrious citizen, and is highly respected for 
his sterling integrity and many other excellent 
traits of character. To Mr. and Mrs. Bar- 
tholomew have been born no children, but 
they have reared and educated a legally- 
adopted son, Albertus C. 



aASSIUS O. BALDWIN, carpenter and 
farmer of Twinsburg township. Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, and one of the 
veteran soldiers of the Civil war, de- 
scends from old colonial Connecticut stock. 
On the maternal side, his grandfather. Hart 
Risley, was a soldier in the war of 181 2, and 
Samuel Baldwin, his paternal grandfather, a 
native of Connecticut, became a surveyor, mar- 
ried in Connecticut, and the children born to 
him were Edward, Caroline, Lucretia, Emily, 
Jewett and Henry. Samuel Baldwin came as 
a pioneer among the early settlers of Cuyahoga 
county, Ohio, there being at that time but one 
log house at Cleveland, at the mouth of the 
Cuyahoga river. Mr. Baldwin settled in New- 
burg, where he was one of the early surveyors 
and at one time sheriff of Cuyahoga county. 
He prospered and owned a goodly property at 
Newburg and Cleveland, now covered by 
valuable buildings. He was a captain in the 
old state militia, and died at Newburg, Ohio, 
an aged man, much respected. 

Henry Baldwin, father of Cassius O. , was 
born in Ohio, in 1825, became a farmer and 
married Amanda Risley, of Aurora, Ohio, a 
daughter of Hart Risley. Hart Rislej' was 
born in Connecticut and was a pioneer at the 
earliest settlement of Aurora, Ohio. He be- 



884 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



came a prosperous farmer and was a soldier 
in the war of 1812. His children were Austin, 
Andrus, Freeman, Emily, Caroline, Amanda, 
Cordelia and Mary. Mr. Risley lived to bean 
aged man and died on his farm, two miles south 
of Aurora, a much-respected citizen. 

Henry Baldwin settled in the northeast 
corner of Twinsburg township, on 1 30 acres 
of land, and cleared a farm from the heavy 
timber, making a good home. His children 
were Frank, Herman, Cassius O., Orsey and 
Cordelia. Mr. Baldwin passed all his active 
days on the farm, but retired to Solon, Ohio, 
where he died two years later, June 24, 1870. 
He and his wife were both members of the 
Disciples' church at Solon. He was a promi- 
nent office holder — a man of excellent charac- 
ter, was noted for his honesty, and his word 
could always be relied upon. In politics he 
was at first a democrat, but during the war 
became a republican. 

Cassius O. Baldwin was born December 7, 
1843, in Twinsburg township, on the farm, and 
received a common-school education, became 
a farmer and enlisted, at the early age of nine- 
teen, August 2, 1862, in company G, Capt. 
D. N. Lowery, One Hundred and -Fifteenth 
regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve 
three years or during the war, and served until 
"honorably discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, July 
5, 1865, the war being closed, having been 
promoted to first duty sergeant, in 1864, 
for meitorious conduct. He was in the battles 
of LaVergne, Tenn., Stone River, Cynthiana, 
Ky, . Bowling Green, Ky., Nashville. Tenn., 
Franklin, Tenn., Greensboro, Tullahoma, 
Lookout Mountain, and he was in the famous 
Atlanta campaign. During this campaign he 
was for some time detailed as a scout. He 
was at the battles of Dallas, Dalton, Pumpkin- 
vine Creek and Kenesaw Mountain, and after 
that battle he returned to his command at 
Murfreesboro, Tenn., and was detailed with 



thirty men of his company to guard a block 
house at LaVergne, Tenn., and on the twenty- 
fourth of September, 1864, they were all cap- 
tured by Hood's army and taken to prison at 
Cuyahaba, Ga. The prisoners were robbed of 
everything the_\- had — clothing, boots, shoes 
and caps, and all money and trinkets, and 
were obliged to put on and wear the ragged 
and filthy clothing which the rebels threw aside. 
Mr. Baldwin was first approached by a rough- 
looking rebel, who leveled his revolver at him, 
and demanded his boots — they were a nice, 
new pair that his father had just sent him; but 
he looked the rebel in the eye and said, 
"Now, look her, you cannot wear these boots: 
they won't fit you. " The rebel said, "Wa'all, 
I can trade them;" but showed hesitation in 
his eye. just then a rebel officer rode up and 
ordered the would-be robber to his company. 
In another moment, a little, dirty rebel came 
up and leveled his revolver, and demanded the 
boots in no uncertain terms, and Mr. Baldwin 
could see, in his eye, that he would shoot un- 
less he got them, and they were promptly 
given up. His extra clothing and blankets 
were afterward taken. He was confined at 
this prison two weeks, but was not badly 
treated. He was taken thence to Anderson- 
ville, and in that infamous rebel prison was 
nearly starved, and suffered greatly. Having 
no shelter, he and his comrades dug a hole in 
the ground and made a hut of sun-burned 
brick. In his mess were two Summit county 
men — Julian Upson and John Cox. For 
rations he received daily about one gill of 
cornmeal, ground cob and all, and sometimes 
even this was omitted for three days at a time. 
The had neither salt nor meat. A part of the 
time a thin bean soup was served. He would 
have died, but he fortunately had secreted a 
$20 greenback, which he changed among the 
prisoners, and traded a dollar at a time, some- 
times receiving from $50 to $75 in Confederate 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



885 



bills for a one-dollar greenback. With this he 
would buy provisions from the guards and 
persons who came to the prison to trade, and 
thus kept himself alive. He was in this prison 
for about four months, in the fall of 1864, and 
was reduced almost to a skeleton. When 
captured he weighed 202 pounds, and when 
exchanged, at the close of the war, he weighed 
ninety-two pounds. He reached home sick, 
weak and emaciated, but, having a remarkable 
constitution, recovered rapidly. He then 
learned the carpenter's trade, and married, on 
the place where he now lives, February 8, 
1866, Miss Maria Goff, who was born in Ire- 
land, a daughter of John and Betsy (Mallory) 
Goff. John Gofi came from Ireland and settled 
south of Twinsburg, about 1856, and his chil- 
dren were James, John, Thomas, George, 
Maria and Ella. He was a hard-working, in- 
dustrious man, much respected, and died an 
aged man, at Youngstown, Ohio, where his 
widow still lives. 

After marriage Mr. Baldwin bought part of 
his father's farm, where he lived two years, 
and then moved to Twinsburg, and bought Mr. 
Goff's property, consisting of eighteen acres, 
with residence, and now has a pleasant home 
of twenty-two acres. Mr. Baldwin has worked 
at his trade many years in Summit and sur- 
rounding counties, and is still in active life. 
He received an injury to his left leg during 
the war, which renders him lame; other- 
wise he is strong and hearty. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin are both members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in 
politics Mr. Baldwin is a republican. He was 
a good soldier and has a splendid military 
record. He served his country faithfully, and 
was always in active service, and was not sick 
an hour and did his full part promptly and 
cheerfully. He is a member of W. T. Sher- 
man post, G. A. R. , at Hudson, and of Sum- 
mit lodge. No. 203, F. A. M., at Twinsburg, 



has held the office of master of the Blue lodge, 
and in the royal arch has been high priest. 
Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin were the parents of two 
children — John O. and Alton C. Mrs. Bald- 
win died June 29, 1876. Mr. Baldwin mar- 
ried, for his second wife. Miss Emma C. Lee, 
who died April 15, 1897. 



*» ^ ON. JACOB ADAMS KOHLER, of 
■''^m Akron, Ohio, is a son of Henry and 
M. . r Mary (Slanker) Kohler, and was born 
near Reading, Pa., August 15, 1835. 
When four months old he was brought by his 
parents to Franklin township, Summit county, 
Ohio, was educated in district schools and 
Lodi academy, and in 1853 apprenticed him- 
self to D. G. Sanford, cabinetmaker in Akron, 
later read law with N. W. Goodhue, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1859. He served as 
prosecuting attorney of Summit county two 
terms — from 1868 until 1872; was law partner 
of Hon. Sidney Edgerton several years, and 
later was with Rollin W. Sadler, and afterward 
with Harvey Musser. Mr. Kohler represented 
Summit county in the state legislature from 
i88q to 1885, and served as attorney general 
of Ohio from i886 to 1888; November 5, 
1895, he was elected judge of the court of 
common pleas for Medina, Lorain and Sum- 
mit counties, which position he now fills. 
His opinions upon the construction of statutes 
and their constitutionality have created wide 
and favorable comment among the judiciary 
of the state and the members of the legal pro- 
fession. 

Judge Kohler was married May 16, i860, 
to Miss Frances H. Coburn (only child of the 
late Dr. Stephen H. Coburn), who has borne 
him two sons — Hurlbut Stephen, born July 
20, 1868, and George Coburn, born November 
17, 1870, both graduates of Yale college. In 
connection with Secretary of State Russell A. 



886 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Alger, of Detroit, Mich, (a former Akron boy), 
Mr. Kohler, in 1882, erected the Arcade block, 
a five-story brick building on Howard street, 
one of the largest and handsomest business 
blocks in the city; and, beside his fine resi- 
dence on East Market street, as the manager 
of the Coburn estate has large landed interests 
in various portions of the city, being also one 
of the incorporators and president of the 
People's Savings bank on South Main street. 



tV^^ E\\ MAN CHAMBERLAIN, one of 
I I the substantial farmers of Stowe 
I y township, Summit county, Ohio, de- 
scends from sterling New England 
ancestry, the tradition being that several of 
the brothers of the name came from England 
in the Mayflower in 1620. 

Moses Chamberlain, father of Newman, was 
born in Dalton, Mass., in May, 1709. He 
was a farmer, and married Hannah Newell, 
who was born in Dalton, Mass., in 1761. 
Moses Chamberlain moved to Riga, N. Y., 
and after some years, to Sweden, Monroe 
county, N. Y. , where he cleared up a farm 
from the woods, about ninety years ago. He 
was a substantial farmer, and owned, at Swe- 
den, a fine farm of 160 acres. His children 
were Merrick, Lyman, Adeline, Patty, John, 
Newman, Alvira, Stephen, Nelson, Moses and 
Joseph. Mr. Chamberlain was a Jacksonian 
democrat, a respected citizen, and was fre- 
quently a member of the grand jury, lived to 
be a little over si.xty years old, and died Dn 
his farm, in October, 1849. He was a 
straightfoward, industrious man, well-known 
for his honesty of character. 

Newman Chamberlain was born October 
31, 1820, at Riga, N. Y., received a com- 
mon district-school education, and has al- 
ways been a farmer. He came to Stowe 



township, Summit county, Ohio, in 1842, and 
married here September 29, 1844, Miss Char- 
otte S. Stark, who was born in Stowe 
township, January 14. 1824, daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Hannah (Chapman) Stark. 

The Stark family is of the same stock as 
Gen. Stark, of Vermont, the famous Revolu- 
tionary general, and hero of the battle of Ben- 
nington. Joseph Stark, grandfather of Mrs. 
Chamberlain, was born in Vermont, but died 
on his farm in Chazy, N. Y., about 1830. His 
children were Benjamin, James, Rebecca. 
Susan, Anna and Sallie. 

Benjamin Stark was born in Vermont. 
May 16, 1793. He was a farmer, and mar- 
ried Hannah Chapman, Januarj- 3, 1817. She 
was born at Lake Champlain, N. Y.. Decem- 
ber 25. 1798, a daughter of Ebenezer Chap- 
man, and the children were Frederick. Phi- 
lander. William, Charlotte S.. Eliza A., Laura, 
Carroll, George, .\urilla. Maryette, Lucius 
and Lewis (twins), and Hiram. Benjamin 
Stark came to Ohio in 1817. making the jour- 
ney overland with horses, and was twenty- 
four days on the road. He first located in 
Kent, Ohio, and then settled in Stowe town- 
ship, and here developed a farm of 140 acres, 
and made a good home, becoming a substan- 
tial farmer. He reared his children well, and 
gave them all a fair education. Twelve of his 
children lived to maturity. He was a man of 
sterling worth, and much industry and integ- 
rity of character. He and wife were both 
members of the Disciples' church at Stowe 
Corners, in which he was a deacon, and in 
politics he was first a whig, and then a repub- 
lican. He reached the venerable age of nearly 
eighty years and died October 19, 1872. a 
much respected citizen. When Benjamin 
Stark was a bo)' of but fourteen years old he 
did some service in the war, his father's house 
being filled with wounded soldiers from a bat- 
tle, and atone of these battles he carried water 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



887 



to the soldiers in the field. Moses Chamber- 
lain, father of the subject, moved from Dal- 
ton, Mass., with a three-horse team, and was 
obliged to cut his way through the woods. 

Newman Chamberlain, after his marriage, 
lived on his father's homestead four years and 
then returned to Stowe township, and lived on 
a farm for awhile, and then lived in Akron, 
where he and wife kept a boarding house ten 
years. He next moved with his family to 
Stowe township, and settled on his present 
farm in 1854, having bought eighty acres. 
By thrift and economy he prospered, aided by 
his faithful wife, and they now have a good 
farm of 160 acres, with tasteful residence, 
substantial barns, etc. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain are both mem- 
bers of the Methodist church, in which he has 
held the office of steward. In politics he is a 
republican. They have one son. Dr. Frederick 
N., of Akron, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Chamber- 
lain are well known for their upright christian 
character, are very industrious and frugal, and 
by their patient labor and thrift they have ac- 
quired a goodly property. Mr. and Mrs. 
Chamberlain, in the kindness of their hearts, 
have brought up and given a good home to 
five children, viz: William P., Lillie O., 
Charles L. Wright, Harvey F. Wright and 
Chara E. Wright. 

Moses Chamberlain, a brother of Newman, 
was a soldier of the Civil war, was captured 
and imprisoned in the infamous Libby prison, 
and finally died from the effect of the impris- 
onment. Merrick C, another brother, was a 
licensed Methodist exhorter. Of the sons of 
Benjamin Stark, two were prominent physi- 
cians — Dr. Frederick B. and Dr. Philander H., 
both of Detroit, Mich. William H. was a 
prominent commission merchant of Newton 
Falls, Ohio, where he died. Lewis V. was a 
soldier in the Civil war and served all through. 
Lucius, twin brother, died young. Carl J., 



is a Disciple minister of Hamilton, 111., and 
Hon. George P., of Michigan, is the youngest. 

The Chamberlain Family. — The first of 
this family of whom there is any account was 
William Chamberlain, who came to America 
from England, and whose record extended, 
from 1620 to 1706. His wife was named Re-, 
becca, and their children were William, Tim- 
othy, Isaac, John, Sarah. Jacob, Thomas, 
Edward, Rebecca, and Abraham. Jacob, the 
sixth child, married Experience, and their 
children were Jacob, John O., Jason and Eb- 
enezer. Jacob, first child of Jacob, married 
Susannah Stone, and their children were 
Jacob, Josiah, Snsannah, Isaac, Simon, Will- 
iam, Sarah and Margaret. Isaac, fourth child 
of Jacob (second), married Mary Keys, and their 
children were Isaac and Mary. Isaac, first 
child of Isaac, married Elizabeth Sprague in 
1780. The children were Luther, Isaac, 
David, Elizabeth, Hannah, Jacob, Lydia, 
and Mary. Isaac was married twice, but the 
children were all by first wife. 

Jacob, seventh child of Isaac, second, mar- 
ried Sarah Strong, in 1820, and by her had 
two children, David and Elizabeth. He mar-; 
ried December 26, 1829, his second wife, Anna 
Nutting, who bore the following children: 
Sarah, Emily G., Jane Hulda, Jacob, and Will- 
iam, second — all the children being born in 
Sharon, Conn. Anna Nutting was born at 
Groton, Mass., a sister of Prof. Rufus Nutting, 
of the Western Reserve college. Jacob and 
Sarah both went to the Arcat Mission, India. 

The above is the line of lineal descent from 
the first Chamberlain in America to W. I. 
Chamberlain, the editor of the Ohio Farmer, 
now residing at Hudson, Ohio. It is believed 
that all the Chamberlains of the Western Re- 
serve are of this same stock. J. Chester 
Chamberlain, No. 135 East Eighteenth street. 
New York city, nephew of W. I. Chamberlain, 
is investigating the Chamberlain genealogy. 



888 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Dr. Frederick Chamberlain, one of the lead- 
ing dentists, and a respected citizen of Akron, 
is the only child of Newman and Charlotte 
(Stark) Chamberlain. He was born August 
1 8, 185 1, in Akron, Ohio. He received his 
education in the public schools and the high 
school, and attended the colleges at Alliance and 
Hudson four years. He studied dentistry in the 
dental college of Philadelphia, from which he 
graduated, in 1887, as D. D. S. He began the 
practice of dentistry at Canal Fulton, Ohio, and 
settled in Akron in 1888, where he soon built 
up a successful practice by his skill and ability 
in his profession. He married, August 22, 
1872, at Akron, Demaris D. Viall, who was 
born in Richfield township. Summit county, a 
daughter of S. and Mary A. (Freeby) Viall, 
the \'ialls being among the pioneers of Sum- 
mit county and Akron. To Dr. and Mrs. 
Chamberlain have been born Blanche S., Oc- 
tober 6, 1874, at Kent, Ohio. Fraternally, 
the doctor is a Mason and a member of Elliott 
lodge. No. 14, at Canal Fulton, and a knight 
templar. Dr. Chamberlain is well known and 
highly respected, and stands high in his profes- 
sion. In politics he is a republican. 



eMERY JOHN COE, of Garrettsville, 
a most respected citizen, and ex-sol- 
dier, and formerly a well known ed- 
ucator and teacher of vocal music, 
was born in Charlestown, Portage count}', 
December 4, 1839, a son of Claudius and Nancy 
(Johns) Coe. The Coe family is of English 
descent, and several of the early male mem- 
bers of the family in America were soldiers in 
the war for American independence. Claudius 
Coe was born in Granville, Conn., and in 1808 
came to Ohio, being one of the earliest settlers 
in Charlestown township. Portage county, 
where there were born to his marriage with 
Miss Johns eleven children, viz: Jacob, Sarah, 



Almeda, Phebe, Ransom, Nancy A., Rosaline, 
Emily, Emery J., Orinda and Elizabeth. The 
father lived to reach his sixty-eighth year and 
died a greatly respected citizen. 

Emery J. Coe was reared on the home 
farm and also learned ropemaking under his 
father. Having received a good common- 
school education, he began teaching at the age 
of twenty-one years, and at the age of twenty- 
two commenced giving instructions in vocal 
music, teaching, in all, 100 terms. In 1862 
he made a tour of the west, teaching music in 
Angola, Kankakee, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, 
Davenport, Rock Island and other cities, and 
on his return, in 1864. enlisted at Toledo, 
Ohio, August 18, in company D, Capt. W. 
W. Cooke. One Hundred and Eighty-second 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for one year, or dur- 
ing the war, and was honorably discharged at 
Nashville, Tenn., July 7, 1865, the war having 
been closed. Mr. Coe was a participator in 
the battles of Nashville and Franklin, Tenn., 
and on the night of the retreat from Franklin 
to Nashville, a distance of eighteen miles, Mr. 
Coe, on reaching the outskirts of the latter 
city, fell exhausted, with his comrades, and 
lay all night on the bare ground, under a cold, 
sleety rain, and woke up in the morning half 
covered with water and stiff with the rheuma- 
tism, from which he has never recovered. 
Mr. Coe was also sick in the hospital at Louis- 
ville. Ky. , about four weeks, having contracted 
fever from fatigue and exposure. His hardest 
or most severe service was, in his opinion, the 
cutting of logs for the building of Fort Butler, 
near Nashville, at which he was emploj'ed on 
a "rush" for eleven days and nights and great- 
ly exposed to inclement weather. On another 
occasion the rebel general. Hood, tore up the 
railroad tracks and cut off the supplies for the 
Union troops, and for two weeks the Federal 
boys were fed on "hard tack" only, and nearly 
starved, and these hardships were doubtless 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



889 



the cause of Mr. Coe's illness. Outside of 
this, he was a true and faithful soldier, and 
ever ready and cheerful in the performance of 
his duty. 

After the war was closed, Mr. Coe returned 
to Portage county, and located on a farm of 
eighty acres, which he purchased in the north 
part of Hiram township. December 15, 1865, 
he married, in Nelson township, Miss Arvilla 
Knowlton, who was born here June 25, 1845, 
a daughter of Williard and Hannah Knowl- 
ton — the former a substantial farmer and 
stock-dealer. The children born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Knowlton were named Lavinia (de- 
ceased), Perenia, Cornelia, Valinda, Arvilla 
(Mrs. Coe, now deceased), and Ellen (also 
deceased). Mr. Knowlton was a greatly hon- 
ored citizen, was for many years a justice of 
the peace in Norton township. Summit 
county, president of a bank in Garrettsville, 
and a thoroughgoing business man. After 
marriage Mr. Coe lived on his farm, in Hiram 
township, for two years, then sold and bought 
a farm of seventy-si.x and a half acres in 
Charlestown township, to which he added a 
second tract of eighty-seven and a half acres. 
In 1888 he retired to Garrettsville, where he 
has since resided, honored and respected by 
all who know him. To Mr. and Mrs. Coe 
have been born the following-named children: 
Frantz E. and Frank A. (twins), Williard E. 
and Bert E. The mother of this family was 
called from earth October 10, 1897, a devout 
member of the Methodist church, and a lady 
of more than usual intelligence, and of many 
christian virtues, which endeared her to all 
who knew her. Mr. Coe, also a Methodist, 
was a Sunday-school teacher for many years, 
and for a longtime its superintendent, and for 
sixteen years was choir leader in Charlestown. 
In politics he is a republican, and for twelve 
years was a trustee of Charlestown township. 
Mr. Coe has given his children every edu- 



cational advantage. Frantz A. and Frank 
E. are graduates of Mount Union college, 
Ohio, and are now postal clerks; Williard E. 
graduated from the Ohio State university, and 
is now a successful practicing physician at 
Troy, Ohio; Bert is at home with his father. 
Probably no resident of Garrettsville is more 
sincerely respected than Mr. Coe, who has 
done so much to advance the educational and 
moral interests of Portage county, and whose 
name stands, and has stood all these years, 
without taint or slur, and whose children have 
been reared to become, like himself, good and 
useful citizens. 



>Y*OHN A. MORGAN, a highly-respected 
■ farmer of Paris township, Portage 
A J county, Ohio, was born on his present 
farm, September 16, 1845, a son of 
John and Sarah (Davis) Morgan, both natives 
of Wales. 

John Morgan, father of John A., was born 
in 1799, was reared to mining, and came to 
America in 1831. He lived six months in 
Palmyra township. Portage county, Ohio, and 
then removed to Paris township, of which he 
was the first Welsh settler. He here engaged 
in farming, having purchased a tract of land 
in the woods, on which he built a log cabin. 
He was married in July, 1834, to Miss Sarah 
Davis, in Hudson, Ohio, and his union was 
blessed with seven children, three of whom 
still survive, viz: Joseph, John A. (subject), 
and Sarah, wife of Joseph Leonard, of Cleve- 
land. The deceased were Lettie, who was 
married to David D. Jones, and died March 17, 
1883, at the age of forty-four years; Mary, 
wife of Isaac D. Jones, died December 15, 
1888, aged fifty-three years; Winnifred, mar- 
ried to William Lewis, died July 17, 1893, 
when fifty-three years old, and John died in 
infancy. In course of time Mr. Morgan de- 



890 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



veloped a fine farm from the wilderness, and 
replaced his original log cabin with a com- 
modious residence, and also erected suitable 
substantial farm buildings. Mr. Morgan rose 
to considerable prominence in the township, 
was for years a justice of the peace, and also 
township trustee. He was a member of the 
Congregational church, in which he filled all 
the secular offices, and died in its faith, April 
9, 1882, aged eighty-three years, his wife hav- 
ing passed away July 4, 1872, at the age of 
sixty-six years. 

Job Morgan, grandfather of John A. Mor- 
gan, came to America from Wales, also in 
1832, but remained a short time only. He 
was a miner all his life, and had a family of 
five children, viz: A daughter who died in 
infancy; Miriam, wife of Squire David Johns; 
and Mary and Thomas, twins. Job Morgan 
died in May. 1864, at the age of ninety-four 
years, and Mary, his wife, died the same year 
and month, at ninety-one years of age. 

John A. Morgan was reared to farming, re- 
ceived a good common-school education, and 
remained with his father until 1865, when he 
went to Youngstown, Ohio, where he was em- 
ployed as a clerk in a general store for three 
years, and then returned to his farm. April 
16, 1883, he married Miss Mary Evans, who 
was born in Cardigan, Wales, May 12, 1856, 
a daughter of John and Amelia (Molyneau.x) 
Evans. The father of Mrs. Morgan died in 
January, 1867, at the age of thirty-two years, 
and her mother in 1861, aged twenty-six, 
leaving two children — Mrs. Morgan and John, 
of Alliance, Ohio. To the marriage of John 
A. Morgan and wife have been born two chil- 
dren — Lettie Amelia and Homer Stanle}'. Mr. 
and Mrs. Morgan are devoted members of the 
Congregational church at Wayland, of which 
Mr. Morgan has been clerk for several years. 
The family is one of the most respected in 
the township, and Mr. Morgan is individually 



esteemed for his strict integrity in all his trans- 
actions, and activity in his efforts to promote 
the public welfare. 




HE R.WENNA REPUBLICAN, one 
of the oldest county papers of the state 
of Ohio, was established, in 1830, as 
the Ohio Star. In 1854 it was known 
as the Portage County Democrat, being pub- 
lished by Hall, Herrick & Wadsworth. In 
1859, the Democrat passed into the hands of 
L. W. Hall & Son, and was published by them 
until September, 1882, when the paper was 
purchased by the Republican-Democrat Pub- 
lishing company, with Arthur Mosley as editor. 
About three years afterward, John Meharg se- 
cured a controlling interest in the paper, then 
known as the Republican-Democrat, and be- 
came editor, changing the name to the Ra- 
venna Republican. August 22, 1895, The 
Republican was purchased from Mr. Meharg 
by C. W. S. Wilgus, who, two months previ- 
ously, had bought the Ravenna Graphic, 
which paper he consolidated with the Repub- 
ican. The Republican, under the management 
of Mr. Wilgus, has fully maintained its position 
as one of the leading county-seat weeklies of 
the Western Reserve, and is a bright, newsy 
journal, filled with local items of interest, as 
well as with all the important current events 
transpiring throughout the world. 



>nr'OHN ROPPEL, a respected citizen of 
M Tallmadge township. Summit county, 
/• 1 Ohio, and an ex-soldier of the Civil war, 
was born in Bavaria, German\\ 1841, 
a son of Casper Roppel. His parents died 
when he was but an infant, and he was par- 
tially reared b\' his half-brother — John Wol- 
fert — his mother having been married to a Mr. 
Wolfert, father of John. John Wolfert, half- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



891 



brother to our subject, was a married man, and 
our subject when twelve years old came with 
him and his family to America, sailing from 
Bremen in the good ship St. John. They 
were forty days on the voyage to Baltimore, 
where they arrived in the fall of 1852. They 
went thence to Pittsburg, where Mr. Wolfert 
was employed as a carpenter. Our subject 
began to work in the glass works when a small 
boy of thirteen or fourteen years old, and has 
supported himself since that time. He con- 
tinued in the glass works until he enlisted, in 
April, 1 861, at Liberty, near Pittsburg, Pa., 
for three months, in company I, Third Penn- 
sylvania volunteer infantry. He served out his 
term and was honorably discharged at Harris- 
burg, Pa., in July, 1861. His service was in 
Hagerstown, Md., guarding a railroad, his 
company being detailed for that purpose. Mr. 
Roppel was a good soldier, prompt and cheer- 
ful in the discharge of his duty. He suffered 
a good deal from e.xposure, however, and in- 
jured his left arm at the elbow by a fall in the 
evening, after dark, on the railroad, and the 
arm is still stiff and can be used but little. 
Mr. Roppel returned, after his service, to Pitts- 
burg, and again worked in the glass works. 
He married, in Pittsburg, April 26, 1864, 
Mary E. Meyer, who was born January 19, 
1843, in Alsace, France, a daughter of Chris- 
tian and Mary E. Meyer. After marriage Mr. 
and Mrs. Roppel lived in Pittsburg eleven 
years, where he continued to work in the glass 
works, and in 1874 came to Tallmadge and 
worked in Kent in a glass house for two years, 
but since that time has worked on the railroad 
and for farmers. Mr. Roppel bought a home, 
before he came to Tallmadge, of eleven and 
three-fourths acres. The children born to him 
and wife are Helen, Annie, Henry (died aged 
twenty-one years) John, Fannie and Louis. 
Mr. and Mrs. Roppel are members of the 
Catholic church and are sincere Christians. 



Mr. Roppel has always been a hardworking, 
industrious man, straightforward and honest, 
and has reared an excellent family. Casper 
Roppel, father of subject, was a large farmer, 
owning land, and Casper was the only son. 
To the marriage of Mrs. Roppel, mother of 
our subject, to Mr. Wolfert, the following 
children were born: Julia, Mary, Maggie, John 
and George. 



m 



ILLIAM B. HOLCOMB, one of the 
most substantial farmers of Paris 
township. Portage county, Ohio, 
was here born October 4, 1828, 
and is a son of Harvey and Sallie (McArthur) 
Holcomb, the former of whom died March 16, 
1897, at the age of ninety-four years, and the 
latter February 20, 1892, aged eighty-two 
years, two months and seventeen days, both 
in the faith of the Methodist church, in which 
the father had held all the offices; he had also 
been for twenty-five years, a constable of Paris 
township, as well as school director. 

William B. Holcomb was educated in the 
district school, was reared to farming, and 
worked on his father's farm until twenty-seven 
years of age. He married, February i, 1855, 
Miss Harriet Oviatt, a daughter of Samuel and 
Laura (Earl) Oviatt, and this union has been 
blessed with seven children, four of whom still 
survive, viz: Grant, born January 5, 1865; 
Dwight, July 21, 1872; Lulu, August 8, 1874 
(wife of Edward Morris), and Hattie, born 
October 3, 1878. Miss Hattie is still unmar- 
ried, and has the reputation of being the best 
violinist in the county, is at present teaching 
music, and is the leader of the ladies" orches- 
tra at Newton Falls. The deceased children 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb were John W., 
born August 31, 1856, and died February 14, 
1883; Lena, born August 14, 1869, and died 
September 21, 1883; Laura, born May 27, 



892 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



1858, died January 9, 1888, the wife of Sydney 
Hudson. 

In 1 86 1 Mr. Holcomb relinquished farm- 
ing, and for eight years was engaged in the 
hotel business at Paris. He then exchanged 
his hotel property for a farm north of Paris, 
which he conducted until 1876. when he moved 
to his present place, which he has under a high 
state of cultivation, and. in connection with 
his agricultural pursuits, is largely engaged in 
the sale of organs and pianos, being himself 
an excellent musician. In politics he is a 
republican, and has served as constable, school 
director and supervisor of Paris township for 
many years. 

Mrs. Harriet i^Oviatt) Holcomb was born 
in Newton Falls. Ohio, October 22, 1835. 
Her father was a native of Connecticut and 
was a turner, and her mother of Massachu- 
setts, and in early life came to Ohio and set- 
tled in Newton Falls. To the marriage of the 
parents were born eight children, seven of 
whom are still living, viz: Electa, widow of 
Elijah Johnson; Mrs. Holcomb: Elmira, widow 
of Henry Tew; Clarissa, unmarried; Sylvanus, 
Homer and Clista, wife of Russell McEwin; 
the deceased was Malinda. who died at the 
age of sixty-five j-ears, the wife of Alonzo Win- 
nans, also deceased. Samuel Oviatt, grand- 
father of Mrs. Holcomb, came to Ohio in 1805, 
and was one of the heaviest men in Portage 
county, weighing 425 pounds. 

Harvey Holcomb, father of William B., 
was a son of Calvin and Eunice Holcomb, and 
was born Februarj- 1 1 , 1 803, in Granby, Conn. , 
and when twelve years old was brought to 
Ohio by his parents, who finally settled in 
what is now Paris township, in October, 1815. 
They endured all the vicissitudes of pioneer 
life, but eventually developed a comfortable 
home. After the marriage of Harvej- Hol- 
comb to Sallie McArthur. he settled in a cran- 
berry swamp, where he lived three years, and 



' then moved to a sugar grove, where he lived 
in a log house twenty-five years, and later 
erected a frame dwelling, with suitable out- 
buildings. His family consisted of two boys 
and four girls, viz: William B., JohnC. Ca- 
selia. Annette, Eunice C, and an infant son 
who died unnamed — all now deceased with the 
exception of William B. Mr. Holcomb was 
a member of the local rifle company for a long 
time, was constable for twenty years, as has 

\ been mentioned — an office conferred upon him 
on account of his well-known integrity. After 
this venerable pioneer and hunter retired from 
the woods over thirty-five years ago he engaged 
in farming until about ten years since, when 
he bought a house and lot in Newton Falls, in 
order to secure better school advantages for 

I his grandchildren. 



eDWIN A. SEASON, a thrifty and 
prominent farmer of Hudson town- 
ship. Summit county, Ohio, and an 
old soldier in the Civil war and head 
of a respected family, was born October 21. 

' 1837. in Leigh, Somersetshire. England, and 
came to America with his father and family in 
1843, sailing from Bristol. England. He re- 
ceived a common-school education in Stowe 
township. Summit county, Ohio, where his 
father. James Season, settled on a farm. On 
arriving in this country, while yet a boy, Ed- 
win A. went to Minnesota and attended high 
school one winter. He lived with his uncle, 
John Season, in Goodhue county, that state, 
until his enlistment. May 23, 1861, in Capt. 

i William Colville's company F, First Minne- 
sota volunteer infantry, for three years or 
during the war. This was the first regiment 

I mustered into the United States service for 
three jears. Mr. Season was mustered out 
and honorably discharged January 2, 1863, at 
Washington, D. C, on account of disability. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



893 



having served faithfully over two years. He 
was in the following battles: First battle of 
Bull Run. July 21, 1861: Ball's Bluff, October 
21, 1 861; siege of Yorktown, April, 1862; 
West Point, May 7, 1863; Fair Oaks, May 30, 
and June i, 1862; Peach Orchard, June 27, 
1862; Savage Station, in January, 1862; Elen- 
dale, January 30, 1862; White Oak, June 30, 
1862; Malvern Hill, July i, 1862, and again 
at Malvern Hill, Augue.t 5, 1862; Vienna 
September 2, 1862 — all in Virginia — and An- 
tietam, Md., September 17, 1862. In the 
winter of 1861-62 he was taken sick in camp, 
with fever and went home on furlough for a 
month, but the day after the battle of Antie- 
tam he was taken severely sick with pneumo- 
nia, became unconscious, and was taken to 
hospital at Fredericksburg, but was soon after- 
ward removed to the hospital at the patent 
office in Washington, D. C, and remained 
there until discharged, when he returned to 
Ohio, much disabled. Mr. Season was always 
an active soldier, and, until disabled, was in 
all the battles, skirmishes, marches and cam- 
paigns in which his regiment took part, the 
battles themselves numbering fourteen. After 
the war, although suffering from rheumatism, 
he followed farming, and worked five years at 
Hudson, Ohio, in the depot, handling freight 
and express matter. 

Mr. Season married, January 4, 1866, in 
Stowe township. Miss Emma A. Call, born 
December 20, 1847, a daughter of Moses D. 
and Harriet M. (Starr) Call. Moses D. Call, 
father of Mrs. Season, was born July 12, 1815, 
near Warner, N. H., a son of Jerry and Lo- 
vina (Danforth) Call. Jerry Call was a farmer, 
and his ancestors came from England. His 
children were Moses D. , William, Jerry and 
O. H. Moses D. Call came when a young 
man to Ohio, in 1837. He studied medicine 
with Dr. Towne of Hudson, but did not com- 
plete his course, although he was a man of 



good education and had taught school many 
years. He was engaged in the cooper business 
at Darrowville for many years, and until i860 
employed from ten to fifteen hands. He 
bought in i860 the Starr homestead in Stowe 
township, of 200 acres, and for the last fifteen 
years of his life he carried on a cheese factory. 
In politics he was first a whig, then a republic- 
an, and was justice of the peace from 1845 to 
his death, with the exception of one year. He 
was a captain in the state militia, was township 
trustee, a member of the school board, and 
was county commissioner for the six years end- 
ing in December, 1863. He died March 24, 
1 89 1. His children were Mary L. . Emma 
A., Ellen J. and Charles A. He was a Uni- 
versalist in religion, was a liberal subscriber to 
the erection of the church at Kent and was 
one of its most liberal supporters. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Season set- 
tled on a farm of his father's, where they lived 
five years; then moved to Hudson, and lived 
five years, and then lived on a farm in Stowe 
township one year, and then lived in Darrow- 
ville three years, and then bought, in 1882, 
eighty-seven acres of their present farm, which 
they have greatly improved, and on which 
they built a beautiful residence in 1892, 
together with good barn and other buildings. 
Their children are Leora I., Grace E. , Edwin 
Herbert, Maude E. (killed by lightning at the 
age of fourteen years), and Archibald B. The 
eldest child, Leora I., was united in marriage 
June 27, 1888, with W. C. Ritchie, a native 
of Summit county, Ohio, and to this union has 
been born one child, Gertrude L. The second 
child, Grace E., is a graduate of the Hudson 
high school. Edwin H., also a graduate of the 
Hudson high school, attended the Western Re- 
serve academy some time, then taught school in 
Hudson two years, then took a course in Ham- 
mel's Business college, Akron, filled a position 
as bookkeeper for some time and is now a 



894 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



student at the Western Reserve Medical col- 
lege at Cleveland. Archibald B. is a student 
at Cuyahoga Falls, and is making a specialty 
of the study of electricity. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Season are members of the United Pres- 
byterian church at Metz. In politics he is a 
republican and cast his first vote for Lincoln, 
and is one of the old soldiers who have made 
a success in life and reared an excellent family. 
James Season, father of Edwin A. Season, 
was born in New York city, October 24, 1812, 
and was the son of George and Ann (Perkins) 
Season. George Season was born at Leigh, 
Somersetshire, England, where he was a 
land owner, and there married Ann Perkins. 
She also was born at Leigh, November 25, 
1792, and was baptized January 5, 1795. Mr. 
Season and wife came to America to visit her 
mother, who, after the death of her husband, 
Mr. Perkins, had married, in 18 10, James 
Dodderell, of London, England, and had set- 
tled in New York. George Season returned to 
Somerset, England, but while he was in 
America his son James was born. The chil- 
dren were James, William Henry, George 
Ann and John. Mr. George Season was in 
some official position, and traveled extensively 
with his wife, and was in America during the 
war of 1 8 12. James Season married in Leigh, 
England, Hester Coles, and their children 
were Henry, who died in England, childless; 
Edwin A. ; Elizabeth; Henry, second, who died 
childless in Stowe township; James Season, a 
farmer who came to America in 1843 and set- 
tled in Stowe township in 1843, and became a 
substantial farmer. Mrs. Season, mother of 
our subject, died January 28, 1845, and Mr. 
Season afterward married Mrs. Lucinda 
(O'Brien) Stewart, June 5, 1846, and their 
children were: William, Martha, Ann, John 
C. , Wallace and Mary. This wife died Janu- 
ary 2, 1872, and he married, November 24, 
1880, for his third wife, Mrs. Lorinda (Perkins) 



Russell. George Season, an uncle of Edwin 
A., was a soldier in the English army, and 
came when young with the family to America, 
his mother paying $500 for his release. He 
settled in Minnesota, where he became a suc- 
cessful agriculturist. 

James Season, father of Edwin A., the 
subject, died in Kent, Ohio, October 15, 1894, 
a member of the Methodist church, and in pol- 
itics a republican. He was an honored and 
greatly respected gentleman and of excellent 
moral habits. 



aONRAD SCHOCH, of Northfield 
township. Summit county, Ohio, an 
old soldier of the Civil war, was born 
October 12, 1835 in Baden, Ger- 
many, a son of Peter and Ursilla (Detrich) 
Schoch. Peter Schoch was the owner of a 
small farm, on which the family had lived for 
generations. He was a soldier in the German 
army and a body guard of the king, and meas- 
ured six feet two inches in height. His chil- 
dren were Julius, Anselm, Julia and Conrad. 
Peter Schoch died at forty years of age on his 
farm, a Catholic in religion. Conrad received 
a common-school education, and learned shoe- 
making of his brother Anselm. When twenty- 
two years of age, he sailed from Havre, 
France, February 18, 1858, and arrived in 
New York April 6, having been forty-seven 
days on the ocean, in a sailing vessel. He 
came to Cleveland, Ohio, and to Little York, 
where his brother Julius was living, and en- 
gaged in farm work until he enlisted, at Cleve- 
land, October 16, 1861, in Capt. James Hor- 
ner's company K, Forty-first regiment Ohio 
volunteer infantry, to serve three years or dur- 
ing the war, and was honorably discharged in 
Mississippi, by reason of re-enlistment in Jan- 
uary, 1863, in a marine brigade, company D, 
at Camp Dennison, Ohio, and was honorably 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



895 



discharged January i8, 1865, at Vicksburg, 
Miss., having served his country faithfully over 
three years. He was in the battle of Shiloh, 
April 6 and 7, 1862. He was wounded in the 
marine service near Vicksburg, Miss., in Mar- 
maduke's raid, and was in many minor engage- 
ments and skirmishes, which were very fre- 
quent. He was taken sick in May, 1862, while 
with the Forty-first regiment at Pittsburg 
Landing, with malarial fever, and was in hos- 
pital at Camp Dennison, Ohio, and remained 
until his re-enlistment. 

At the battle of Vicksburg, Miss., while 
on the Louisiana side, of the Mississippi 
river, he was shot in the head by a minie 
ball, and knocked senseless, but his comrades 
revived him with brandy and water after 
twenty-five minutes. This was about 10 A. M., 
and he was taken by ambulance about twenty 
miles in Louisiana and laid on the counter in 
a little store, over night, and then taken to 
the fleet in the Mississippi river opposite Vicks- 
burg, and transferred to the hospital at Vicks- 
burg, where he remained two months, then 
rejoined his regiment and served until dis- 
charged. He was promoted for meritorious 
service to duty-sergeant, having before been 
corporal. He endured all the hardships of a 
soldier's life with fortitude and cheerfulness, 
and was in all the battles and skirmishes in 
which his regiment took part. He returned 
to Ohio and engaged in farm work, and was 
married February 11, 1866, at Little York, 
Ohio, to Miss Lydia Leach, who was born 
August 22, 183 1, at Hudson, Ohio, a daugh- 
ter of George and Lydia (Wolcott) Leach. 
George Leach was born in Goshen, Conn., 
November 26, 1799, a son of William and 
Sallie (Gaylordj Leach. William Leach was 
a pioneer of Hudson, settling there in 1799 or 
1800, and his son Henry was the first white 
male child born in that village. William 
moved later to Sandusky, Ohio, where he 



lived when the war of 181 2 broke out, in 
which he was a noted Indian fighter. He died 
in Sandusky, and was buried, with the British 
soldiers, where the city now stands. He was 
the father of George, Henry, Jonas and Elita. 
Mrs. Leach married after his death and had 
one son — Marvin. 

George Leach was but an infant when 
brought by his parents from Connecticut and 
carried the mail in 18 14, when peace was pro- 
claimed, from Sandusky to Cleveland. He 
married at Boston, Ohio, Lydia Wolcott, who 
was born at Boston, Ohio, daughter of Alfred 
and Margaret (Craig) Wolcott — Mr. Wolcott 
coming from New England. He was the sur- 
veyor of Boston township and also survej'ed 
much land elsewhere in Summit county. 
George Leach and wife were the parents of 
Clarissa, Eliza and Lydia. Mrs. Leach died, 
and he married Phila Wood, nee Cook, a 
widow. Mr. Leach settled at Little York in 
1832, and cleared up a good farm. He owned 
500 acres of land and built and ran a saw-mill 
in Hudson, and this was the first one he ever 
saw — which fact was rather remarkable. He 
was a well-known and prominent citizen, 
served for some years as township trustee, 
and was a man of great industry and energy. 
Mr. and Mrs. Schoch settled, after marriage, 
in Little York, where they have since lived. 
They have one daughter living — Avis Maude. 
In politics Mr. Schoch is a republican, and is 
a member of Royal Dunham post. No. 177, 
G. A. R., at Bedford. Mr. Schoch has always 
been an industrious and respected citizen and 
was a brave and gallant soldier. 



>^ACOB P. SHOEMAKER, a retired 

M farmer of Bath township, Summit coun- 

A 1 ty, Ohio, and one of its most respected 

citizens, was born in Jackson township, 

Stark county, April 3, 1832. 



896 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



John Shoemaker, father of subject, was a 
native of Maryland, was born October 20, 
1799, and was a son of Henry Shoemaker, a 
native of the same state, who came to Ohio in 
1 8 1 2 and settled in Stark county. There John 
Shoemaker was reared to manhood, and No- 
vember 20, 1823, was married to Ann Brels- 
ford, who was born in Henrico county, Va., 
in 1799, a daughter of Barney and Naomi 
Brelsford. John Shoemaker, after marriage, 
continued his vocation of farmer in Stark 
county until 1834, when he sold his farm and 
came to Bath township, Summit county, and 
bought the farm on which Jacob P., the sub- 
ject of this article, now makes his home, and 
which he owns. John cleared up this land 
and erected a log cabin, in which he reared 
his family, advanced his fortunes, and died 
January 24, 1867, in comfortable circum- 
stances, a member of the Disciples' church. 
He was a generous, public-spirited citizen, a 
democrat in politics, and greatly respected by 
his neighbors and the community at large. 
His widow died August 11. 1873, equally re- 
spected with her husband. The six children 
constituting the family of John Shoemaker and 
wife were born and named in the following 
order: Henry H., December 20, 1824, and 
now a farmer in Kansas; Mahala, January 16, 

1829, who was married to Jacob Peach, of 
Bath township. Summit county, Ohio, and died 
December 23, 1863; Rachel J., August 4, 

1830. now the wife of George Kunkle, of Will- 
iams county, Ohio; Jacob P., the subject of 
this biography; Enoch J., born July 3, 1836, 
died July 10, 1837; Lavina A., born July i, 
1838, is the wife of Benjamin Hartman, of 
Williams county, Ohio. 

Jacob P. Shoemaker, the subject, married, 
October 7, 1858, Miss Eleanor J. Harris, who 
was born in Wayne county, March 23, 1837, 
where her marriage took place. This lady is 
a daughter of Aaron and Eleanor (White) 



Harris, of whom a detailed record is made in 
the biography of Vincent G. Harris, on another 
page. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Shoe- 
maker has been blessed with one child, Eben, 
who was born February 8, 1874, and married, 
October 29, 1895, Miss Lillian Miller, a na- 
tive of Bath township and a daughter of Mil- 
ton and Abbie (Hackett) Miller — Mr. Miller 
being a prominent and successful farmer of the 
township. Eben Shoemaker is now managing 
the old homestead, which his father had set- 
tled on years ago, and occupies the original 
dwelling. Jacob P. Shoemaker and wife re- 
side in a fine new house, built for their own 
use, and are passing awaj' the later years of 
their well-spent life in ease and comfort. The 
farm comprises 123 acres of well-cultivated 
land, and presents as fine an appearance as 
any farm of its size in Bath township. In 
politics Mr. Shoemaker is a democrat and has 
ever been forward in aiding the progress of his 
township and county, and enjoys the respect 
of all who know him. Mrs. Shoemaker is a 
pious member of the Evangelical church and 
is by all her neighbors esteemed as a good, 
charitable and christian member of society, 
while Eben and bis wife also come in for a full 
share of public esteem. 



aHARLES SKINNER, a respected 
farmer of Richfield township. Summit 
county, Ohio, and an ex-soldier, de- 
scends from colonial families of Mas- 
sachusetts and Vermont, and was born in 
Northfield, Ohio, September 3, 1842, a son of 
William and Diana (Lilly) Skinner. 

William Skinner was born near Boston. 
Mass., and was first married there, to which 
marriage were born one son and two daugh- 
ters. Mrs. Skinner died in the old Bay state, 
and subsequently Mr. Skinner came to Ohio, 
but left his children behind. He purchased a 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



897 



farm in Northfield township, Summit county, 
and Fiere married Miss Diana Lilly, and to this 
union were born Charles and John. Mr. 
Skinner lived to be si.\ty-seven years old, and 
died on his farm, fully possessed of the respect 
of all his neighbors. 

Charles Skinner received a good common- 
school education in his native village, and was 
reared on his father's farm. August 2, 1862, 
he enlisted, at Northfield, in company C, One 
Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infan- 
try, to serve three years, if not sooner dis- 
charged on account of the cessation of hostil- 
ities, and for this reason was honorably dis- 
charged at Murfreesboro, Tenn., in July, 1865, 
and was mustered at Cleveland, Ohio, with 
the rank of corporal, having been promoted 
for meritorious conduct, and having served to 
within a few days of three years. 

The military service rendered by Mr. Skin- 
ner was in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and 
Mississippi, and at one time was detailed for 
one year, with others of his regiment, to hunt 
guerrillas. He was in many severe skirmishes 
with Wheeler's famous cavalry at Murfrees- 
boro, Lavergn and elsewhere, and with For- 
rest, in Tennessee, and in pursuit of the 
pursuit of the notorious John Morgan and his 
raiders through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, 
capturing some of his men almost daily, and 
on the morning of Morgan's surrender cap- 
tured 300. Within nine months Mr. Skinner's 
detachment captured about 1,300 of these 
guerrillas — very dangerous and fatiguing work. 
He was himself once captured, but escaped 
the same night, which was very fortunate for 
him, as capture by these irregular troops 
meant, almost to a certainty, sure death. One 
of the most important events that happened to 
this detachment was the capture of Guerrilla 
Job, who had for years been a terror to the 
country, and who never gave quarter to his 
captives. A squad of twenty men, of whom 

38 



Mr. Skinner was one, had pursued him several 
days, and finally caught him asleep in the 
woods, his hiding place being pointed out by 
an old negro. When given his choice as to 
whether he should be hanged or shot, he was 
perfectly indifferent, and he was finally shot 
in the back by two soldiers, as the most mer- 
ciful way of ending his existence. The Con- 
federate general, Joe Wheeler, the cavalry- 
man, offered a reward of $10,060 for the 
executors of Job, and swore that he would 
remain in Tennessee until they were cap- 
tured, but the diminutive general was forced 
out of the state at a more rapid gait than he 
had entered it. Mr. Skinner was in all the 
marches and engagements in which his regi- 
ment took part, and was a brave and eflcient 
soldier, who was never wounded nor a pris- 
oner for more than one day, as has already 
been mentioned, but suffered, at one time, 
from a severe attack of chronic diarrhea, and 
was given a sick furlough home for thirty days, 
but was confined to his bed for four months. 
After the war Mr. Skinner returned to 
Northfield and married Miss Martha Irwin, 
who was born in Perrysburg, Ohio, in August, 
1847, a daughter of William and Hermie (Wil- 
cox) Irwin. Mr. Irwin was the first marshal 
of the city of Cle\'eland, but removed to Per- 
rysburg, where he died of cholera in middle 
life, with two of his children, and leaving two, 
who yet survive — Julia and Martha. After 
marriage, Mr. Skinner engaged in farm work 
in several townships until [889, when he pur- 
chased his present farm of thirty-six acres in 
Boston township, which he has converted into 
a most pleasant home, and he also rents 100 
acres adjoining, being a practical farmer and 
an energetic and honest man. There have 
been born to his marriage three children — Jo- 
sephine, died aged eleven years, Sumner and 
Hulda. In politics Mr. Skinner is a republican 
and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham 



898 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Lincoln. He is a member of George L. Water- 
man post, G. A. R., No. 272, in which he has 
held the office of senior vice-commander and 
most of the other offices, and no man in the 
township is better known or more sincerely re- 
spected than Corporal Charles Skinner. 



HUGUSTUS P. SHUMAN, of the firm 
of Mendenhall & Shuman, well known 
furniture dealers and funeral directors 
of Atwater, was born in Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, August I 5, 1 87 1, and is a son of John 
P. and Mary (Amick) Shuman, natives of Ger- 
many. 

In 1850, the parents of subject came to 
America and for a number of years lived in 
Rootstown, Portage county, Ohio, but finally 
moved to Randolph, in the same county, where 
the father carried on shoemaking, served as 
postmaster three years, filled the offices of town- 
ship treasurer and township trustee, and was 
also treasurer of the Randolph Mutual Fire In- 
surance company, but is now living on his farm 
of fifty acres in the neighborhood of the town. 
To their marriage were born live children, viz: 
Frank, Lewis, Augustus P. , Charles (deceased) 
and Curtis. 

Augustus P. Shuman was educated in the 
common and high schools of Randolph, then 
clerked in the dry-goods store of C. Elletts, of 
the same place, and later, in Atwater, clerked 
for a Mr. Jackson and E. S. Goodman until 
1893, when he formed a partnership with W. 
T. Mendenhall under the present firm-style. 
This firm carry a large stock of household fur- 
niture, carpets, crockery, etc., and also con- 
duct an undertaking business, and in both 
branches their transactions take the lead in the 
township. 

The marriage of Mr. Shuman took place 
December 25, 1893, to Miss Lavinia Keller, 
who was born in Randolph, Ohio, November 



22, 1873, a daughter of John and Susan Kel- 
ler, old-time residents of Portage county. In 
his fraternal relations, Mr. Shuman is a mem- 
ber of Atwater lodge, No. 649, Knights of Py- 
thias, of which he is the present vice-chancel- 
lor, and in which he has also filled the offices 
of outer-guard, master-at-arms and prelate. 
In politics he is a repubhcan, and during the 
presidential campaign of 1896 was president 
of the Atwater McKinley club. Although not 
identified with any religious organization, Mr. 
Shuman is a strictly moral man, and is greatly 
respected for his business integrity and his use- 
fulness as a citizen, as well as for his genial 
disposition and other praiseworthy attributes. 



>T^OHN B. SILVER, one of the mostsuc- 
M cessful agriculturists of Deerfield town- 
m J ship, Portage county, was born in 
Sandy township, Stark county, Ohio, 
December 18, 1851, a son of Alpheus and 
Catherine (Binkley) Silver. 

David Silver, paternal grandfather of John 
B., was a native of England, came to Ohio 
early in life, located in Stark county, where he 
followed farming all his life, and reared a fam- 
ily of eight children, viz : Martha, Ezekiel, 
Polly, John, Sarah, Arthur, David and Al- 
pheus. Felix Binkley, maternal grandfather 
of subject, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., 
was a farmer and married Catherine Graybill, 
and to this marriage there were born seven 
children, named as follows : Leah, Fannie, 
Felix, Graybill, Abraham, Catherine (Mrs. 
Silver) and John. 

Alpheus Silver, father of John B., was a 
native of Stark county, Ohio, where he was 
engaged in farming all his life, with the excep- 
tion of about twelve years, during two years 
of which he served as justice of the peace, and 
for ten years was in the loan business. To 
his marriage with Miss Catherine Binkley, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



899 



who was a native of Lancaster county, Pa., 
were born the following named children : 
Sarah, widow of Philip Van Voorhis; John B., 
the subject of this notice; Martha, deceased 
wife of James Faulk, and David, who died 
January 15, 1885, at the age of forty-four 
years. Alpheus Silver died September 4, 
1885, at the age of sixty-eight years, and Mrs. 
Catherine Silver was called away July 8, 1887, 
aged sixty-nine years, both dying in the faith 
of the Methodist church. 

John B. Silver was reared to farming, and 
at the early age of thirteen years united with 
a brother-in-law in working the home place, 
his father granting them a share of the pro- 
ceeds. He attended school until seventeen 
years old, when not actively employed on the 
farm, and October 18, 1871, was first married, 
in Belleville, 111., to Miss Anna Bair, daughter 
of Jesse and Anna Eliza (Bonfield) Bair, and 
to this union were born four children, viz : 
Jesse F., August 8, 1872; James A., July 19, 
1874; Ada H. and Homer T. 

Of these children Jesse F. was educated in 
the common schools and at Mount Union col- 
lege, and in 1892 began teaching school; he 
taught two successive terms, then for a year 
sold books, and, in 1895, entered the ministry. 
He preached for a short time in New Castle, 
Pa. , then went to Blairsville, in the same 
state, where he filled the pulpit until the fall 
of 1895, when he was assigned to a charge in 
Indiana county, where he preached two years. 
In October, 1897, he was ordained and as- 
signed to Greensburg, Pa. , and was there mar- 
ried to Miss Maggie George. James A. Silver 
was also educated in the common schools and 
at Mount Union college, attending the latter 
about three years, and since 1893 has been en- 
gaged in school-teaching. The mother of the 
above family passed from earth June 4, 1881, 
at the early age of thirty-one years, and July 
I, 1883, Mr. Silver married Miss Calista Kim- 



mel, daughter of Henry and Caroline (Wheed- 
ling) Kimmel, and this marriage has been 
blessed with three children — Henry M., Edwin 
R. and Rena. To the parents of Mrs. Anna 
Silver were born four children, viz: James, 
who is still living; Martin, a soldier, perished 
in the wreck of the steamer Sultana, in 1864, 
a; the age of thirty-three years; Victoria, who 
was married to John Votaw, and died the 
mother of seven children. Mrs". Anna Silver, 
after the death of her mother, was reared to 
womanhood by John and Sarah Greves, of 
Osnaburg township. Stark county, Ohio, with 
whom she remained until the winter of 1870. 
The following spring she went to Belleville, 
III., where her father resided, and there lived 
until married to Mr. Silver. After this event, 
Mr. and Mrs. Silver returned to Ohio, re- 
mained here until 1873, then went to Mont- 
gomery county, Kans. , intending to settle, but, 
disliking the country, returned to Belleville, 
III, where they lived until 1874, when they 
came back to Ohio, where Mr. Silver pur- 
chased his father's farm in Stark county, on 
which they lived until they came to Deerfield 
township, Portage county. 

The parents of the present Mrs. Silver, 
Henry and Caroline Kimmel, were both born 
in Stark county, Ohio, the father, August 7, 
1826, and the mother, November 22, 1833, 
and were married December 4, 1852, the 
union resulting in the birth of three children — 
John, Mrs. Silver and Addis. The parents 
are members of the Lutheran church, in which 
Mr. Kimmel has served as a deacon for many 
years, and he has also served as township 
trustee. David, the paternal grandfather of 
Mrs. Silver, was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
a pioneer of Stark county, Ohio, where he 
married Susan Welker, who bore him six chil- 
dren, all still living, viz: Joseph; Nancy, wife 
of John Sickafoos; Henry; Michael; Susan, 
widow of Samuel Lutz, and Lydia, married to 



900 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



William Howenstine. The grandfather died 
in 1857, at the age of ninety-one years, in the 
faith of the Methodist church. The maternal 
grandparents of Mrs. Silver were natives of 
Alsace, German)', and were also early settlers 
in Stark county, Ohio. The grandfather had 
been a merchant until twenty-two years of age, 
and then began farming, a vocation he fol- 
lowed as long as he was able to work. To his 
marriage were born five children, three of 
whom still survive, viz: Caroline, Lewis 
and William; John died in the army, and 
Samuel died in civil life, at the age of forty- 
two years, and his wife in 1885, at seventy- 
five years of age, both in Stark county, and 
both in the faith of the Lutheran church. 

John B. Silver followed farming in Stark 
county until 1884, when became to Deerfield, 
Portage county, and purchased one of the 
finest farms in the township. He has served as 
supervisor and school director, and he and wife 
are devoted members of the Reformed Lutheran 
church, of which Mr. Silver has long been a 
trustee, and, for one year, superintendent of 
the Sunday-school. The family are all highly 
esteeemed in the community, and Mr. Silver 
has won many warm friends through his per- 
sonal merits. 



KARVEY D. SMALLEY, justice of the 
peace and retired school-teacher of 
Atwater, Portage county, Ohio, was 
born in Monroe county, N. Y., De- 
cember 25, 1825, a son of Donald and Betsey 
(Frost) Smalley. 

Donald Smalley was born April 3, 1782, in 
Randolph, Vt.. went to New York state when 
a young man, and in 181 3 married, in Monroe 
county, Betsey Frost, who was born in Berk- 
shire, Mass., in 1792. In 1836 Mr. Smalley 
came to Ohio, and bought a farm of 130 acres 
one and one-half miles south of Randolph 



Center, Portage county. There were born to 
him three children, viz: J. F., who died in 
1853; E. J., who is president of the Smalley 
Manufacturing company, of Manitowoc, Mich., 
and H. D., our subject. The mother of these 
children died in March, 1846, and the father 
returned to New York state, where here-mar- 
ried, but died on his Ohio farm in December, 
1859, an honored man. 

Harvej- D. Smalley was eleven years of 
age when brought to Ohio by his parents. He 
was educated in the common schools of Port- 
age county, and for two terms attended Lin- 
nean academy. In 1 843, at the age of eighteen 
years, he taught his first school, known as the 
Marshall district school, in Randolph — at 
$12 per month of twenty-four days: in 1850 
he went to Sheboygan, Wis., taught during 
the summer terms, then returned to Ohio and 
taught in Stark county — including the public 
schools of Alliance for three years — and in 1 860 
opened a private school in Randolph; in 1862 
he was appointed superintendent of the Marl- 
boro union school, which position he held until 
the spring of 1864, when he enlisted in com- 
pany H, One Hundred and Sixty-second Ohio 
volunteer infantry, served in Kentucky until 
the expiration of his term of enlistment — 100 
days — and was mustered out at Camp Chase, 
Ohio, with the rank of orderly sergeant. 

On his return to Randolph, Mr. Smalley 
opened his second private school; in 1866 he 
passed six months in Youngstown as editor of 
Mahoning Register, the editor proper, E. V. 
Smalley, being then in Washington, D. C. 
In 1876, the subject, H. D. Smalley, relin- 
quished his vocation of teacher and purchased 
a farm of twenty-eight acres, on which he re- 
sided until the spring of 1893, when he re- 
moved to Atwater, where he purchased his 
present dwelling. As a republican, Mr. Smal- 
ley filled the offices of township trustee and 
township clerk while in Randolph, and after 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



901 



settling in Atwater was elected, in the spring 
of 1894, justice of the peace — an office he still 
conscientiously and satisfactorily exercises. 

March 26, 1846, Mr. Snialley was joined 
in wedlock with Miss Sophronia Cleverly, 
daughter of John and Minerva (Matton) Clev- 
erly, of Atwater, where Mrs. Smalley was born 
December 26, 1825. Her father, John Clev- 
erly, was a native of Connecticut, born Feb- 
ruary 14, 1800, and died in Atwater, Ohio, in 
1886. To Mr. and Mrs. Smalley no children 
have been born. They are members of the 
Disciples' church of Randolph, of which Mr. 
Smalley is an elder, and has been secretary 
and treasurer for a year, and superintendent of 
Sunday-school live or si.x years. Mr. Smalley 
is a member of Hanford post. No. 647, G. A. R. , 
of Randolph, and his social relations are ele- 
vated, refined and enjoyable, he and wife min- 
gling in the best circles of Atwater township. 



eNOS CARLOMAN SMITH, president 
of the First National bank and the 
oldest merchant in Garrettsville, Port- 
age county, Ohio, and one of the sub- 
stantial and most highly respected citizens of 
the county, was born in Hart's Grove. Ashta- 
bula county, October 19, 1829, and is a son of 
Norman and Sallie M. (Hickok) Smith. The 
father, who was of Scotch extraction, was 
born in Sherburne, V't. , in 1801, and came to 
Ohio in 18 18; the mother was born in New 
York state, and came to Ohio in 1820, and 
were married in Ashtabula county. Soon 
after the birth of subject, the family removed 
to Parkman township, Geauga county, where 
Enos C. passed his boyhood and youth, receiv- 
ing such school advantages as were afforded by 
the district school and township academy; 
when not attending school, he assisted in till- 
ing the home farm. 

At the age of twenty he tried teaching 



school, for which he received $17 per month, 
and boarded with patrons of the school. His 
father died about this time (1849), and, Enos 
being the eldest of the children, the care of 
the family, to a certain extent, devolved upon 
him. For a time he worked on the farm, then 
clerked in a drug store. Gold having been 
discovered in California, he, like many others, 
concluded to go there and seek a fortune. He 
was without money, but he borrowed $350 and 
in December, 1851, left home. The journey 
was made via New York city and the isthmus 
of Panama, and on May 25, 1852, he reached 
San Francisco, having had a quick voyage. 
He soon was engaged in mining, but when 
winter came on, the snow was too deep to fol- 
low that pursuit, and so returned to San Fran- 
cisco, and through the exercise of considerable 
pluck secured the position of steward on the 
steamer Golden Gate, which plied between 
San Francisco and Panama. He subsequently 
filed a claim, paying $1,450, and one year 
later sold out for $2, 700. The same tract now 
furnishes the water supply for the city of Oak- 
land. Mr. Smith remained in California about 
five years, and on his return to Ohio, in Au- 
gust', 1857, he formed a partnership with A. A. 
Barber, and under the firm name of Barber & 
Smith succeeded Dr. O. Manley in the hard- 
ware trade in Garrettsville. This firm con- 
tinued until 1886, when C. C. Payne assumed 
Mr. Barber's interests, and the firm became 
Smith & Payne, which style continued six 
years, when Mr. Smith became sole proprietor. 
Mr. Smith early became identified with the 
financial interests of Portage county, and as 
far back as 1870 subscribed to the stock of the 
Farmer's Savings & Loan association, which 
was incorporated under the state law in 1871, 
with R. M. Hauk as president, Mr. Smith as 
vice-president, and James Norton as cashier. 
In 1872 this association was merged into the 
First National bank, No. 2034, at Garrettsville. 



902 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



with a capital stock of $60,000, which was in- 
creased to $100,000 in 1874, and in 1880 re- 
duced to $80,000, its present capital. Of this 
bank Mr. Smith has been president since 1893, 
and still holds that honorable position. 

To the parents of Mr. Smith were born 
seven children, \\z: Enos C, our subject; 
Marsh H., a physician of Manchester, 111.; 
Ma lie Louise, who was first married to Edwin 
Moore and ne.xt to Harrison C. Crawford, and 
died in Garrettsville; Ellen J., wife of C. S. 
Bates, cabinet-maker at Clinton, Iowa; Mary 
Ann, widow of a Mr. Guthrie, of Raymond, 
111., George D., of Garrettsville, and Sarah, 
married to Jeffrey McConnell, of Manchester, 
Ohio. 

August 27, 1857, Enos C. Smith married 
Marion B. McClintock, who was born July 
4, 1829. in Trumbull county, Ohio, a daughter 
of William and Chloe (Ferry) McClintock, the 
former of whom was born in Whitehall, N. Y. , 
in 1793, and the latter in Brookfield, Orange 
county, Vt. , in 1 798. Mr. and Mrs. McClin- 
tock came to Ohio in 1832 and settled in Gar- 
rettsville, where Mr. McClintock died August 
7, 1873, and his wife June 17, 1878, both in 
the faith of the Baptist church. No children 
have blessed the marriage of Mr. Smith and 
his wife. 

In politics Mr. Smith has always been a 
free-soiler or republican, and cast his first pres- 
idential ballot for John C. Fremont. He as 
sisted in organizing the first election board at 
Hesse's Crossing, Cal., and later seven times 
assisted in nominating James A. Garfield for 
congress, and was once himself candidate for 
the state legislature before the republican con- 
vention. He has served as mayor of Garretts- 
ville and as councilman, and has filled every 
trust with fidelity and ability. Fraternally he 
is a knight templar Mason, and with his wife 
is a member of the Eastern Star branch, and 
is also a member of the I. O. O. F. He en- 



joys the unbounded confidence of his fellow- 
citizens, and no one is more highly esteemed. 

George D. Smith, younger brother of Enos 
C. Smith, was born in \\'ooster, Ohio, January 
28, 1843. He was educated in a common 
school and lived on the home farm until four- 
teen years old, then went to Manchester, 111., 
and further attended school until the outbreak 
of the late Civil war. In May, 1861, he en- 
listed in company F. Fourteenth Illinois vol- 
unteer infantry, and saw his first service in 
Missouri, under Gen. John C. Fremont; he 
later participated at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
Farmington, Hatchie, Black River, siege of 
Vicksburg, in man)- skirmishes, receiving at 
different times wounds in the hands and head, 
which, though not serious, were rather "close 
calls. " For nine months during his service he 
had charge of the body guard of Gen. Crocker, 
and was finally discharged at Springfield, 111., 
in July, 1864, as a non-commissioned officer. 

After returning from the war, Mr. Smith 
married, in 1866, in Garrettsville, Ohio, Miss 
Emma A. Daniels, a native of Freedom town- 
ship, and a daughter of Norton J. and Marj' 
A. (Wight) Daniels, the father a carpenter by 
trade. For three years after marriage Mr. 
Smith lived in Manchester. 111., engaged in the 
stove and tinware trade, then returned to Gar- 
rettsville, where, since 1872, he has been en- 
gaged with his brother, Enos C, in the hard- 
ware trade. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have 
been born one daughter, Ethel, wife of C. O. 
Judd, of Garrettsville. 

In politics Mr. Smith is a strong republican, 
and under Harrison's administration was post- 
master of Garrettsville; he has also served as 
councilman and as treasurer of the board of 
education. Fraternally he was made a Mason 
in 1865, is past master of Garrettsville lodge, 
No. 246, and is high priest of Silver Creek 
chapter. No. 144, R. A. M. He is also a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R. In religion, he and wife 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



903 



are members of the Congregational church, 
of which he is a deacon. He has built a pleas- 
ant dwelling on Smith street, were he and wife 
enjoy every social refinement and the esteem 
and respect of their neighbors. 



* w ^ ON. IRA P. SPERRY, of Tallmadge, 
■''^m Ohio, and one of its representative 
M r and prominent citizens, descends from 
a long line of English Puritan ances- 
try, who were among the founders of the Con- 
necticut colony. 

Richard Sperry, who settled in New 
Haven, Conn., about 1640. was the sturdy 
Puritan who furnished aid, comfort and lodg- 
ing to the judges who condemmed King 
Charles to death, during the reign of Crom- 
well. His children were John, Mary, Rich- 
ard, Jr., Hester, Nathaniel, Thomas, Ebe- 
nezer, Daniel and Joseph. Richard Sperry 
was a Welshman, but his wife was an English 
lady. President Stiles, in his History of the 
Regicides, gives a very glowing account of the 
character, abilit}' and shrewdness of Richard 
Sperry, and his descendants have good cause 
to congratulate themselves on being members 
of the Sperry family. 

Ira P. Sperry the subject of this biography, 
is a son of Lyman and Lydia (Peck) Sperry. 
Lyman Sperry was born in Connecticut at 
Woodbury, and married there, the first time, 
Deborah Newton, also born in Connecticut, 
and by her he was the father of Asmodeus N., 
Mary Amonds,Phebe and Adna. Delorah died, 
and he married Lydia Peck, and their chil- 
dren were Lyman, Lydia, Elizabeth, Levinus, 
Lewis, Ira P., Samuel, Ebenezer and Dr. 
Willis. 

Lyman Sperry moved with his family to 
Ohio in 18 19, making the journey with horses 
and ox-teams — quite a party coming together. 
Mr. Sperry settled on the north line of Tall- 



madge township, a little east of Monroe Falls, 
and here bought a lot of 160 acres, which he 
cleared from the woods, aided by his sons. He 
and wife were both members of the Congrega- 
tional church. His first wife died in Con- 
necticut and he came to Ohio with his second 
wife and six of her children; three others were 
born in Ohio — Samuel, Ebenezer and Willis. 
He was a straightforward and respected pio- 
neer of Tallmadge township, was well known 
for his integrity of character, and in politics 
was a whig. 

Ira P. Sperry was born November 24, 
18 1 7, at Waterbury, Conn., and was brought 
when an infant by his parents, in 18 19, to 
Tallmadge. He received a common-school 
education, and attended an academy a 
Cuyahoga Falls, learned when young the 
blacksmith trade and carriage business, and 
engaged in the manufacture of carriages, under 
the firm name of Oviatt & Sperry, and carried 
on an extensive business, the firm keeping a 
depository of carriages in Cincinnati for four- 
teen years. After this, Mr. Sperry engaged 
in the sewer pipe business for twenty years, 
the firm being changed several times, and do- 
ing. a successful business. In 1850 he crossed 
the plains to Colorado, being ninety days on 
the way, and remained one year in the gold 
mines, meeting with gratifying success. Mr. 
Sperry has, throughout his career, been one 
of the most enterprising business men of Sum- 
mit county. His carriage manufactory for 
many years was the most extensive in the west- 
ern country, and added greatly to the pros- 
perity of the county — -the firm of Oviatt & 
Sperry continuing for nearly a quarter of a 
century. In addition to supplying a consider- 
able portion of northern Ohio with fine car- 
riages, from $20,000 to $25,000 worth of fine 
carriages were yearly sold at their depository 
in Cincinnati. In 1850, with his brother. Dr. 
Willis Sperry, and Samuel J. Ritchie, he es- 



^4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



tablished extensive sewer-pipe works in Tall- 
madge, which in connection with his son, 
George P. Sperry, was successfully conducted 
for about twenty years, or until the death of 
George P. Sperry, November 17, 1892, at 
which time the father retired from business on 
a competence. 

Mr. Sperry was one of the original aboli- 
tionists of Tallmadge township and liberally 
assisted this cause with his means; he was also 
one of the original republicans of Summit 
county in the state legislature, having been 
elected in 1858 oh the republican ticket and 
serving only two years. 

September 27, 1841, Mr. Sperry married 
Miss Clarissa Carlton, of Portage county, a 
daughter of Peter and Clarissa (Ladd) Carlton. 
Their children were Willis C, born December 
12, 1847. rio^^' -^ practicing physician; Charles 
O., who died in infancy; Mary A., who was 
born July 30, 1853, and died in Oberlin, Ohio, 
October 17, 1870, aged seventeen 3'ears; 
George P., born September 30, 1858, was a 
sewer pipe manufacturer of Tallmadge; Fran- 
cis L., born October 22, 1861, is a chemist, 
and Henry B. , who was formerly secretary 
and treasurer for the Sewer Pipe company at 
Huntington, Pa. Mrs. Sperry was a devout 
member of the Congregational church and 
died May 31, 1897, aged nearly seventy-seven 
■years, a woman of many virtues and highly 
esteemed in the community. 

It is related of this branch of the Sperry 
family that when the regicides, Gough and 
Whaley, were in hiding on the Sperry farm, 
that a maternal grandmother, who was also a 
Miss Sperry, carried food to them when she 
was a young girl. It is also stated that the 
Sperry family came from England with the 
Deavenport colony. 

Ira P. Sperry is a member of the Congre- 
gational church, a man of great energy and 
integrity of character and a practical and suc- 



cessful business man. He is a fine specimen 
of the pioneer and splendidly preserved at the 
age of eighty years. 

Dr. Willis Sperry, brother of Ira P. Sperry, 
is one of the prominent physicians and hon- 
ored citizens of Summit county, Ohio. The 
doctor was born July 14, 1823, on the Sperry 
homestead near the north line of Tallmadge 
township. He received his early education at 
Twinsburg, Ohio, and attended the Cleveland 
medical college during the winter of 1850- 
185 1, and immediately thereafter began the 
practice of medicine at Peoria, 111. ; the next 
year, 1852, he went to California via the isth- 
mus of Panama, practiced medicine ten years 
in Tuolumne county, and witnessed the early 
scenes in the palmy days of gold mining. In 
1862 he returned to Tallmadge, and here has 
very successfully practiced medicine since. 
He has accumulated a valuable library during 
his long medical practice and is a patron of 
the leading medical reviews, both foreign and 
American. 

Fraternally, the doctor is a member of the 
Northeastern Ohio Medical association, and 
also of lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., Akron, Ohio. 
In politics he has been a republican ever since 
the organization of the party, and in religion 
a member of the Congregational church. The 
doctor was married May 27, 1855, in Sonora 
county, Cal., by the Rev. John Henry Brodt, 
to Hulda E. Carlton, who was born November 
23, 1833, in Mantua township, Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, a daughter of Peter and Clarissa 
(Ladd) Carlton. Peter Carlton was of En- 
glish ancestry and came from Connecticut. 
His wife was from Massachusetts and both 
families were of old colonial stock. Dr. Sperry 
and wife were the parents of Willis P., born 
September 23, 1856, and Emily Carlton, born 
October 25, 1859, both in California; Erasmus 
Darwin, born January 5, 1864; Rosaline Ladd, 
born February 10, 1867; Mary Amelia, born 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



905 



July 27, 1 87 1, all three in Tallmadge, the last 
named dying May 27, 1882. Mrs. Willis 
Sperry died April 18, 1896, and he ne.xt mar- 
ried, November 3, of the same year, Mrs. H. 
A. Sackett, nee Mabel Fenn, daughter of 
Willis Fenn. Dr. Sperry has one of the most 
attractive homes in Tallmadge. He is a gen- 
tleman of wide culture and is most favorably 
known throughout the county both as a scholar 
and a physician. 



>»j*AMES B. STAUFFER, the enterpris- 
M ing dairyman of Richfield township, 
A 1 Summit county, Ohio, was born in 
Salem, Columbiana county, October 9, 
1847, a son of Abraham and Mary (Estry) 
Stauffer. The former was also a native of Co- 
lumbiana county, born September 12, 181 5, 
of German descent, married June 7, 1838, 
and died April 30, 1878. Mrs. Mary (Estry) 
Stauffer, also of German extraction, was born 
in Huntingdon county. Pa., October 16, 1820, 
and died in Columbiana county, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 27, 1894. The children of these parents 
were ail born in Columbiana county, in the 
order here given: William H., March 9, 1840; 
Elizabeth M.. June 22, 1844; James B., the 
subject; Celestia A., July 7, 1851; Sophia, De- 
cember 23, 1853 — died in California June 29, 
1 891; Cary H., October 8, 1856; Laura F. , 
April 25, 1859; and Mary A., December 7, 
1861. 

James B. Stauffer remained with his par- 
ents until eighteen years of age, and then be- 
gan business for himself by renting a coal 
bank, from which he mined and sold the min- 
eral, making a success of his undertaking. 
January i, 1867, he married Miss Sarah A. 
Buzby, who was born January 27, 1848, a 
daughter of Eleazer and Nancy (Grimes) Buz- 
by, natives, respectfully, of New Jersey and 
Ohio. Mr. Buzby was a Quaker and school- 



teacher, and to his marriage with Miss Grimes 
were born three children, viz : Daniel (de- 
ceased), William E. and Sarah A. (Mrs. Stauf- 
fer). Mr. Buzby died, and his widow married, 
for her second husband, J. B. English, a 
school-teacher of Mount Union, Stark county, 
Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. English are Methodists, 
and fraternally Mr. English is a Freemason. 

Mr. Stauffer continued his coal operations 
for two years and then bought a saw-mill, 
which, in conjunction with the lumber trade, 
he operated until 1884, when he went to 
Campbellsvilie, Ky. , and was there engaged 
in the lumber business until 1892, when here- 
turned to Ohio and bought a farm of 168 acres 
in Richfield township. Summit county, on 
which he erected new buildings; he next 
bought seventy-two additional acres, and, later, 
266 acres in the same township, and engaged 
in farming until April i, 1897, when he rented 
out his land and engaged in the creamery busi- 
ness at Peninsula and West Richfield, Summit 
county. The Peninsula plant will be the larg- 
est of its kind in the state, with a daily capac- 
ity of 20,000 pounds of milk, and will be 
equipped with the latest improved machinery. 
Mr. Stauffer is a capable business man, has 
been very suscessful in his undertakings, and 
it is plain that his creameries are destined to 
take rank among the leading industries of Sum- 
mit county. He is generous of disposition 
and public spirited, being always ready to pro- 
mote all worthy public enterprises. He is 
prominent as a Mason, and is an active mem- 
ber of Pitman lodge. No. 224, in that order. 
To his happy marriage there have been born 
six children, viz: Delorma, Effie, Abraham, 
Josephine, Mary and Luster, each of whom 
has received an excellent education. The 
family stand high socially, and the people of 
Richfield may be congratulated upon the fact 
that Mr. Stauffer has made his permanent 
home in the township. 



906 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



OMAR C. STOCKING, of Hiram, Port- 
age county, Ohio, was born October 
14, 1828, in Waterbury, Conn., and 
is a son of Anson and Flora (Coe) 
Stocking. When five years old his parents 
settled on a farm in Litchfield county, Conn., 
and he here remained until he was about 
seventeen years of age. He early learned the 
trade of a painter, and when he was twenty he 
became a worker in brass, and in the manu- 
facture of locks, in the works of the Russell & 
Irwin manufacturing company, of New Britain, 
Conn. He married, in Torrington, Litchfield 
county. Conn., Louisa M. Pierce, returned to 
New Britain and then to Torrington, about 
1855, and worked on trunk locks, and after- 
ward worked in a melodeon manufactory for 
some years. He then went to Ansonia, Conn. , 
and worked at brass work on kerosene lamps. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Stocking were born Edwin 
C. and Albert P. 

Mr. Stocking enlisted at Ansonia, Conn., 
August 4, 1862, in Capt. Sanford H. Chaffie's 
company B, Twentieth regiment, Connecticut 
volunteer infantry, to serve three years, or 
during the war, and was honorably discharged 
near Washington, D. C. , at the end of his 
service, June 13, 1865, and was mustered out 
at New Haven, Conn. He was promoted, for 
meritorious conduct, to be corporal, from May 
S, 1864, having previously acted as corporal 
for nearly one year. He was in the battles of 
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Lookout Mount- 
ain, Tracy City, Tenn. , and Boyd's Trail, 
and was on the famous Atlanta campaign. 
He was in the battles of Resaca, Buzzard's 
Roost, Tunnel Hill, Rocky Faced Ridge, 
Snake Creek Gap, Peach Tree Creek, Turner 
Ferry, siege and general assault on Atlanta, 
and was one of the first men to enter that city 
after its fall, he being on a reconnoitering ex- 
pedition, and fired at one of Wheeler's cavalry- 
men, engaged, with others, in the destruction 



of a drug store, and slightly injured him, as he 
rode off. The Confederate cavalrymen broke 
and destroyed everything they could find, 
but iled mostly on the entrance of the Union 
troops. He was then on Sherman's cele- 
brated march to the sea, and was in the 
battles of Savannah, Charleston, Silver Run, 
Averysborough and Bentonville, and was in 
many skirmishes, too numerous to mention, 
especially in the Kenesaw mountains. Mr. 
Stocking also was present and took part in the 
grand review at Washington, D. C. He 
thinks that he saw the hardest service in the 
Gettysburg campaign, when he marched with 
his company from Dumfries, Va. , thirty-five 
miles south of Fairfax Court House, making 
this march during a hot dry day in June, from 
3 A. M. to 9 P. M., and thence to the battle 
field — twenty-four days on this forced march, 
and suffering greatly from rain, mud and hot 
weather. At night the tired soldier slept on 
his arms, with no shelter except a rubber 
blanket. He was in the battle of Gettysburg 
forty-eight hours, and kept his knapsack on 
his back all the time. He had nothing to eat 
except a little raw pork and hard tack. Mr. 
Stocking was not wounded but was struck with 
several spent balls, and at Chancellorsville one 
ball struck his knapsack and passed through 
the folds of his blanket, which saved his life. 
He was a good soldier and served his country 
faithfully. He is now much disabled from the 
exposure of sleeping on the ground, and is a 
sufferer from rheumatism. Mr. Stocking re- 
turned to Ansonia, Conn., and to his family. 
He had left his wife with two small boys, and 
during his long service he had received no 
furlough home. 

In August, 1865, Mr. Stocking came to 
Hiram, Ohio, where his wife's father, Rodney 
Pierce, Sr. , was then living. Here Mr. Stock- 
ing engaged in the small fruit business for 
twelve years and prospered, having now a 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



907 



pleasant home and a few acres of land. He 
then started a hack and express line from 
Hiram to Garrettsville, which he ran for four- 
teen years, and two years ago retired from 
active business. 

In politics Mr. Stocking was first a whig 
and then a republican, casting his first presi- 
dential vote for Gen. Scott and then for John 
C. Fremont, and was one of the original re- 
publicans. Mr. Stocking has held the office 
of township trustee, and is a respected citizen. 
He is an honored member of the G. A. R., 
Mark Horton post, Garrettsville, and is an 
unaffiliating Odd Fellow. Mrs. Stocking is a 
member of the Congregational church. 

Edwin Stocking, son of Omar C, married 
Bell Crawford, and is a machinist in Chicago. 
They have two children, viz: Edwin B. and 
Leroy. Albert P. Stocking, the younger son, 
married Mary Jones. He is a railroad man 
and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. 

The Stocking family is of old English Pu- 
ritan stock, the founders of the family in Amer- 
ica settling in Connecticut on the foundation 
of the colony, and was a soldier in the Revo- 
lutionary war. Anson Stocking, the father of 
Omar C. Stocking, was a cabinetmaker and 
painter, and also a farmer of Torrington, Conn. 
He was a respected citizen and one of the 
board of selectmen of his town and a justice 
of the peace. His children by his marriage to 
Miss Coe were Flora, Omar C, Fannie, Phila 
and Eber. To his first marriage, to Phila 
Miles, were born John, Samuel, Marcia and 
Anson. All of these children by the first wife 
are now deceased, and Mr. Stocking died at 
the age of seventy-four years. He had two 
sons in the Civil war. Eber served in the first 
call of 1 86 1 and was discharged on account of 
disability. 

Rodney Pierce, the father of Mrs. Stock- 
ing, was a son of Thomas and Sarah (Green) 
Pierce, was from an old colonial Connecticut 



family, of the same original stock as President 
Pierce. Mr. Pierce was three times married; 
the first time to Harriet Relsey, and their chil- 
dren were Louise, Elizabeth, Charles, George 
and Henry; the second wife was Jane Button, 
and their children were Henry, John, Harriet, 
Jane and Rodney. There were no children by 
his third wife, Elizabeth MulhoUand. Two of 
the sons were in the Civil war — Henry and 
George, both in the Nineteenth regiment Con- 
necticut volunteer infantry three years' service. 
Henry served out his time and was in several 
battles, his regiment having been formed into 
a battery of heavy artillery. George was killed 
at the battle of Cold Harbor. Mr. Pierce was 
a carpenter and joiner, and owned a farm of 
200 acres in Torrington township. Conn. He 
came, in 1864, to Hiram, Ohio, and bought a 
farm and here passed his remaining days. He 
was a member of the Congregational church, 
in which he was a deacon many years, and 
was an honored and industrious man of ster- 
ling worth. 



BRANK HALL SPIRES, druggist and 
storekeeper, in Atwater township, 
Portage county, Ohio, was born here 
January i, 1866, a son of Thomas and 
Josephine (Hiddleson) Spires, both natives of 
the Buckeye state. He was educated in the 
common schools of his native town, and later 
for many years was his father's assistant in 
the lumber business and in stock raising, and 
also for some years clerked for him in a dry- 
goods and notion store. In February, 1890, 
he purchased from Walter McConnery the drug 
store which he now owns, in which he carries 
a full and well-selected line of drugs and chem- 
icals, as well as an assortment of groceries, 
tobacco, etc., and, being polite and affable, is 
doing an excellent trade. 

Mr. Spires was united in marriage Novem- 



908 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ber 19, 1891, with Miss Addie Benjamin, wlio 
was born in Atwater township, January 12, 
1868, a daughter of Piatt and Ellen Benjamin, 
the former of whom is a native of New York 
state and the latter of Rootstown, Ohio. Mrs. 
Spires was educated in the schools of Atwater 
and Ravenna, and after finishing her education, 
at the age of fifteen years, taught school her- 
self for several years at varions places through- 
out the county. Mr. Spires is a member of 
Atwater lodge, No. 649, Knights of Pythias, 
and also of the Portage county Gun club-, in 
which he has several times won the champion- 
ship medal, and has made a record, at trap- 
shooting, of forty-seven out of fifty birds. He 
is likewise an enthusiastic sportsman, owning 
two of the best bird-dogs in the county, and 
never misses a season to indulge in the hunt. 
He is very attentive to business, however; it is 
only on an occasion of a shoot going on that 
he takes a vacation. He and wife are great 
favorites in the social circles of the township 
and both are held in high estimation by all 
their neighbors and friends. 



HLBERT C. STOW is one of the most 
venerable and respected citizens of 
Summit county, Ohio, and the oldest 
native-born person living in Stowe 
township. He is from sterling English ances- 
try. The founders of the family came to New 
England in old colonial times and were among 
the founders of Connecticut. The grandfather 
of subject was a sea captain in the West India 
trade in early times, and it is believed that his 
'name was William. Lord Thomas Stow, who 
recently died, leaving a large estate but no will, 
was of the same family. Rev. Dr. Stowe, hus- 
band of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the famous 
author, was of the same stock. 

William Stow was the father of Albert C, 
was born January 26, 1776, at Middleton, 



Conn., and of his brothers and sisters were 
Annie, Russell, Zebulon, Thomas are remem- 
bered. William Stow was a sea captain, fol- 
lowing the same vocation as his father. He 
married in Middletown, Conn., Peggie Gay- 
lord, who was born February 8, 1774, a daugh- 
ter of Jonathan. They were married at Mid- 
dletown, ("onn., April 10, 1795, by Rev. 
Gushom Buckley, and their children were 
William, born November 15, 1795; Thomas, 
October 31, 1797; Joseph, December 12, 1799; 
Zebulon, April 8, 1802; Maria, April 18, 1804; 
Abiah, May 3, 1808 — all born in Middletown, 
Conn. Albert C, born July 5, i8io;James, 
June 22, 1812; Margaret, February 22, 1814; 
Russell M., March 15, 18 16 — all born in Stowe 
township. Portage (now Summit county) Ohio. 
William Stow, the father, came to Ohio in 
June, 1809, making the journey with a yoke of 
oxen and one horse, and was over forty-one 
days on the journey. Jonathan and Thomas 
Gaylord also came with their families — all rela- 
tions. They cut their way through the wil- 
derness of western New York state and Penn- 
sylvania to Portage county, the families sleep- 
ing in their wagons at night. 

William Stow settled on 300 acres of land 
at Monroe Falls, Stowe township, in the woods 
— the land was covered with heavy timber. He 
bought his land of Judge Joshua Stowe — one 
of the original members of the Connecticut 
company, who owned the land on the Western 
Reserve. William Stow traded a vessel and 
house and lot in Middletown and other prop- 
erty, with Judge Stowe for his 300 acres. 
William Stow was a well-to-do man for his 
time, and left a well-settled country to be- 
come a pioneer in the Ohio wilderness. He 
built a log house on his land and cleared up 
a good farm. He sold 100 acres for $3 per 
acre to Squire Samuel Cheney, and retained 
200 acres. Being a sailor, he was employed 
to rig the first vessel built at Cleveland in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



909 



1812, sailed this schooner a year and carried 
provisions to Sackett's Harbor. He was not 
accustomed to the hard work of a pioneer, but 
he learned fast and did a large amount of 
clearing. He finally sold his land, or what 
remained after he had given much to his sons, 
and moved to Brimfield, Portage county, and 
bought several small farms. He sold out and 
returned to Stowe township three years later, 
in 1839, and here passed his remaining days 
on his farm. He was early a member of the 
Congregational church and in later life a 
member of the Christian church, and in poli- 
tics a whig. He died September 20, 1853, 
aged seventy-seven years and eight months. 
Mr. Stow was a man of sterling worth and 
the head of one of the most respected fam- 
ilies. He was a constable several years and a 
man ot strong and determined character. 

Albert C. Stow was born July 5, 18 10, near 
Monroe Falls in the log house near the present 
site of the paper-mill on the original Stow 
farm, and is the only living member of his 
father's family. He received the limited com- 
mon-school education of the district, was 
brought up a farmer, and at sixteen years went 
to work in a woolen-mill for one year, and 
then resumed farming on his father's farm. 
He married, at the age of twenty-four years, 
in Michigan, November 22, 1835, Almira Bar- 
ret, who was born January 23, 1818, at Wood- 
stock, Conn., a daughter of Simon and Lydia 
(Masscraft) Barret. The founder of the fam- 
ily in America came from England in old 
Puritan times. The family was mentioned in 
"Doomsday Book " and located in 1086. An- 
other mention is made in London "Knights," 
I 38 1, and after this many knights and county 
families are named, down to the present, as 
scattered all over England and the colonies. 
Perhaps the "Baret," as it is spelled in 
"Doomsday Book," was Sa.xon, and probably 
the first Barretts were Normans and kin to 



the Barretts or Barrets of France and Italy, 
and came to England with the conqueror. 
Several Barretts located in Virginia and Mas- 
sachusetts from 1620 to 1640 — one or more 
in Boston, and one on the Concord. One 
Thomas Barrett, aged si.Kteen years, sailed 
from London in the ship Increase in 1635; 
a Thomas B. Barrett, with his wife, Frances, 
in 1635. A Thomas Barrett with his wife, 
Frances, were settled in Chelmsford in 1630. 
It has been, so far, impossible to trace them 
to any other family or locality in either old or 
New England. 

Thomas and Frances Barrett of Chelms- 
ford had three children — Margaret, Moses B., 
and Mehitable. Moses Barrett married a Miss 
Smith of Dorchester, September 10, 1684 and 
had a son, Moses. Moses Barrett, Jr., mar- 
ried and had born in Chelmsford the follow- 
ing children: Daniel, Hannah, Oliver, Smith, 
Moses and Benjamin (twins). Moses Barrett 
moved to Woodstock, Conn., about 1722. 
Smith Barrett married Mary Spalding. His 
children, born in Woodstock, were Samuel, 
Hannah, Daniel, Priscilla, Thomas, Ephraim, 
Martha, Priscilla (second), Ephraim (second) 
and Mary. Daniel Barrett married, the first 
time, Hulda Elothrop, March 14, 1765, and 
for his second wife, Mary Manly, in 1774 or 
1775, and for third wife a widow, Mrs. Mary 
Miles Dodge in 1778, and his fourth wife, 
Jemima (Inman) Benson, November 16, 1780. 
His children, born on the Woodstock home- 
stead, were, Smith, Anna, Daniel, Thomas 
Manly, Aldrich, Wiley, Edward Inman, Mary 
(Mrs. Nathan Barret), Simon and Andrew. 
Mrs. Jemima Benson, was a daughter of Ed- 
ward Inman, born December 14, 1748; she 
had four children, by her former marriage: 
Isaac, Joseph, John and Inman. She died 
February 7, 1827, Daniel Barret died July 22, 
1887. 

Simon Barret, father of Mrs. Stow, was 



910 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



born February 21, 1784, in Woodstock, Conn., 
received his education at the academy at 
Woodstock, and taught school twenty-one 
seasons in Connecticut, Canada and New 
York state. He married, in Woodstock, Conn. , 
October 12, 1809, Lydia, Masscraft, daughter 
of Jacob and Hannah (Austin) Masscraft, both 
of New England ancestry. Lydia was born 
in Woodstock, Conn., November 11, 1787. 
Jacob Masscraft, her father, was a farmer of 
Connecticut stock and was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war. He died in Woodstock 
from consumption contracted by exposure in 
that war. The Austins were a Massachusetts 
family and seafaring people, and the great- 
grandfather of Mrs. Stow was captured by 
Algerine pirates and never returned. Mr. and 
Mrs. Simon Barret had the following children: 
Newton, Milton, Almira, Martha E., Simon 
G., William P., Sarah and Frances L. Simon 
Barret came to Stowe township. Summit 
county, Ohio, May 20, 1835, and remained 
three months, and September 20 went to 
Michigan and settled at Spring Port, where he 
died in 1837. He was a man of high char- 
acter, much respected by all. Mr. Stow's 
father was a second cousin to Judge Stowe, the 
owner of this township. 

Albert C. Stow, when he was a boy, lived 
in almost a wilderness, and after marriage, 
Mr. Stow, with his wife, lived in Brimfield 
about three years and worked on his father's 
land, and in 1839 settled on fifty acres which 
his father gave him in Stowe township; in 1856 
he sold this land, which he had improved, and 
came to his present farm. Mr. Stow has al- 
ways been a hardworking and industrious man 
and prospered by his sterling thrift. When 
young he cleared a great deal of land and 
worked hard to make his home, assisted by 
his faithful wife. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stow 
have been members of the Christian church 
since 1846, and aided in founding and build- 



ing the Christian church at Stowe Corners. Mr. 
Stow has been a deacon many years. In 
politics he was first a whig and then a repub- 
lican. He has always been a man of undeni- 
able integrity of character and had the respect 
of all who knew him. To Mr. and Mrs. Stow 
two daughters have been born — Ellen E. and 
Emma A. , the latter having died at the age of 
forty years. Ellen E. married Rev. Francis 
M. Green, a minister of the Christian church 
in active ministry, and also a member of the 
state legislature two years. They have five 
children, viz: Lura A. , who married Edwin 
Wetmore; Fannie M., who married William 
Cox; Mary T. , who died, aged fourteen; Frank 
A. and Daisy. 



E 



ENRY P. STRAIGHT, a veteran of 
the Civil war, and a greatly re- 
spected citizen of Hudson township. 
Summit county, Ohio, was born in 
Erie county, N. Y., March 8, 1828, a son of 
Royal A. and Nancy (Dolph) Straight, and 
was brought to Ohio in 1835, by his parents, 
who settled in Rome, Ashtabula county. 

Henry Straight, paternal grandfather of 
Henry P., was born in Rhode Island, of En- 
glish descent, ran off from home when sixteen 
years old, enlisted, served all through the 
Revolutionary war, and also through the war 
of 1812, in which he was quartermaster of his 
regiment. He married Anna Powell, in Mas- 
sachusetts, and located at Charlotte, Chit- 
tenden county, Vt. , and there were born to 
him three children, viz: Henry P. , Royal A., and 
Anna Elizabeth. He came to Ohio, with his 
son, Royal A., and here died at the advanced 
age of ninety-eight years. 

Royal A. Straight, son of Henry, was born 
in Charlotte, Vt. , and when young, went to 
Newstead, Erie county, N. Y., where he 
bought a farm, and married Miss Nancy Dolph, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



911 



who was born in Kinderhook, N. Y. , a daugh- 
ter of Aaron and Catherine (Delong) Dolph, 
and to this union were born six children — 
Henry P., Allen M., George H., EHzabeth, 
Ruth, and Anna. In the spring of 1835, Mr. 
Straight came from Erie county, N. Y. , to 
Ashtubula county, Ohio, and purchased 125 
acres of partially cleared land, on which was a 
log house; this land he thoroughly cleared up, 
and converted into a comfortable home, and 
profitable farm. In 1857 he removed to 
White county, Tenn., and purchased an old 
plantation of 1,700 acres, but in 1861, being 
persecuted for not taking the oath of allegiance 
to the Confederate government, he was glad 
to sell it for $1,000 — not a tithe of its value. 
He then went to Marion county, 111., bought, 
and lived on eighty acres for a few years, and 
then moved to Kent county, Mich., where he 
passed the remainder of his life, dying March 
2, 1876, at about seventy -six years of age, a 
member of the Baptist church. He was first 
a whig in politics, but became one of the orig- 
inal republicans, voted for John C. Fremont, 
its first candidate for the presidency, and was 
an ardent Union man, but too old, although 
he volunteered, to be accepted as a soldier; 
but he sent three sons — Henry P., Allen M. 
and George H. — to the defense of the Union, 
and also sent two sons-in-law — Edmond R. 
Allen and Charles Newman. Of these, Allen 
M. was in the One Hundred and Eleventh Illi- 
nois infantry, in the three-year service, was in 
the Atlanta campaign, and many battles be- 
side, was captured at Peach Tree Creek, and 
was fifteen months in the Andersonville and 
Florence prison pens, but finally reached home 
alive; Charles Newman, who served in the 
same regiment, died in prison at Florence, 
where he had been transferred from Anderson- 
ville. Edmond R. Allen was in the same 
regiment for three years; George H. Straight 
was in the three-year service, in the Fortieth I 



Illinois volunteer infantry, was severely 
wounded, and died at his home in Illinois a 
few months later. 

Henry P. Straight received a good common- 
school education and has always been a farmer. 
He married, September 25, 1849, at Hart's 
Grove, Ashtabula county, Ohio, Miss Mary J. 
Stevens, who was born April 20, 1831, at De- 
troit, Mich., a daughter of Weston and Eliza- 
beth (Suedekor) Stevens, the former of whom 
was born in Rochester, N. Y. , a son of Ebe- 
nezer and Hannah (Whaley) Stevens — the 
Stevenses being of English and the Whaleys 
of Scotch descent. The mother of Hannah 
Whaley was a daughter of Samuel Whaley, a 
Scotch peer, but she ran away from home, 
when young, to accompany a married sister to 
Rochester, N. Y. , and thus her property be- 
came alienated. Weston Stevens was a brick- 
mason by trade and died in Cleveland, Ohio, 
the father of the following children — Samuel 
W., Mary J., Caroline and Harriet. 

After marriage, Mr. Straight settled in 
Rome, Ashtabula county, Ohio, bought fifty 
acres of land, partly cleared, and the re- 
mainder he cleared himself. In 1857, he re- 
moved to \\'hite county, Tenn., with his fa- 
ther, settled about eighty miles east of Nash- 
ville, remained there about a year, but owing 
to troublous times returned to Ohio, and en- 
listed at Chardon, Geauga county, December 
4, 1861, in battery G, First Ohio light artillery, 
for three years, veteranized for three years 
longer and served until honorably discharged 
at Camp Chase, Ohio, August 31, 1863. Mr. 
Straight took an active part in the following 
battles: Pittsburg Landing, April 6-^7, 1862; 
Corinth, May i to 30, 1862; Franklin Pike, 
September 7, 1 862 ; Stone River, December 3 1 , 
1862, to January 2. 1863; Tullahoma cam- 
paign, June 23 to 30, 1863; Dug Gap, Sep- 
tember II, 1863; Chickamauga, September 19 
and 20, 1863; Missionary Ridge, November 



912 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



25, 1863; LaVergne, September i, 1864; 
Franklin, September 2, 1864; Cambellsville, 
September 5, 1864, Pulaski; September 27, 
1864; Spring Hill, November 29, 1864; Frank- 
lin, November 30, 1864; and Nashville, De- 
cember 15 and 16, 1864. At Pittsburg Land- 
ing, he sustained a flesh wound in the neck, 
but did not go to the hospital; he was also in- 
jured by being thrown from his horse, the gun 
on its carriage being discharged without being 
unlimbered; at Stone River he received a slight 
bullet wound in his right knee, and at a review 
at Murfreesboro was thrown from his horse 
and knocked senseless, and for a short time 
was in hospital. At New Orleans he served as 
corporal of his company, and as such his name 
is inscribed on the soldiers' monument at 
Cleveland. He made a splendid military rec- 
ord, although his health was permanently 
wrecked by his exposure in the service. After 
the war, Mr. Straight returned to Portage 
county and rejoined his wife and five children. 
This number has now reached nine, viz: Mary 
E., Martha E., Earnest R., Carrie A., Charles 
H., Wills J., Lillian A., Estella May (who 
died at sixteen years), and Eva J. 

In 1867, Mr. Straight moved to Streets- 
boro township. Portage county, where he 
located on fifty-seven and one-half acres of 
land, where he lived until 1892, when became 
to Hudson, where he now lives in retirement. 
He and wife are members of the Congrega- 
tional church at Hudson and are consistent 
observers of its teachings. Mr. Straight was 
one of the original members of the republican 
party, and voted for its first nominee for the 
presidency of the United States — John C. Fre- 
mont; he was a guard at the state penitentiary 
of Ohio three years, and for many years was a 
member of his board of school directors in 
Streetsboro township. Portage county; he is 
an honored member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic and is past commander of William 



T. Sherman post. No. 68, of Hudson. He 
comes from a martial family, reaching down 
from the days of the Revolution to the present 
time — Col. A. D. Straight, celebrated for his 
daring escape from Libby prison, being from 
the original stock with himself. He is an up- 
right, straightforward man, and he and family 
are among the most respected of the residents 
of Hudson township. 



@EORGE G. STRIKER, a highly re- 
spected citizen of Mantua Station, 
Portage county, Ohio, and an ex- 
soldier of the Civil war, was born in 
Cleveland, March 23, 1840, a son of Cornelius 
and Nancy (Eddy) Striker, who were of sturdy 
Mohawk-Dutch descent. 

Cornelius Striker was born in Mohawk 
county, N. Y., and was a son of a well-to-do 
farmer, who had three sons in the Mexican 
war, of whom one was killed and two died of 
yellow-fever in New Orleans. Cornelius was 
a shoemaker by trade, and married Nancy 
Eddy, who was born in Connecticut, the daugh- 
ter of a life-long sea-captain, and to this union 
were born four sons and two daughters — 
George G.. Edgar, Alfred D., Eugene L., El- 
eanor and Amelia. After marriage, Cornelius 
came to Ohio, and settled in Cleveland. Al- 
though past military age, he enlisted in com- 
pany A, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years. All 
the sons likewise became soldiers, Edgar en- 
listing in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth 
Ohio infantry for ninety days and taking part 
in the chase after the raider John Morgan; he 
died after the close of the war from the effects 
of army life. Eugene L. was a boy-fifer in 
the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Ohio 
infantry, served three years and was promoted 
to fife major, having taken part in all his reg- 
iment's marches and engagements. Alfred L. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



913 



served three years in company G, Forty-sec- 
ond Ohio infantry. The army record of George 
G. will be given further on. Of the daugh- 
ters, Eleanor, is married to Benjamin Lilly, of 
Cleveland, and Amelia is the wife of John 
Perry, who was a soldier in the Forty-second 
Ohio infantry. The parents passed their re- 
maining days in Cleveland, Mr. Striker being 
respected as a hard-working and useful citizen, 
and Mrs. Striker as an active member of the 
Disciples' church. 

George G. Striker was reared to farming 
when young, and at the age of twenty-one en- 
listed, October 22, 1861, at Cleveland, in 
company G, Forty-second Ohio volunteer in- 
fantry, to serve three years, if not sooner dis- 
charged on account of the war closing, but 
was honorably discharged October 15, 1863, 
at St. Louis, Mo., on account of wounds re- 
ceived in battle. He was an active partici- 
pant in many engagements and skirmishes, the 
more important of which were the following: 
Middle Creek, Ky., January i, 1862; Chicka- 
saw Bluffs, Miss., December 9, 1862; Arkan- 
sas Post, Ark., January 11, 1863; Grand Gulf, 
Miss., April 29, 1863, and Port Gibson, Miss., 
May I, 1863, and here his gallant career as a 
soldier met with a final check. A minie ball 
passed through the elbow of his left arm, 
and immediately afterward a one-and-one- 
quarter ounce ball, called a Memphis yeager, 
passed through the middle of the same mem- 
ber. For a time he was held in field hospital, 
his arm having been amputated in the field, 
but as soon as transportation became availa- 
ble he was taken to Grand Gulf, and thence to 
St. Louis, Mo., where he was placed in the 
improvised hospital at the new house of ref- 
uge, a Catholic reformatory building, where 
he was confined from July until October 15, 
1863, his arm having been very badly shat- 
tered. Until wounded, he had taken part in 
all the engagements and skirmishes in which 

39 



his regiment had participated, with the excep- 
tion of the engagement at Cumberland Gap, 
when he was detailed on provost duty at Cin- 
cinnati, having charge of a company of men. 

On returning to Cleveland, Mr. Striker 
entered a commercial college, learned book- 
keeping and telegraphy, and was then em- 
ployed in the general ticket office of the At- 
lantic & Great Western Railroad company at 
Cleveland, as clerk, and also traveled for the 
company as advertising agent. Later he be- 
came telegrapher for the same company (now 
the New York, Lake Erie & Western), at 
Newburg, Solon, Youngstown, Girard, Leav- 
ittsburg, and finally at Mantua Station, having 
been an operator for this company seventeen 
years and for more than twenty years in its 
employ — a fact that speaks well for his effi- 
ciency, capability and integrity. 

Mr. Striker was united in marriage, in 
Mantua Station, April 14, 1870, with Miss 
Melissa A. Keyes, who was born here October 
21, 1844, a daughter of B. F. and Nancy 
(Booth) Keyes — both families of English ori- 
gin, but of American birth. B. F. Keyes was 
born in Mantua, of an old Ohio pioneer fam- 
ily, was a carpenter by trade, and married in 
Mantua; Nancy Booth was born in Vermont, 
a daughter of Israel Booth. Besides Mrs. 
Striker they were the parents of four other 
children, viz: Marcellus A., Alice M., Elva 
and Hettie R. Mr. Keyes lived to be sixty- 
seven years of age, and was a temperate, 
industrious and much respected citizen. 

In politics Mr. Striker is a republican, and 
voted for Abraham Lincoln for president at 
each of his two nominations. He is a mem- 
ber of Bentley post, G. A. R. , No. 294, in 
which he held the offices of commander, vice- 
commander, secretary, etc., and is a member 
of Mantua lodge, No. 752, I. O. O. F., in 
which he has served as noble grand and filled 
the intermediate chairs. Mrs. Striker is a 



914 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



member of the Disciples' church, and both 
are highly esteemed in Mantua, which has been 
their permanent home ever since marriage. 



aURTIS TAYLOR, one of the most 
prosperous native-born farmers of 
Deerfield township, Portage county, 
Ohio, and of the third generation of 
the family to occupy the present homestead, 
was born May 3, 1854, a son of Hiram and 
Jane (McConney) Taylor. 

George Taylor, paternal grandfather of 
Curtis Taylor, was a native of Washington 
county, Pa., born October 19, 1764, came to 
Ohio in 1799, and bought the farm in the 
southeast part of Deerfield township. Portage 
county, which has ever since been occupied 
by his descendants. April 14, 1800, Mr. Tay- 
lor settled on the new homestead and at once 
began the task of clearing — the work of im- 
proving and cultivating being carried on by his 
children until the present day, and it being 
now the most productive farm in the district. 
The marriage of George Taylor took place in 
Pennsylvania to Miss Elizabeth McConney, 
who was born October 9, 1762, the union re- 
sulting in the birth of the following children : 
Nancy, January 3, 1793; Matilda, December 
10, 1794; John, November 27, 1796; Nellie, 
November 24, 1798; George, January 26, 
1 80 1 (the last named being the first white male 
child to be born in Deerfield township); Leo- 
randa. May 9, 1803, and Hiram, September 
18, 1805. George Taylor, the father of this 
family, attained considerable prominence in 
the township, was a justice of the peace for 
many years, and died on his farm, greatly re- 
spected. 

David McConney, maternal grandfather of 
Curtis Taylor, was also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, of Irish parentage, came to Ohio in 
1817, and settled in Deerfield township, where 



for many years he followed his vocation of 
miller, but later became a farmer. He reared 
a family of five children, of whom John re- 
sides in Alliance, Ohio; William, who was 
killed by a horse; Matilda, deceased; Elizabeth, 
deceased wife of Seth Tunkery, and Jane, de- 
ceased wife of Hiram Taylor and the mother 
of Curtis Taylor, the subject of this biography. 
Both grandparents were members of the 
Methodist church. 

Hiram Taylor was born on the homestead 
in Deerfield township September 18, 1805, 
and was reared a pioneer farmer. To his mar- 
riage, in 1835, with Jane McConney, were 
born nine children, five of whom survive, viz : 
Solomon, who lives in Indiana; Mary, wife of 
Addison Ferney; Samantha J., unmarried; 
Curtis, and Laura, wife of George Bundy. Of 
the deceased children, two died in infancy; 
Newton died November 3, 1864, at the age of 
twenty-four years, and Eliza, who was mar- 
ried to William Dramer, died May 3, 1879, 
when twenty-nine years old. Hiram Taylor, 
the father of these children, was greatly relied 
upon by his fellow-citizens, whom he served in 
various township offices, including those of 
school director and supervisor, for many years. 
He passed all his life on his native farm, and 
died September 18, 1883, aged seventy-seven 
years and seven months; his wife followed him 
to the grave May 4, 1891, in her seventy- 
seventh year, and both were consistent mem- 
bers of the Disciples' church. 

Curtis Taylor, the present honored occu- 
pant of the old homestead, remains a bachelor, 
his household being managed by his sister, Sa- 
mantha J. He is a thoroughly practical farm- 
er, and fully keeps up the reputation of the 
farm as being one of the best cultivated in the 
county; and here, in the enjoyment of the high 
esteem of their neighbors, as well as of the 
entire community, he and sister are peacefully 
passing the happy years away. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



915 



>^ EPPERSON THOMAS, an ex-soldier 
M of the Civil war, and an honored citi- 
A 1 zen of Streetsboro township. Portage 
county, Ohio, where he was born July 
4, 1843, descends from a colonial New York 
family of Welsh extraction. 

John Thomas, grandfather of Jefferson, 
was born in Adams, Jefferson county, N. Y., 
was a farmer, and a soldier of the war of 1 8 1 2, 
and, among his other services in that struggle, 
hauled the cannons that were used in the de- 
fense of Sackett's Harbor. After this war he 
came by ox-team to Portage county, Ohio, 
and cleared up a farm in Streetsboro township 
from the wild forest, and later, with the as- 
sistance of his son, Osman, hewed a road 
through the forest from embryo Streetsboro to 
embryo Hudson, these now populous towns 
being then nonentities. He succeeded in 
wringing from the bosom of the dense forest a 
farm that afforded his family a good and com- 
fortable home, but in his old age went to Con- 
necticut to pass his declining years with his 
son, William, and there passed away at the 
advanced age of eighty-two years. 

Osman Thomas, father of Jefferson Thomas, 
was also born in Adams, N. Y., and when 
twenty-one years old followed his father to 
Ohio, a year after the latter had settled here. 
He married, in Hiram township, Portage 
county, Lois J. Mathews, a school-teacher 
from Connecticut, and who came to Ohio with 
a foster brother. Osman Thomas, after mar- 
riage, settled on fifty acres of land in the 
woods of his township, but by hard work and 
good management increased his possessions to 
343 acres, and at his death gave to each of 
his sons a farm of no diminutive dimensions. 
He was a deacon in the Baptist church for 
forty-five years, and as a whig and republican 
served twenty years as a justice of the peace, 
and filled, beside, other offices, such as mem- 
ber of the school board, township trustee. 



etc., and died, at the venerable age of eighty- 
two years, in Streetsboro, honored by all who 
knew him. 

Jefferson Thomas, with whose name this 
biographical notice is opened, is a son of Os- 
man and Lois J. (Mathews) Thomas, of whom 
mention has already been made. He received 
a good common-school education, was reared 
a farmer, and at the early age of eighteen 
years enlisted, at Streetsboro, November i, 
1 86 1, in company K, Capt. C. R. Bow, Sixth 
Ohio cavalry, to serve throughout the war, or, 
at most, three years, but was honorably dis- 
charged, at Windmill Point, Va., February 6, 

1863, on annount of disability. He was a 
brave and unflinching soldier and fought at 
New Franklin, Tenn., at Strawberry Plains, 
and with Sheridan in his raid through the 
Shenandoah valley in Virginia; was also at 
Cross Keys and at Stoughton Mountain and 
Centerville, Va., and in the second battle of 
Bull Run. He has suffered much from diar- 
rhea, which seized him at Camp Chase, Ohio, 
and afterward with typhoid fever, which con- 
fined him in regimental hospital near Fall's 
church, in Virginia, whence he was sent to 
Windmill Point, where he received his final 
discharge, weighing, at the time, but seventy- 
four pounds, having been reduced by chronic 
diarrhea from 194 pounds at the time of his 
enlistment, and it was a full year after his re- 
turn to his father's house in Streetsboro town- 
ship before he was able to perform any manual 
labor. 

The marriage of Mr. Thomas took place 
November 4, 1866, at Warren, Ohio, to Miss 
Martha E. Joy, daughter of Eben and Mary 
H. (Green) Joy, and a native of Southington, 
Trumbull county, Ohio, born February 8, 

1864. Eben Joy is a native of Vermont, and 
is a farmer by calling, and owns a good farm 
of 120 acres in Trumbull county, of which he 
was an early settler. To his marriage with 



916 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Mary Green were born Martha E. , Daniel and 
Mary E. , and he and family are among the 
most respected residents of Trumbull county. 
To Osman Thomas and wife were born Will- 
ard, Juliette, Jefferson, MillicentM. and Delos 
— the last named being now deceased. Daniel 
Joy, brother of Mrs. Martha E. Thomas, is a 
farmer at Southington, Ohio, and is married; 
Mary E. Joy, sister, was the wife of David 
Blackburn, and died at about thirty-eight years 
of age. 

Jefferson Thomas and wife, on marrying, 
settled on their present farm, then consisting 
of forty acres, which was given to him by his 
father, but which, by industry, thrift and saga- 
cious management, he has increased to ninety- 
three acres, all nicely improved and in an ex- 
cellent state of cultivation. Their marriage 
has been blessed with three children, born in 
the following order: Garrison, Mary J. (agrad- 
uate of the high school at Hudson), and Joy 
J. The parents are members of the Presby- 
terian church, and in politics Mr. Thomas is a 
republican and cast his first presidental vote 
in the ranks for Lincoln. He is a member of 
A. H. Day post, G. A. R., at Kent, and is an 
honorable, straightforward, industrious citizen. 



at 



'ILLIAM THOMAS, of Palmyra 
township, Portage county, Ohio, 
was born November i, 1851, in the 
house still occupied by him. His 
father, David Thomas, was born November 12, 
1802, in Chester county. Pa., a son of David 
Thomas, who moved back to Wales, whence 
he came when he was but a small child, and 
lived in a place called Llandyssul, until in the 
early 'thirties he came to America, and worked 
at his trade of carpenter in Pennsylvania, and 
later near and at Youngstown, Ohio. David, 
father of ' subject, was married at Ravenna, 
Ohio, by 'Squire David John, to Miss Margaret 



Jones, a native of Tregaron, Wales, and lived 
for a short time at Newport, now Wayland, 
Ohio, then moved to the farm now occupied 
by the subject of this sketch, where they reared 
a family of four children: Hannah (Mrs. 
Lloyd); Elizabeth (^Mrs. J. E. Griffith, de- 
ceased); Sarah (Mrs. William D. Williams) and 
William Thomas. David Thomas, the father, 
traced his ancestry back to a landowner of 
Wales. 

William Thomas, the subject of this sketch, 
received his early education in the district 
school until fourteen years of age, when he 
attended a select school taught by Dr. Cyrus 
Turnbull, of Edinburg, and later attended 
Mount Union College, the winter he was six- 
teen. At seventeen he taught school at Edin- 
burg, two miles north of Center, attending 
Alliance college in the intervals of teaching, 
and when that institution closed, prepared to 
attend and take a course at Michigan university 
at Ann Arbor, Mich., which he entered in Sep- 
tember, 1871, graduating June 23, 1875, with 
the degree of B. S. The year following, 1875- 
6, he taught as principal of the high school at 
Bucyrus. Ohio. The following year, after a 
short period at the university, he accepted the 
position of superintendent of schools at Holly, 
Mich., and remained there until the summer 
after his father died in 1878. The next posi- 
tion secured was that of principal of the high 
school at Kent, Ohio, which position he held 
for two years. The winter of 188 1-2 he 
taught at Randolph, and the following winter 
was spent at home, where he devoted some 
time to vocal music. The next two years 
he taught at Mantua station. 

Mr. Thomas married, in July, 1884, Miss 
Ada E. Farnsworth. of Oakdale, Wis., the 
youngest daughter of Henry Holden and Elmina 
(Cooley) Farnsworth. He was elected town- 
ship trustee in Palmyra in the early 'eighties, 
also held the office of school director under the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



917 



first term of Workman law, acting as president 
of the school board during his term of office. 
In 1896 he was elected to the office of justice 
of the peace, which office he still holds. In 
the spring of 1885 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
moved to Center of Palmyra, where they lived 
until March i, 1893, when they moved to the 
farm now occupied by him. While living at 
Palmyra two sons were born to them: Vin- 
cent Cooley, August 4, 1886, and Carl Farns- 
worth, August I, 1890. Mrs. Thomas's birth- 
day was July 4, 1859, and his own birthday 
was November i , making a coincidence with 
the birthdays of the children. The first year 
after moving to Palmyra, Mr. Thomas taught 
as principal of schools of the special district — 
this being the last school work done by him. 
He was quite extensively engaged in buying 
and shipping wheat, and later potatoes, etc. 
While at Palmyra Center, in the spring of 
1892, their house was entered on the night of 
May 30, entrance being gained through the 
pantry window, one slat being broken in the 
shutter, and the thieves came into the bed- 
room where they were sleeping, taking the 
purse out of the pocket of his pantaloons, 
which were on a chair at the foot of the bed, 
a light being left on the stand in the room, as 
was customary when the children were small. 
On the night of December 17, 1893, about 
two o'clock Sunday morning, eight masked 
men, having walked all the way from Leavitts- 
burg, Ohio, a distance of twelve miles, broke 
in the door with a bar post, and at the point 
of drawn revolvers demanded their money. 
After ransacking the house for an hour or 
more and securing all the money (about $18) 
and his clothing — one whole suit — boots and 
shoes, razor and watch, they left, leaving a 
guard until they returned from the other 
houses in the vicinity, which was about five 
o'clock in the morning. Mr. and Mrs. Thom- 
as and Vincent were bound hand and foot, and 



left in that condition, but they soon extricated 
themselves, Mrs. Thomas being the first to 
get loose and Vincent the next. Neighbors 
were soon aroused and a party started in pur- 
suit, but the trail was lost at Leavittsburg. 
This affected Mrs. Thomas' health, and within 
a month she became seriously prostrated and 
was in feeble health all summer. 

In the fall of 1894 the barn took fire, and 
all adjoining buildings were burned on Octo- 
ber 19. This, adding to the shock already 
received, unbalanced Mrs. Thomas' mind, and 
the following January 22, 1895, she started 
west to visit her father, taking with her the 
youngest son, Carl. While there, about the 
latter part of February, she became violently 
insane and was taken to Mendota. In the 
course of a week or ten days she rallied and 
was brought home by her husband, who had 
sought her side on first hearing of her condi- 
tion. She had not been home a month before 
her condition became serious again, and she 
was taken to the state hospital at Cleveland, 
where she died August 26, 1895, and was 
buried August 28, at Palmyra, Ohio. The 
November following, his sister, Mrs. Lloyd, 
having lost her husband the 6th of August 
previous, came to keep house for him. The 
past two winters he has been teaching vocal 
music in the schools and lays claim to the 
honor of being the first to secure the adoption 
of the study of vocal music in the country 
schools in his immediate section, having se- 
cured its adoption in Newton, the first town- 
ship in Trumbull county, in June, 1897, and 
in Paris township. Portage county, in Janu- 
ary, 1898, the second township in Portage 
county. 

Mrs. Thomas was born at Black Creek, 
Allegany county, N. Y. , July 4, 1859. Her 
father, Henry H., and his father, Holden, 
served in the war of 18 12, and were of En- 
glish descent, tracing back to Sir Holden 



918 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Farnsworth. Her mother was Elmina Cooley, 
a sister of Judge Thomas M. Cooley, of Michi- 
gan. Her mother was named Rachel, and she 
was the daughter of Major Hubbard of Revo- 
lutionary fame. She married, at eighteen, 
Thomas Cooley, a widower with two children, 
and became the mother of thirteen children, 
among whom are the two above named. 

The grandmother of David Thomas was 
the daughter of a landowner named Jones and 
was disinherited for marrying contrary to her 
father's will. Her name was Mary, and she 
lived to be 105 years old. 



U/^ OBERT W. THOMPSON, one of the 

I /^^ substantial and reliable citizens of 

M . P Hudson, Ohio, descends from the 

pioneers of the Western Reserve and 

from the old colonial Massachusetts family 

of that name. 

Isaac Thompson, grandfather of our sub- 
ject, was born in Berkshire county. Massachu- 
setts, December 10, 1774. He was a farmer 
and married in Berkshire county, Mass. , Polly 
Campbell, of Scotch ancestry. She was a sis- 
ter of Ely Campbell, a pioneer banker of Ra- 
venna. Another brother was Gen. Campbell, 
of Campbellsport, Portage county, Ohio — the 
founder of that town; a sister, Sarah Camp- 
bell, married Col. Frazier of Ravenna. The 
Thompsons were of sterling English ancestry 
and descended from the old Puritan family of 
colonial times in Massachusetts. In pioneer 
times murders were almost unknown on the 
Western Reserve. The first murder at Ra- 
venna was that of a peddler by a man named 
Unks, who fled. The citizens were horror- 
struck and a meeting was immediately called, 
and as a result Gen. Campbell and another 
citizen of Ravenna, started horseback after the 
murderer in hot haste. Unks had a good 
start, but they followed him patiently and 



crossed the Alleghany mountains, where they 
caught the murderer, tied him to a horse and 
brought him back to Ravenna. They were 
gone so long that their friends believed them 
to have been killed. Upon reaching Ravenna 
Unks made his escape, but being tied to his 
horse and handcuffed, he could not well guide 
the animal, and was stopped -by Isaac Thomp- 
son and finally executed. This was the first 
white man ever executed in Portage county. 

Isaac Thompson and wife were the par- 
ents of the following children, viz: Eliza, 
who married Dr. Swift, of Ravenna, a prom- 
inent pioneer physician; Harry C. ; and Rev. 
Oren C, who married Alice Thompson of 
Hudson. Rev. Thompson was a graduate of 
the Western Reserve college — a missionary to 
Detroit at an early day, where he preached 
many years, and the church in which he 
preached in Detroit, bears his name. The 
daughter, Mary, married Dr. Sabine, of Mich- 
igan; Richard and Robert were twins; then 
there were Charles, and Charlotte who mar- 
ried Timothy Carnahan. of Ravenna. 

Isaac Thompson was a farmer of Berk- 
shire township, Berkshire county, Mass. , and 
in the spring of 1808 he moved with his fam- 
ily to Ohio, making the journey with an ox- 
team with a horse in the lead, which was rid- 
den by Harry C. Thompson, then a boy of 
seven years of age. When the pioneer family 
neared the town of Campbellsport, Ohio, they 
met Gen. Campbell, the founder of the town. 
Mr. Thompson had just taken his son, Harry 
C. , into the bushes for some boyish misde- 
meanor, and applied a hickory sprout in the 
vigorous manner of the olden days, and was 
much abashed that Gen. Campbell should 
witness the loud effects. Mr. Thompson 
bought 200 acres of land on which a little had 
been cleared and a large two-story frame 
house had been built, and in which was held 
the first court in Portage county, which house 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



919 



is still standing in Ravenna. Mr. Thompson 
lived in this house until his death. This 
property is still in the hands of one of his de- 
scendants — Mrs. Julia Hall, of Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

Mr. Thompson cleared up this farm from 
the wilderness, and here made a good home; 
the Mahoning river runs directly through 
the land. Mr. Thompson was a substantial 
farmer and one of the earliest settlers of Ra- 
venna and a member of the old-school Pres- 
byterian church. Politically he was a whig 
and one of the founders of the republican 
party. He lived to be a venerable man of over 
eighty years, and was noted for his straight- 
forward and honest character and for his hos- 
pitality. He was a fine example of the early 
pioneers of the Western Reserve. 

Harry C. Thompson, son of above, was the 
father of our subject. He was born in Berk- 
shire county, Mass., November 24, 1801, and 
came with his father to Ohio, in 1808. He re- 
ceived the usnal common-school education of 
his day in Ravenna, Ohio, and, when he was 
young, learned the tailor's trade in Ravenna, 
which he perfected in New York city. He 
was one of the earliest and at one time the 
only tailor in Portage county, and was in this 
business twenty years. He married, in Hud- 
son, Ohio, January 7, 1830, Harriet A. Ells- 
worth, born in Hudson, Ohio, November 23, 
1809, daughter of Capt. Elisha and Betsey 
(Oviatt) Ellsworth. Betsey Oviatt was born 
April 23, 1786. Elisha Ellsworth was born 
at Torrington, Conn., November 22, 1785. 
Mr. Ellsworth was a pioneer of Hudson town- 
ship. He cleared up his farm and made a' 
good home one and a half miles north of 
Hudson on the old Cleveland road. He was 
a deacon in the Presbyterian church, and well 
known as Capt. Ellsworth, being a member of 
the old Ohio State militia. He was an hon- 
ored citizen and a prominent man and died 



September 13, 1859. Harry C. Thompson and 
wife settled in Ravenna, Ohio, where he fol- 
lowed his trade. In 1839 he settled on a farm 
of I 18 acres in Hudson township, now owned 
by his son — Robert W. Mr. Thompson lived 
on his farm until 1853, and then moved to the 
home where our subject now lives and here 
passed his remaining days. He was an ex- 
cellent business man, clear headed, of sound 
judgment and of strictest honesty of character. 
He was an honored citizen, acted as justice of 
the peace for a long time and was also assess- 
or. He was consulted by the people in trans- 
acting legal business — the administrator of 
many estates and the trusted guardian of chil- 
dren, and in the transaction of all his legal 
business in settling estates out of which law- 
suits frequently sprang, he acted as his own 
lawyer. Among the estates which he settled 
was that of Owen Brown, father of the famous 
abolitionist. For many years he made a busi- 
ness of loaning money and his charges were 
always fair and reasonable. He had one rule, 
which he always followed, and that was six 
per cent, per annum and the taxes, as he 
usually loaned on real-estate security. He 
and wife were both members of the Presbyte- 
rian church. Politically he was an old-line 
whig and later a republican. He stood very 
high throughout the county as one of the most 
honorable business men of his day. He 
reached the age of seventy-six years, and died 
December 19, 1877, very suddenly, at his resi- 
dence in Hudson. His children are Robert 
W., and Elisha, born March 30, 1842, and 
died September 6, 1853. aged about thirteen 
years. 

Robert W. Thompson was born in Raven- 
na, Ohio, August 10, 1833, received a district- 
school education and came with his father to 
Summit county, Ohio, when he was six years 
old, in 1829, and learned farming when young, 
and when about sixteen years old engaged in 



920 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the business of furnishing steamships at De- 
troit, Mich., for several years. He married 
at Twinsburg. Ohio, November i8, 1852, 
Eunice Turner, born at Blandford, Mass. , Feb- 
ruary 28, 1830, daughter of Rev. Charles A. 
and Mary (Bailey) Turner. Rev. Charles A. 
Turner was born at Groton, Conn., May 20, 
1796, son of Stephen and Lucretia (Wight- 
man) Turner. Both the Turners and Baileys 
were of old colonial Puritan ancestry from 
England. To this marriage were born the 
following children: Hattie A., wife of Leo- 
nard C. Wallace, of Northfield, Summit coun- 
ty; he is a prosperous farmer. They have two 
children — Arthur W. and Mable E. Beside 
receiving a good common-school education 
she was educated in music. Oren H., a prac- 
tical farmer, who married Miss Mary Cady, a 
native of Portage county. They have only 
one child. Bertha B. Mary E. is the wife of 
Horace A. Chamberlain, of Northfield, Ohio. 
He is a farmer by occupation. They have 
only one son, Walter, who is a student of the 
Macedonia school. Charles R. is married to 
Miss Mathilda Whapham, a native of England. 
They reside on the old homestead and have 
two daughters — Florence and Irene. He is 
one of the most prosperous farmers in Hudson 
township. The youngest is Edwin B., who 
resides. with his parents at Hudson, Ohio. 

In Rev. Turner's times one of the Bailey 
women, a great-aunt of Mrs. Thompson's, 
when Benedict Arnold and the British made 
the attack on New London, Conn., the 
colonial troops becoming short of cartridges, 
tore up her red flannel petticoat for material 
with which to make cartridges. The Baileys 
were sea-faring men, and in the whaling busi- 
ness from New London. They were captains 
of whalers for generations. Capt. Giles Bailey, 
while pursuing a whale, had his leg smashed 
by the whale, which struck the boat with its 
tai'. His leg was afterward amputated. 



Mrs. Thompson's father was the eldest of 
a family of children born unto Stephen and 
Lucretia ( Wightman ) Turner. Lucretia 
\\'ightman was a daughter of Isaac and Lu- 
cretia (Parker) Wightman. Isaac Wightman 
was a grandson of Valentine Wightman, the 
founder of the first Baptist church in Groton, 
Conn., it being also the first in the state. 
Lucretia Parker's mother was Hannah Avery, 
a descendant of the Avery who was one of the 
first settlers of Groton. Stephen Turner's 
father's name was Amos Turner, who married 
Prudence Allyn, June i, 1770. Humphrey 
Turner, a farmer, was born in England in 
1593, and, with his wife, Lydia Garner, and 
eldest son, John (and perhaps other children), 
came to Plymouth, Mass., in 1628. A few 
years afterward he moved to Scituate, Mass., 
and was one of the founders of a church there 
in 1635. His eldest son, John, born in Eng- 
land, married, November 12, 1645, Mary 
Brewster, a granddaughter of Elder William 
Brewster, who crossed the Atlantic in the 
the historic Mayflower. They had several 
children; among them was Ezekiel, born Jan- 
uary 7, 165 1. He married, in New London, 
Conn., December 26, 1678, Susannah, daugh- 
ter of John Keeney. He died January 16, 
1703 or 1704, and left one son, Ezekiel, and 
ten daughters. This son, Ezekiel, married 
Boradil Denison, and settled in Groton. Bor- 
adil Denison, daughter of Joseph and Prudence 
(Minor) Denison, was born February 14, 
1 71 2, and was married to Young Brewster 
May 12, 1729. They lived in Groton, Conn., 
and had the following children, viz: Theo- 
dore, born August 14, 1730; Prudence, born 
March 8, 1732 (and married Moses Palmer); 
Ezekiel, born January 27, 1734; Eunice, born 
July 22, 1740; Amos, born September i, 
1744. Amos Turner was the great-grand- 
father, who married Prudence Allyn in 1770. 
The children of Stephen and Lucretia (Wight- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



921 



man) Turner were: Charles A., born May 
20, 1796; Alfred, June 4, 1798; Melinda, 
October 24, 1801; Isaac Wightman, June 13, 
1805; Jane Emeline, October 21, 18 10, and 
James Monroe, December 23, 18 16. The 
children of Amos and Prudence (Allyn) Turner 
were: Stephen, Rufus, Betsey, David, Eunice 
and Young. The Wightmans claim descent 
from Edward Wightman, the last of the 
martyrs by fire in England. 

Rev. Charles A. Turner was married to 
Mary Bailey, in Groton, Conn., March 8, 
18 1 8, by Ralph Hurlbuth, J. P., the Turners 
being of English descent. Rev. Turner was a 
Baptist minister. He lived for some time at 
Groton, Conn., and at Blanford, Mass. Rev. 
Turner later bought land in Twinsburg town- 
ship, and cleared his farm from the woods, 
and here he remained until his death. Serv- 
ices were held in the school-houses and at 
their homes throughout the surrounding town- 
ships of Twinsburg, Aurora, Streetsboro, 
Hudson, Northampton, Stowe, and Boston. 
The pioneer Baptists were poor, and Rev. 
Turner never had a salary for his work. He 
supported his large family by his labor on the 
farm and gave all his children an excellent 
education at the famous pioneer academy of 
Rev. Bissell, of Twinsburg. Rev. Turner was 
one of the faithful pioneer ministers who 
preached the gospel in the wilderness without 
money and without price. His children were 
Mary A. , who married Rev. Williams, a Bap- 
tist minister; Joel, who died in California; 
Lucy; Charles, attorney-at-law, who served 
throughout the Civil war, entering as captain 
and coming out as brigadier-general, afterward 
judge of court of common pleas at Pekin, 
Ills., where he died. Then there were Emel- 
ine, Eunice, Jerusha, whe died young, Elisha, 
attorney-at-law, and Alcalde, of Jackson, Cal., 
who was shot in the court house while making 
a political speech. Then Reuben, who died 



aged sixteen years; Cordelia, and Daniel, who 
served in the Civil war. Rev. Turner reared 
a remarkable and excellent family, his sons 
becoming prominent men. He died at Twins- 
burg, October 5, 1874, aged seventy-eight 
years. He was early a democrat, a strong 
anti-slavery man, and became a republican on 
the outbreak of the war. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, our subjects, 
settled on the Thompson homestead and lived 
there until they moved to Hudson in 1884. 
Their son, Charles, lives on the old home- 
stead, and is a practical, prosperous farmer. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have been born 
Rosa, who died aged two years; Hattie A., 
Oren H., Mary E., Charles R., and Edwin B 
— all married except the last, who lives at 
home. Politically he is a republican. Mrs. 
Thompson is a member of the Baptist church 
at Twinsburg. Mr. Thompson is a well-known 
citizen and has prospered by his thrift and 
practical business ability. He owns about 
500 acres of land and is engaged in loaning 
money and looking after his farms. He is a 
straightforward man. Mrs. Thompson's moth- 
er lived to be ninety-three years old. 



-^nr* M. THORP, D. D. S., of Bath, Sum- 
m mit county, Ohio, was born in Ontario 
a1 county, N. Y., November 25, 1833, 
and is a son of Manville B. and Fanny 
W. (Clark) Thorp, early settlers of Summit 
county. 

Manville B. Thorp was a son of Jeremiah 
Thorp, a soldier of the war of 18 12, and a 
son of Nathan Thorp, who served in the war 
of the Revolution. Jeremiah had a family of 
nine children, viz: Manville B., born Febru- 
ary 7, 1808; Lucien R. , born in 18 10 — died 
in 1863, a fife-major in the Sixty-seventh Ohio, 
at Hilton Head, S. C. ; Maria L., born De- 
cember 6, 1812 — died July 29, 1871; Junius 



922 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



F. , born Maj' 19, 18 16 — died September 19, 
1882; Emily E. , born April 14, 1819; Eunice 
H., born December 8, 1821 — died May 18, 
1886; Manda G., born January i, 1828, and 
Mary J., born April 7, 1832 — died in October, 
1896. The father, Jeremiah, died October 
12, 1869, aged eighty-three years, four months 
and seventeen days. 

November 3, 1832, Manville B. Thorp 
married in Bristol, Ontario county, N. Y. , 
Miss Fanny W. Clark, a native of Massa- 
chusetts, born March 7, 181 1. Two years 
after marriage, Manville and wife and child 
came to Bath township, Summit county, Ohio, 
settled on an unimproved farm, became the 
parents of five children, and here died — the 
mother, March 16, 1886, and the father, 
March 9, 1891. 

J. M. Thorp, whose name opens this rec- 
ord, was reared a farmer, and during his youth- 
ful days was educated in the common schools. 
May 24, 1857, he married Miss Vashti M. 
Shaw, who was born in Bath township, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, August 30, 1834, a daughter 
of Sylvester and Harriet (Parsons) Shaw. 
Her father, Sylvester Shaw, was born in Bris- 
tol, Ontario county, N. Y. , March 5, 1806, 
and her mother, Harriet (Parsons) Shaw, was 
born in the same county August 11, 1809. 
They were married in their native state, Oc- 
tober 16, 1828, and in 1832 left New York and 
came to Ohio, making the trip in large wagons 
drawn by oxen and reaching Bath township, 
Summit county, November 18, of the same 
year. They built a small log cabin, and in 
this they lived several years; but Mr. Shaw 
was energetic and industrious, and at his death, 
which occurred November 17, 1875, was in 
very comfortable circumstancs, as far as this 
world's goods are concerned, and was a greatly 
respected citizen. His widow, who was a very 
intelligent lady, survived him several years. 
Their children were eight iif number and were 



named Harriet C, Sylvester P., \'ashti M., 
Samuel, Marietta, William, Sibyl B. and 
Constant. To J. M. Thorp and wife have 
been born the following-named children: Clar- 
ence E., May 8, 1866, a farmer and saw-mill 
I owner, of Bath township; Warren S., April 
29, 1869; Ayers C, January 8. 1872, both 
farmers of Bath township, and Maynard B., 
born October 15, 1874. 

In 1863, Mr. Thorp began the study of 
dental surgery, and after due preparation began 
practice in Akron, to which city, and to Rich- 
field and Bath townships, his professional du- 
ties have been confined, his dexterity and skill 
having secured him a patronage that keeps 
him constantly employed. Although unas- 
suming in manner, he possesses the confidence 
of all the inhabitants of the district to which 
he confines his practice, and is as much es- 
teemed as a gentleman as he is for his profes- 
sional ability. 



aHARLES P. TOWNSEND. of West 
Richfield, Summit count}', Ohio, and 
one of the old soldiers of the Civil 
war and a respected citizen, springs 
from sterling English ancestry of old Puritan, 
Massachusetts stock. William Townsend, 
founder of the family in America, came to 
Boston, Mass., in 1630 or 1640, and was of 
the same family as the councillor, Charles 
Townshend, as the name was then spelled. 
James, son of the founder, was the second in 
descent. Capt. ^^^illiam Townsend, the great- 
grandfather of our subject, was a Revolution- 
ary soldier, and commanded a company at 
Bunker Hill. He lived many years at either 
Bolton or Lancaster, Mass. 

Levi Townsend, grandfather of subject, 
was born at Lancaster, Mass., and was called 
out in Shay's rebellion with the militia. He 
was married to Mehitable Chandler, daughter 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



923 



of 'Squire Joel Chandler, of Alstead, Cheshire 
county, N. H., and of English descent. She 
was born in Connecticut. Levi was a farmer 
and died in Alstead, aged eighty-five years. 
His children were Joel, James, Charles and 
Abel. Levi Townsend was a much respected 
citizen and well-to-do. His son, Lieut. Joel 
Townsend, was a graduate of West Point and 
died at twenty-one years of age. James set- 
tled in Lowell, Mass., where he was a promi- 
nent man and superintendent of the Merrimac 
Cotton works for rriany years. He was com- 
mander of the Lowell guards and served in the 
Civil war three months. 

Charles Townsend, father of subject, was 
born in Alstead, N. H. , and married in Lowell, 
Mass. , where he went when a young man. 
His children were Charles P., Edwin J. and 
Emma E. His wife died and he married Lu- 
cinda M. Messer, and the children were Eliza 
and James. 

Mr. Townsend was a farmer of Alstead, 
N. H., where he had been one of the first set- 
tlers. The homestead consisted of about 600 
acres and was cleared up from the woods by 
Joel Chandler. It originally consisted of 1,000 
acres. When a young man Mr. Townsend had 
been an overseer in one of the large cotton 
mills of Lowell, Mass. He became a pros- 
perous farmer and lived to be seventy-eight 
years old and died on his farm a member and 
firm supporter of the Universalist church. In 
politics he was a democrat and held the office 
of selectman, or trustee, in his town. 

Charles P. Townsend received an academic 
education at the Alstead Normal school, and 
was reared to farming when a young man; he 
had earned an excellent reputation as a school- 
teacher at Alstead, N. H., where he taught 
three years, and after coming to Ohio taught 
three years in West Richfield, Summit county; 
and in Medina county, four years — a total of 
fifteen years. He married at Westmoreland, 



N. H., November 20, 1856, Roena M. Wilber, 
who was born January i, 1836, at Westmore- 
land, N. H., a daughter of Nelson and Mary J. 
(Burt) Wilber. In 1858 Mr. Townsend came 
to West Richfield, and engaged in farming un- 
til his enlistment, July, 1864, in company H, 
One Hundred and Seventy-seventh regiment, 
Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve one year or 
during the war, and was honorably discharged 
July 6, 1865, the war having closed. He was 
in the battles of Franklin, Tenn., at the 
Cedars, on the old Stone River battle ground,, 
and at Shelbyville Pike, Tenn. ; he was then 
transferred to Fort Fisher, N. C. , and was in 
the storming of Fort Anderson, at the capture 
of Wilmington, N. C. , and the battle of Kings- 
ton; at the capture of Goldsboro, and the cap- 
ture of Raleigh, N. C, and afterward did gar- 
rison duty at Greensboro, N. C, to the end of 
the war. 

Mr. Townsend was sick in hospital with 
typhoid fever and rheumatism at Raleigh, N. 
C, and came near death, partially recovered 
and was sent home on a furlough of thirty 
days; he rejoined his regiment at Cleveland, 
Ohio, but at that time the war had closed. 
Mr. Townsend was always an active soldier 
and was in all the battles, campaigns, skirm- 
ishes and marches in which his regiment was 
engaged, and was always prompt and cheerful 
in the discharge of his duties. He was pro- 
moted for meritorious service to be duty ser- 
geant, and afterward to be orderly sergeant. 
Mr. Townsend, in one of his engagements, 
was slightly struck with spent buckshot, and a 
minie ball grazed his right temple in the action 
of Shelbyville Pike, Tenn. 

Mr. Townsend, on returning to West Rich- 
field, engaged in carriage painting and wagon- 
making and formed a partnership with Levi 
Carr, under the firm name of Carr & Town- 
send. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend's children are 
Cora, Mary and Emma. In politics he is a re- 



924 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



publican and is a member of A. N. Goldwood 
post, No. 104, G. A. R., in which he has held 
the offices of adjutant and senior vice-com- 
mander. He has been a township trustee six 
years, clerk of election board twenty-five years, 
a justice of the peace nine years, and is a no- 
tary public. He is a non-affiliating member 
of Meridian Sun lodge, F. & A. M., at West 
Richfield, and has been senior warden. Mr. 
Townsend is a well-known citizen and has al- 
ways stood high in the esteem of his imme- 
diate community. 



at 



R. TOWNSEND, a highly-respected 
citizen of Richfield township, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, and an ex-soldier 
of the Civil war, is a son of Eli and 
Sarah (Kenyon) Townsend, and was born in 
West Richfield May 15, 1839. 

Eli Townsend was born in Cattaraugus 
county, N. Y. , was taught shoemaking, served 
as a soldier in the war of 18 12, and was mar- 
ried in his native state. In 1833 or 1834 he 
brought his family to Summit county, Ohio, 
and for some years lived in Richfield township; 
he then moved to Columbus, and later to Put- 
nam county, Ohio, where he was murdered 
about 1846. 

W. R. Townsend received a good common- 
school education and was cast hither and yon 
Until about seventeen years of age, when he 
went to Iowa, where he worked on a farm, 
and then engaged in rafting and steamboating 
on the Mississippi river two years, then in 
other lines of business, and, while in Illinois, 
had his hip dislocated. This was never prop- 
erly set, but while young and strong it did not 
discommode him, but he now feels some in- 
convenience from the injury. Returning to 
Ohio, he enlisted. May 17, 1861, at Warren, 
Trumbull county, as wagoner in company F, 
Twenty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, and 



served until honorably discharged, June 17, 
1864. He was in the battles of Lewisburg 
and Cheat Mountain, W. Va., Shiloh, first 
siege of Corinth and Stone River. His right 
foot and ankle were crushed by a wagon dur- 
ing a stampede at Stone River, and he was 
confined in hospital from January, 1863, until 
September, when he was transferred to the 
veteran reserve corps. To Mr. Townsend is 
given the credit of saving Stewart's Creek 
bridge, at Stone River, on an occasion when 
a Union ammunition wagon was stalled. The 
rebels, aware of the difficulty, made an effort 
to fire the bridge, but Mr. Townsend shot three 
dead from a pile of stones; but the fire from 
the rebels became very rapid, yet he was pro- 
tected from the severe fire, being across a 
gorge; nevertheless, he saved the bridge and 
the ammunition. Among his other experi- 
ences, although he enlisted as a wagoner, Mr. 
Townsend frequently served in the ranks; at 
one time, in 1 861, he was detailed as team- 
master in Virginia; was detailed in charge of 
ambulances and medical wagons in his regi- 
ment at another, of which he had charge when 
mustered, and while confined with his wound 
in hospital served a portion of the time as 
cook, and was always a true and faithful 
soldier. 

After his return to Richfield, Mr. Townsend 
was variously employed, and May 18, 1865, 
married Miss Frances E. Chapman, a native 
of Richfield, and a daughter of Francis E. and 
Eleanor (Farnam) Chapman, the union result- 
ing in the birth of four children, viz: Eleanor 
R. , Walter P. , Perry W. and Percy F. Mrs. 
Frances E. Townsend was called from earth 
March 13, 1873, and Mr. Townsend's second 
marriage took place June 10, 1876, to Mrs. 
Mary E. McBride, and to this marriage has 
been born one daughter, Grace E. 

Mrs. Mary E. Townsend was born July 6, 
1833, in Wyoming county, N. Y. , a daughter 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



925 



of William and Sarah (Rudgers) Barr. Will- 
iam Barr was a native of Vermont, born April 
12, 1805, was a farmer, and married, in the 
state of New York, Sarah Rudgers, who was 
born in the Empire state, a daughter of John 
and Nancy (Purdy) Rudgers, and to this union 
were born nine children, viz: Nancy L. , Sarah, 
Mary E. (Mrs. Townsend), Daniel, Henry T. ; 
Jane E., Maria A., James A. and Julia H. In 
1834, Mr. Barr came to Ohio, and settled on 
160 acres of wild land in Brecksville, Cuya- 
hoga county, and cleared up a comfortable 
home. Two of his sons, Henry and James A., 
enlisted for three years, in the Civil war, in 
battery A, First Ohio light artillery. James 
A., who was but seventeen years old when he 
entered the service, afterward veteranized 
and was promoted corporal. He took part at 
Shiloh, Corinth, Stone River, and in the At- 
lanta campaign, and served through the entire 
struggle. Mr. Barr died at the age of sixty- 
four years, in 1 87 1, a respected and substan- 
tial farmer, a member of the Methodist church, 
and in politics a republican. His daughter, 
Mary E., was first married to Francis Mc- 
Bride, a gold miner. The wedding took place 
in California, whither she had gone with her 
brother Daniel and sister Sarah, and the lat- 
ter's husband, John Aram. To her marriage 
with Mr. McBride, who died in California, 
Mrs. Mary E. McBride bore four children — 
Melissa A., Judson W., Mary E. and Francis 
G. — all grown to maturity. Three brothers 
of Mr. McBride served in the Civil war, of 
whom one was killed, and Mr. Townsend had 
three nephews in the same strife — Robert, 
Richard and Charles — children of William and 
Cynthia (Townsend) Tunwell. Robert and 
Richard were in company G, Eighteenth 
United States regulars, and Richard died in 
hospital; Charles was in the One Hundred and 
Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and was 
killed by bushwhackers near Murfreesboro, 



Tenn. E. B. Reed, a brother-in-law, who 
married Mary Townsend, served in company 
G, One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio infantry, 
was in prison at Andersonville fourteen months, 
and died from the effects June 27, 1896. 

Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Townsend are mem- 
bers of the Christian church, in which he is a 
trustee; in politics he is a republican, and has 
filled the offices of township trustee and super- 
visor. He was one of the organizers of the 
Goldwood post, G. A. R. , at West Richfield, 
was its first junior vice-commander, and has 
held the office of commander. He and family 
stand in the best social circles of Richfield, and 
are highly respected wherever known. Mr. 
Townsend is a member of Meridian Sun, F. & 
A. M., No. 266, at West Richfield, and was 
made a member in 1865. He has served as 
deacon, junior and senior warden, and is now 
the present incumbent of the office of senior 
warden. 



aHARLES T. TRUESDALL, proprie- 
tor of the first livery barn established 
in Garrettsville, was born in Nelson 
township. Portage county, Ohio, Oc- 
tober 20, 1837, a son of Charles Merritt and 
Betsey (Smith) Truesdall, also natives of the 
Buckeye state. 

Asa Truesdall, grandfather of the subject, 
was a native of N-&w^^^^?ei?k state, came to Ohio 
when a young man, settled in Nelson town- 
ship', Portage county, and here married Miss 
Katie Stowe. He served through the war of 
1812 as a substitute, and passed the remainder 
of his life in farming. He and wife both died 
in Nelson township, the parents of the follow- 
ing children : Mary, who married Alanson 
Morris, a carpenter, and died in Geauga coun- 
ty; Betsey became Mrs. Bell, and died in Iowa; 
Jane was married to a Mr. Wannemaker, and 
died at Albert Lea, Minn.; Charles M. , father 



y 



926 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



of subject; Jeremiah died in Walworth county, 
Wis. ; Alexander died at some point unknown, 
and Sherburn sought a home in the west. 

Charles M. Truesdall, father of subject, 
was born in Nelson township in February, 
about the year 1810, was here married, farmed 
all his life, and died, at the early age of forty- 
four years, May 8, 1854, an honored man and 
a substantial citizen. To him and wife were 
born five children, viz : Catherine, who died 
in infancy; Lydia Jane, who met with the same 
fate; William; Charles T. , the subject of this 
notice, and Mason, who died at the age of six 
years. After the death of Mr. Truesdall his 
widow was married to J. H. Kelsey, removed 
to Austinburg, Ohio, and there died without 
further issue, a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. 

Charles T. Truesdall was educated in a 
country school and remained on his father's 
farm until the death of the latter, when he 
went to the home of his maternal uncle, Timo- 
thy Smith, with whom he lived until he 
reached his majoriry. He then began dealing 
in live stock, and during the Civil war was 
largely engaged in purchasing horses for gov- 
ernment use. Later he took a thorough course 
at Eastman's Business college, after which he 
engaged in the livery business; although prices 
at that time were exceedingly high, his first 
buggy costing him $285, and the value of an 
ordinary livery rig being estimated at $500. 
From that time until the present, with the ex- 
ception of a few short intervals, devoted to 
live-stock speculation, his livery business has 
been his chief care, and, as he is fully posted in 
this particular line, success has naturally at- 
tended his efforts. 

September 13, 1870, Mr. Truesdall mar- 
ried Miss Elma E. Dunn, daughter of James 
Dunn, and their only child, Carl, died at the 
age of fifteen years. 

In politics Mr. Truesdall is a republican, 



and has served as assessor for Garrettsville 
many years, and also has filled the office of 
United States deputy marshal. With his wife, 
he is a member of the Baptist church, and 
has his home on his own property in Garretts- 
ville. He is polite and accommodating with 
his patrons, and is strictly upright in all his 
transactions. 



HURELIUS TUCKER, a native of 
Twinsburg, Ohio, and one of the old 
soldiers of the Civil war, was born 
June I, 1842, on his father's farm. 
His grandfather was born in Connecticut, and 
Orrin Tucker, father of Aurelius, was born 
November 11, 1796, at Saybrook, in the same 
state. The name was originally spelled 
Tooker, and the old deeds in the possession of 
the family are made out with that spelling. 
He married, in Connecticut, September 2, 
i8'20, Deborah Post, who was born April 24, 
1800, a daughter of Joshua Post, both fam- 
ilies being of English stock. 

Orrin Tucker moved to Ohio, and settled 
in Twinsburg township, as a pioneer, and 
cleared up a farm from the woods, on the 
Tinker's creek. Joshua Post settled, in 1820, 
in Northfield township, and partly cleared up 
a farm, but died in 1822, leaving thirteen chil- 
dren, two sons and eleven daughters. Mrs. 
Post lived to be eighty-nine years old. Orrin 
Tucker disposed of his original farm, moved 
to and cleared up another, consisting of fifty- 
six acres, but his title was worthless, and he 
paid for his land twice. He died August 4, 
1866, a member of the Congregationalist 
church, and in politics a republican. His 
children were Joshua W., Erastus M., Ann 
P., Chloe A., LaFayette H., Pliny, Aurelia 
F. and Aurelius. Mr. Tucker was a soldier in 
the war of 18 12. He was one of our respected 
pioneers, and had two sons in the Civil war, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



927 



Aurelius and Pliny H. Pliny H. enlisted in 
the First Iowa cavalry for three years, and 
served until the close of the war and was hon- 
orably discharged in 1865. He was pro- 
moted to orderly sergeant, and was in many 
battles. 

Aurelius Tucker was reared a farmer, and 
enlisted, August 6, 1864, in company H, 
One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio 
volunteer infantry, under Capt. Samuel Tracy, 
for one year, and served until honorably 
discharged at Washington, D. C, June 3, 
1865, the war having come to a close, and 
he having taken part in the following battles: 
Powers Creek, Murfreesboro, the Cedars, 
Shelby ville Pike, all in Tennessee; Sugar Loaf 
Battery, Federal Point, the night expedition 
above Fort Fisher, Fort Anderson, Town 
Creek, Wilmington, Kingston, Goldsboro, all 
in North Carolina, and was at Johnston's sur- 
render. At one time he was detailed to the 
ordnance department by command of Maj.- 
Gen. Milroy. He was taken sick in 1864, and 
was in hospital in Washington, D. C, for 
about one month, and from there discharged. 
He was always an active soldier and e.xcept 
his small hospital record, he was always on 
active duty. His hardest battle was at Mur- 
Murfreesboro and the worst march was one 
of ten days from Nashville to Clifton, Tenn. 
After the war he returned to Twinsburg and 
married, December 27, 1866, Miss Amanda 
M. Crawford, whowas born in Twinsburg 
township, February 22, 1848, a daughter of 
Alexander and Sophronia (Wallace) Crawford. 

Alexander Crawford was born August 14, 
1 801. was a pioneer of Aurora, Ohio, having 
come when a young man, and married in Kent, 
Ohio, May 6, 1829, Sophronia Wallace. The 
children born to this union were Wallace, 
Cadwallader, Laura, Alanson, Almira, Betsy, 
Amanda M. and Robb. Alexander Crawford 
became a prosperous farmer, owning at one 



time 500 acres of land. He was a well edu- 
cated man and many years a school-teacher on 
the Western Reserve, and a man of great in- 
telligence, and died August 27, 1870. 

Solomon Crawford, father of Alexander 
Crawford, was born February 14, 1772, and 
married Ann Crawford March 13, 1800. Al- 
though both bore the same surname they were 
in no manner related to each other. Their 
children were Alexander, Cadwallader and Isa- 
bel. Joseph Wallace, the maternal grandfa- 
ther, was a soldier in the war of 1812. 

Mr. and Mrs. Tucker settled, at their mar- 
riage, on their present farm of fifty-six acres. 
Their children are Bert G. and Ora M. Mr. 
and Mrs. Tucker are members of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church at Twinsburg, and Mr. 
Tucker is a member of Royal Dunham post, 
No. 177, G. A. R., of Bedford, Ohio. In 
politics he is a republican and cast his first 
presidential vote for Lincoln. He is an hon- 
ored citizen, and is at present assessor of his 
township, and has held the office of trustee 
and constable. 



BRANK M. UDALL, a native of 
Hiram, Portage county, Ohio, which 
is still his place of residence, was 
born December 20, 1838, a son of 
George and Malinda (Hutchings) Udall, whose 
genealogy will be traced backward to the 
grandparents of Frank M. in lines which will 
follow this paragraph. 

Frank M. Udall received a very good edu- 
cation in his youthful days, it being commenced 
in the district schools and concluded in the 
Western Reserve Eclectic institute at Hiram. 
September 20, 1861, he enlisted in company 
A, Forty-second Ohio volunteer infantry, 
which had been organized by Col. (afterward 
President) James A. Garfield, and was ap- 
pointed drummer-boy of the regimental band. 



928 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



The company was principally made up from 
students of Hiram college and took part in 
numerous battles, Mr. Udall being present at 
that of Middle Creek, Ky. , but was shortly 
afterward seLzed with fever and was confined 
in a hospital at Louisville, Ky. , a month or 
more, and at Camp Dennison, Ohio, nearly 
four months, and received an honorable dis- 
charge, November 8, 1862. 

On his return from the war to the old 
homestead, Mr. Udall rested awhile, and then 
was united in marriage, December 12, 1864, 
at Cleveland, to Miss Clara Adelia Bishop, 
who was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, 
January 2, 1847, ^ daughter of Elijah and 
Olivia (Webster) Bishop. The father of Miss 
Bishop was of French ancestry and came to 
America in 1847, landing in Nova Scotia, and 
coming thence to Ohio in the same year, but 
died in Cleveland a few days after his arrival. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Bishop were born the follow- 
ing children; Nancy, Dawson, Elizabeth, 
Andrew, Albert, Irene, Clara and Louvisa, 
and, of these, Andrew served four years in the 
Civil war, in the Second Ohio cavalry, and 
was wounded, and Albert served three years 
in the Nineteenth Ohio battery. 

After marriage Mr. Udall settled on the 
old homestead, of which he inherited a por- 
tion, and later purchased the interests of the 
other heirs thereto. The children born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Udall were Morton, who died at 
six and a half years of age; George P.; Jessie, 
who died at the age of ten years; Alevia; and 
Don B., who died in infancy. 

George Udall, father of Frank M., was born 
in Vermont, a son of Samuel and Anna (Bruce) 
Udall, and shortly after his marriage to Ma- 
linda Hutchings came to Ohio, in 18 18, with 
his parents and his own wife. He settled in 
the southwestern part of Hiram township, 
Portage county, but four years later moved to 
the homestead of 146 acres now occupied by 



his son, Frank M., and became a substantial 
and prominent citizen. His children were 
Eveline, Amanda, Roselle, George P., Louisa 
M. and DeLos A. He lived to be sixty-two 
years of age, and died one of the most re- 
spected residents of the township. 

Samuel Udall, grandfather of Frank M., 
built the first dwelling — a log cabin — on the 
present homestead, but some years later 
moved to the northeastern part of the town- 
ship. He cleared up several farms in the 
early days, became very wealthy, and, at his 
death, a venerable man, bequeathed to each 
of his children a farm of fair proportions. His 
children were named George, James, Samuel, 
Rufus, John, Alvah, Sarah, Nancy, Mary and 
Lucinda. 

Frank M. Udall is a most substantial citi- 
zen and in politics is a republican, and has 
filled the offices of township clerk and trustee; 
he is a member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, being commander of Mark Horton post 
at Garrettsville, in which he has also filled the 
position of officer of the day. He is a mem- 
ber of the Soldiers' Relief County commission, 
and in religion is a member of the Disciples' 
or Christian church. His success in life has 
been unvarying and he deserves the credit of 
having made it almost entirely through his 
own personal efforts. 



<>^ UFUS P. UPSON, one of the prom- 
I /^r inent citizens of Tallmadge township, 
J , P descends from Thomas Upson, who 
came from England and settled at an 
early day at Hartford, Conn., where he had 
the right to get wood and keep his cows on the 
common. He was also an original proprietor 
and settler of Farmington about 1638, and 
married Elizabeth Fuller in 1646. He died 
July 19, 1655, and his widow married Ed- 
mund Scott. The children were Thomas, who 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



9ii9 



moved to Saybrook and died there; Stephen; 
Mary; Hannah and Eliza — both of whom died 
July 20, 1655. Stephen, the second son of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Fuller) Upson, mar- 
ried December 29, 1682, Mary, daughter of 
John Lee, Sr. , of Famington, Conn., and died 
in 1735. aged eighty-five years. His wife died 
February 15, 1715-16. He removed to Wa- 
terbury before his marriage and became pro- 
prietor December 29, 1679, to the amount of 
fifty pounds. He signed sixty pounds agree- 
ment with Mr. Peck, and was one of the com- 
mittee to settle bonds with Woodbury in April, 
1702. He was surveyor, school committee- 
man, grand juror, often "townsman," and 
three times deputy to the general court — in May 
1 7 10, October, 171 2, and October, 1729. He 
was a sergeant in 171 5, and in 1829 he had a 
seat with the \eterans in the new meeting 
house. His children were Mary, born Novem- 
ber 5, 1683, and married Richard Welton, son 
of John; Stephen, born September 30, 1686; 
Elizabeth, born February 14, 1689; Hannah, 
born about March 16, 1695, and married, the 
first time, to Thomas Richards, and the sec- 
ond time to John Bronson. and was living, a 
widow, in 1751; Tabetha, born March 16, 
1698, and married to John Scoville, second; 
John, born December 13, 1702; Thankful, born 
March 14, 1706 or 1707, and married to 
James Blakesley. Thomas Upson, of the third 
American generation, was a son of Stephen 
and Mary (Lee) Upson; he married Rachael, 
daughter of Thomas Judd. They lived on 
Cole street near East Main, Waterbury, but he 
sold this home and removed in 1732-33 to 
Farmington and afterward to Southington, 
where he died, respected and esteemed, leav- 
ing a numerous family name. His wife, Ra- 
chael, died July 13, 1750, aged fifty-six years, 
and he died September 29, 1769, aged sixty- 
eight years. Their children were Thomas, 
born December 20, 1719; Mary and John 

40 



(twins), born January 21, 1721 — Mary mar- 
ried Josiah Newell, of Southington; John died 
in 1741; Josiah, born January 28, 1724, died 
in 1725; Asa, born November 30, 1728; T.W., 
born October 8, 1731; Amos, born March 17, 
1734; Samuel, born n March, 1737; Free- 
man, born July 24, 1739 — died in 1750. 
Thomas Upson, son of Thomas and Rachael 
(Judd) Upson, married Hannah, daughter of 
Capt. Timothy Hopkins of Waterburj', May 

28, 1749, and he settled one mile north of 
Wolcott Center, where his son, 'Squire 
Charles, afterward lived. He died in 1798, 
aged seventy-nine years. His wife, Hannah, 
died June 6, 1757. Their children were Be- 
noni, born February 14, 1750; Charles, born 
March 8, 1752; Sylvia, born June 7, 1756, and 
died in 1764. 'Squire Charles Upson, son of 
Thomas and Hannah (Hopkins) Upson, mar- 
ried Wealthy Hopkins May 26, 1773. She 
died December 28, 1783, and he married a 
widow, Mary Moulthrop, November 24, 1784. 
He resided on the homestead and was a man 
of large influence in the community, and in 
1805 had the largest tax list of any man in the 
society and subscribed the largest sum for the 
settlement of Rev. Mr. \\'oodward in 1792. 
He was a justice of the peace many years and 
was spoken of mostly as 'Squire Charles Up- 
son. He was accidentally killled in New 
Haven, by hitting his head against a beam 
while riding in a barn on a load of hay, April 

29, 1809, aged fifty-seven years. His widow 
died March 30, 1826, aged seventy-six years. 
His children, by his first wife, were Washing- 
ton, born September 2, 1775; Lee. born May 
7, 1778, and Gates, born July 18, 1780. By 
his second wife were born Thomas, Septem- 
ber 23, 1785; Charles Hopkins, July 17, 1788, 
Mark, October 24, 1790; Wealthy H., April 
18, 1794, and married March 30, 1817. Dr. 
Lee Upson, son of Charles and Wealthy (Hop- 
kins) Upson, married Roxana Lewis, and their 



930 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



children were Anson, Sarah, Israel and Olivia. 
Lee Upson was a farmer of Wolcott, Conn. , 
was a member of the Congregational church 
and died in Connecticut. All of his children 
remained in Connecticut except Anson, father 
of subject, who came to Ohio. He died June 
II, 1823. 

Anson Upson, was born December 21, 1 80 1 , 
at Wolcott, Conn., became a farmer and came 
to Tallmadge township. Summit county, Ohio, 
in 1825, a single man, and remained two years, 
when he returned to Connecticut and worked 
in a cotton factory for Seth Thomas, the fa- 
mous clockmaker. In 1832 he returned to 
Ohio, and married, in 1833, in Tallmadge, 
Polly Upson, who was born June 9, 1800, in 
Waterbury, Conn. , a daughter of Reuben and 
Hannah (Richardson) Upson. Reuben Upson 
was descended from a very distant branch of 
the same stock — so far back the relationship 
has never been traced. Anson Upson settled 
in Tallmadge township, buying a farm of sev- 
enty-two acres in the northwest corner, all in 
the woods, and cleared up the farm and lived 
here until his death on February 7, 1851, at 
forty-nine years of age. His children were 
Rufus P., born November 23, 1834; Maria P., 
born September 30, 1838; Helen L. and Har- 
riet H. (twins), born October 18, 1842. An- 
son Upson was a member of the Congrega- 
tional church and a trustee thereof at the time 
of his death. In politics he was first a whig 
and later an abolitionist. He was a very hard- 
working man and respected for his honesty of 
character. 

Rufus P. Upson, the subject of this mem- 
oir, received a common-school education and 
became a farmer. He married, October 22, 
1 86 1, Mary Upson, of Tallmadge, daughter of 
Edwin and Betsy (Blakesley) Upson. Mary 
Upson was born May 20, 1836, in Tallmadge. 
Edwin Upson, father of Mrs. Upson, was born 
May 21, 1804, in Waterbury, Conn., a son of 



Horatio and Hannah (Cook) Upson. Horatio 
was a son of John, the grandfather of Julius 
Upson, a distant relative. 

After marriage Mrs. Upson settled on the 
homestead of his father. He prospered by his 
steady thrift and industry and now owns two 
good farms. He moved, in 1891, to his pres- 
ent excellent farm, which consists of 100 acres 
well improved with good buildings. Mrs. Up- 
son is a member of the Congregational church, 
and Mr. Upson, in politics, was one of the 
original republicans, voting for Abraham Lin- 
coln on his first nomination for the presidency 
of the United States, and has served as town- 
ship trustee for nine years. He has always 
been a straightforward citizen, well known for 
integrity of character. He and wife are the 
parents of Addie M., Amelia A., Edward A., 
Henry S. , George L. , and Bessie L. 

Edwin Upson, father of Mrs. Upson, came 
to Tallmadge township, a single man, aged 
eighteen years, in 1822. He came with his 
uncle Reuben, Calvin Treat and Abraham 
Hine. This party footed it from Connecticut, 
arriving in Buffalo, N. Y., in eighteen days. 
Edwin returned to Connecticut and married, 
and moved with his family to Tallmadge in 
1833 and settled in the north part of the town- 
ship, on land partly improved with a log house, 
and with fifteen acres cleared of a total of 107 
acres. The remainder he cleared up and im- 
proved with good dwellings and had a good 
home. His parents, Horatio and Hannah 
(Cook) Upson, came with him and lived with 
him until their deaths. Edwin Upson and 
wife were members of the Congregational 
church, in which faith he lived to be eighty-one 
years old and died May i, 1885. His widow 
is now aged eighty-four years and reads with- 
out glasses and does fine sewing and embroid- 
ery and is very active mentally and physically. 
The children were Mary M., Jacob E., who 
died at five years of age, and Joseph E. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



931 



aHARILAUS VAIL, one of the de- 
deceased soldiers of the Civil war, 
who died many years after its close 
from his wounds, was born Decem- 
ber 9, 1833, at Twinsburg, Summit county, 
Ohio, a son of Homer G. and Ann (Post) Vail, 
the former of whom was a pioneer of Twins- 
burg, was born in New York state, of English 
descent, and was the father of Julia, Julius 
and Charilaus. Charilaus Vail received a good 
common education, was a painter by trade and 
married, November 25, 1855, in Peninsula, 
Ohio, Maria Carpenter, born January 30, 1 84 1 , 
at Twinsburg, Ohio, daughter of Aaron and 
Tirsa (Drake) Carpenter. 

Aaron Carpenter was born and reared in 
New York state and came when a young man 
to Ohio. His children were Malinda, Luna, 
Elijah, Mattie, Mary, Cynthia, Dorcas, Doro- 
thea, Maria, Benajer, George and Comfort. 
Aaron Carpenter lived in Twinsburg for some 
years, then moved to Northfield township and 
bought a farm of 160 acres, where he lived 
until his death, at about forty-nine years of 
age, a member of the Methodist church. One 
son, Benajer, was in the Second Ohio cavalry, 
and re-enlisted in the Twelfth Ohio cavalry. 
He was in the battle of Mt. Sterling and one 
other battle, and was taken prisoner at Lex- 
ington, Ky. , but escaped. After marriage, Mr. 
and Mrs. Charilaus Vail settled in Twinsburg, 
where he enlisted, October 11, 1863, as a pri- 
vate of company E, Twelfth regiment Ohio 
cavalry, and was promoted to corporal for 
meritorious services. He served until honor- 
ably discharged, October 1 1, 1864, an account 
of wounds received in battle. He was in the 
battle of Mt. Sterling, Ky. , June 19, 1864, 
and while in pursuit of the raider, John Mor- 
gan, was shot, the ball entering the right side, 
just above the hip, and coming out on the left 
side, taking off the ear of his comrade's horse. 
Mr. Vail laid on the battle field from nine o'clock 



A. M. to five o'clock P. M., three attempts be- 
ing made to carry him off the field, but failing, 
his comrades being frightened by false alarms 
that the rebels were coming. He lay behind 
a stump and once the rebels took him prisoner, 
but were driven off. He was finally laid in a 
fence corner and covered with a blanket, a 
Union man, who lived on the place, giving him 
some milk. Being out of sight, the amublances 
missed him, and he was not taken to field 
hospital until five P. M. This was but one- 
half mile distant. The surgeon drew a silk 
handkerchief through his wound to cleanse it, 
and he was taken three weeks later to Lexing- 
ton, Ky., hospital. It was expected he would 
die on the way. He was sent home October 
1 1, where he arrived October 13, 1864. From 
this nearly fatal wound he was lame the re- 
mainder of his life, and it finally caused his 
death, October 13, 1895. After partial re- 
covery he followed his trade as a painter as 
best he could, but was always disabled. In 
politics he was a republican, and served as 
constable of Northfield two terms; he was an 
honored member of George L. Waterman post, 
G. A. R. , at Peninsula, in which he held sev- 
eral" offices. To Mr. and Mrs. Vail were born 
Mary, Allen, Clarence, Harry, Frankie and 
Cora. Mr. Vail was always an industrious, 
straightforward man, much respected for his 
honest character and sterling worth, and his 
widow and children share the high regard in 
which he was held. 



^~V*AMUEL R. VAN NOSTRAN, a well- 
•^^^kT known carpenter and dairyman of 

h<^ Aurora township, Portage county, 
Ohio, and an ex-soldier of the Civil 
war, was born in Jefferson township, Tuscara- 
was county, Ohio, on his father's farm, De- 
cember 6, 1843, a son of John and Charity 
(Ridgway) Van Nostran, of whom mention 



932 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



will be further made toward the close of this 
memoir. 

Samuel R. Van Nostran received the usual 
farmer-lad education, and learned all he could 
of agriculture until his enlistment, August 25, 
1862, at New Philadelphia, Ohio, in Capt. 
John Robinson's company C, Eightieth Ohio 
volunteer infantry, for three years, provided 
the war should not sooner come to a close, 
which so happened, and he was honorably 
discharged at Washington, D. C. , May 25, 
1865, under Capt. Christian Dies. He took 
an active part in the battles of Raymond, 
Jackson, Miss.; siege of Vicksburg; engage- 
ments at Missionary Ridge, Resaca, and 
marched through to North Carolina, where he 
fought at Wise's Cross Roads. At Beaver 
Dam, Ala., while he and a comrade were en- 
gaged in repairing a trestle of a bridge some 
twenty-live feet high, the rebels burned out 
two other trestles, which weakened the bridge 
and caused its fall, precipitating Mr. Van Nos- 
tran and a comrade into the debris beneath. 
For several days Mr. Van Nostran lay sense- 
less, and during this time was robbed of all his 
money — $30. On being rescued from the wreck, 
it was discovered that his collar-bone was brok- 
en, his left arm broken, his left ankle fractured 
and that his left hip had also suffered a frac- 
ture. He was placed in a hospital at Hunts- 
ville, Ala., where he remained five months. 
But this serious mishap did not prevent his 
sharing in the battles of Resaca and Wise's 
Cross Road, which were subsequent events. 
The consequence of his injuries, however, will 
attend him to the grave. 

After the war, Mr. Van Nostran returned 
to his home in Tuscarawas county, and there 
learned the carpenter's trade. In that county, 
also, he was married, November 23, 1871, to 
Miss Mollie A. Mizer, who was born in the 
county, June 8, 1850, in Buck township, a 
daughter of John and Rachel (Morol) Mizer, 



of whom, also, further mention will be made. 
At marriage, the young couple located in 
Bakersville, Coshocton county, where Mr. Van 
Nostran worked at his trade until 1891, which 
year was passed in Canton, Ohio, and he then 
settled, in 1892, on his present place, where he 
still follows contracting and carpenter work, 
and conducts, beside, a dairy of thirty cows. 
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Van Nostran 
have been born five children, viz. ; Albert, 
John Edwin (who died in infancy), Charles 
R., Lulu E. D. and Beatrice D. The parents 
are members of the Disciples' church, at Au- 
rora, and Mr. Van Nostran is a non-affiliating 
Knight of Pythias. In politics he is a repub- 
lican, and cast his first vote for A. Lincoln, 
while in the ranks. 

John Van Nostran, father of Samuel R., was 
a son of John, a pioneer of Stark county, Ohio, 
who descended from a Dutch settler of Pennsyl- 
vania. John, father of subject, on settling in 
Tuscarawas county, cleared up a farm of 152 
acres, and became a substantial farmer. To 
his marriage with Miss Charity Ridgway were 
born the following children: Sarah A., Sam- 
uel R. , Benjamin F., George H., Eliza A., 
Mary, Annetta, John H., Hattie, David, Mar- 
tha, Eva, and an infant that died unnamed, 
and of these Samuel R., Benjamin F. and 
George H. served in the Civil war, the last two 
named in the one year service, with the One 
Hundred and Ninety-fourth Ohio volunteer 
infantry. John Van Nostran lived to be si.xty- 
five years old, when he was suddenly stricken 
with death while cradling oats. He was a 
member of the Methodist church, a pious 
Christian and a hardworking farmer. 

John Mizer, father of Mrs. Mollie A. Van 
Nostran, was born in Tuscarawas county, 
Ohio, about 1825, a son of Jacob and Maria 
(Smith) Mizer, the former of whom was a 
pioneer from Pennsylvania, owned a farm 
of 400 acres and lived to be eighty years 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



933 



of age. John Mizer now owns ii8 acres 
of the homestead, and is a prosperous tiller 
of the soil. To his marriage with Miss 
Morol have been born the following-named 
children: Malinda J., Sarah A., Mollie A., 
Catherine E., David L. , Lydia E., Samatha 
E., John W. and Carrie E. Mr. and Mrs. 
Mizer are members of the Lutheran church at 
Evans Creek, Ohio, in which he is a deacon, 
and in politics Mr. Mizer is a democrat, under 
the auspices of which party he has for five 
years been a justice of this place. David 
Mizer, a brother of John, was a soldier in the 
Civil war, was shot on board a gunboat, and 
his body buried in the Mississippi river. 

Samuel R. Van Nostran is one of the most 
respected citizens of Aurora township, was a 
brave and faithful soldier, and endured the 
hardships of war with cheerful fortitude, and 
well deserves the high esteem in which he is 
-universally held. Mr. and Mrs. VanNostran's 
grandfathers were both active participants in 
the Revolutionarv war. 



^■^ MITH ELMER WADSWORTH, the 
•^^^kT genial proprietor of the Wadsworth 

K^^ House, at Garrettsville, has con- 
ducted this establishment for sixteen 
years, it being the only hotel in the village. 
He is a native of Windham township, Portage 
county, Ohio, was born October 15, 1848, and 
is a son of Elmer Dwight and Wealthy Eme- 
line (Smith) Wadsworth, natives, respectively, 
of Portage county, and Becket, Mass. 

Xenophon Wadsworth, grandfather of sub- 
ject, was a native of Massachusetts and a pio- 
neer of Windham township, where he owned 
a farm, on which he died at the age of forty- 
five years, his widow surviving him some 
years. They were the parents of nine chil- 
dren, of whom seven reached mature years, 



Elmer Dwight, father of subject, being the 
eldest. 

Elmer Dwight Wadsworth was born in 
1820, was reared a farmer, and on leaving the 
farm located in Garrettsville, where he first 
conducted a meat market, and later engaged 
in the hotel business. He died in 1888, in the 
faith of the Congregational church. To his 
marriage with Miss Smith were born five chil- 
dren, viz: Smith E. , the subject; Arthur D., 
who died at the age of twenty-eight years; 
Alida and Xenophon, who reside in Garretts- 
ville, and Treasure Hattie, who was married 
to Dr. John Dixon, and died in Ashtabula, 
Ohio, in January, 1896. 

Smith E. Wadsworth, the subject of this 
memoir, was educatad primarily in the district 
school and then attended Oberlin college two 
years, after which he taught school in winter 
and followed agricultural pursuits in summer 
for three years, when his health became im- 
Pfiired, and, under the advice of his physicians, 
he engaged in the meat business with his father 
and brother for some time time, but during 
this period embarked in hotel keeping. Be- 
side his meat and hotel business Mr. Wads- 
worth has furnished ice to the residents of 
Garrettsville for a number of years, and for 
twenty years has handled nearly all the hides, 
pelts and tallow of the town — sometimes at 
the rate of $5,000 a year. 

In 1875 he married Miss Hannah L. Stiles, 
who was born in Paris township, Portage 
county, a daughter of James Stiles, and to this 
union have been born two children — Arthur J. 
and Nellie. 

Smith E. Wadsworth is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he 
is a republican. He is a member of Garretts- 
ville lodge. No. 246, F. & A. M., and has 
passed all the chairs in Portage lodge, No. 
456, I. O. O. F. He has made his own way 
through the world at all times, now owns his 



934 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



hotel property, and through his courteous 
manners and accommodating disposition has 
gained hosts of friends, who hold him in the 
highest esteem. 



KIRAM DENNIS WALKER, of Man- 
tua Station, Portage county, Ohio, is 
a veteran of the Civil war, who lost 
an arm in the battle of Petersburg, 
Va., is a son of John and Sarah (Cline) 
Walker, and was born near Salem, Colum- 
biana county, Ohio. 

Alexander Walker, grandfather of Hiram 
D., was a farmer of considerable means in 
Lancaster county. Pa., was a Lutheran in reli- 
gion, and passed all his life in his native state. 
His son, John Walker, was born in Lancaster 
county January 8, 1788, was a farmer and 
early came to Ohio. He married in Canfield, 
Mahoning bounty, Miss Sarah Cline, their 
union resulting in the birth of Mary S., Hettie, 
Annie, Lovina, Melissa, Rhynear, William, 
Frederick and Hiram D. On settling in Co- 
lumbiana county he followed milling as a voca- 
tion, and there passed the remainder of his life, 
dying a member of the United Brethren church 
August 31, 1853, having come to the state 
when about twenty-one years of age, in 1809. 
Of his four sons, two, Frederick and Hiram 
D. , were in the Civil war — Frederick serving 
three years in company F, Seventh Ohio vol- 
unteer infantry. 

Peter Cline, father of Mrs. Sarah Walker, 
was born in Lancaster county. Pa., January 
II, 1792, was a farmer, and came to Ohio, a 
young man, about 1809, and here passed most 
of his life as a farmer, but lived several years 
in Ravenna. He was first married to a Miss 
Haynes, who bore him five children — William, 
John, Ossie, Elizabeth and Susan. By a 
second marriage, with Miss Catherine Beard, 



were born Henry, Nancy and Mary. Mrs. 
Walker was also born to the last marriage. 
Mr. Cline died in Newton Falls, Trumbull 
county. May 21, 1854, a greatly respected 
citizen, as he had served in the war of 18 12,. 
and had suffered many hardships in the lake 
regions. One of his sons, John Cline, also 
became a soldier, and served in the Civil war 
for three years in a battery of Ohio artillery. 
Hiram D. Walker, at the age of four years, 
was placed by his parents in charge of a 
Quaker, Daniel Bolton, of Salem, who sent 
him to the district school, taught him his own 
trade of machinist, and also had him instructed 
in the trades of blacksmithing and carpenter- 
ing. In 1847 he went to Newton Falls, Ohio, 
to work as a blacksmith, and at the age of 
about twenty-one years, was married. May g, 
1848, at that place, to Miss Nancy Walker, 
who was born July i, 1827, at Albany, Colum- 
biana county, a daughter of Peter and Cather- 
ine (Beard) Cline, both families being of Penn- 
sylvania-Dutch stock. Mr. and Mrs. Walker, 
some years after marriage, removed from New- 
ton Falls to Paris, Portage county, where he 
worked at the carpenter's trade from 1856 un- 
til the breaking out of the Civil war, when he 
enlisted, August 22, 1861, in the Second Ohio 
cavalry, under Col. Robert Ratcliff and Capt. 
Henry L. Burnett, for three years, but was 
honorably discharged, on account of disability, 
October 2, 1862, having been injured in as- 
sisting to build a military bridge at Fort Scott, 
Kans. He then returned to Paris, Ohio, and 
having recovered from his injuries, re-enlisted 
as a veteran. May 9, 1864, in company K, One 
Hundred and Tenth Ohio volunteer infantry, 
Lieut. Traub having command of the company. 
During his two enlistments, ending with his 
second honorable discharge, July 3, 1865, on 
account of the close of the war, he took part 
in the battle of Sarcoxie, Mo., and in many 
shirmishes with bushwhackers in the same 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



935 



state — extra-dangerous there as elsewhere; 
was through the Shenandoah valley with Sher- 
idan; fought at Winchester, and at Opequan 
Creek, Cedar Creek, Berryville, Va., Monoc- 
acy Creek, Md., and at the siege and fall of 
Petersburg, Va., where he was shot through 
the upper part of his left arm by a minie ball 
March 29, 1865. His arm was amputated the 
same night at field hospital, whence he was 
taken to City Point, Va., where he lay ten 
days, and was then transferred to Baltimore, 
Md., remaining there in hospital three days, 
then in hospital at Washington, D. C, two 
months; then in Chester Hill hospital. Pa., 
three weeks, whence he was transferred, via 
Pittsburg, to Camp Chase hospital, Columbus, 
Ohio, where he was finally mustered out, with 
the rank of sergeant, having been promoted 
for brave and meritorious conduct on the field, 
in the face of the enemy. 

Mr. Walker arrived at his home in Paris, 
July 3, 1865, but has never been able to do 
anything in the way of labor, excepting in the 
superintendence of a few irregular jobs, now 
and again, as circumstances permit and his 
sufferings allow. In 1 890 he moved with his 
family to Mantua Station, where he enjoys the 
deserved respect which every patriot who has 
been disabled in the service of his country is 
entitled to from great or small. He has been 
blessed with four children — Sarah E., EllaM., 
Eva A. and Ida A., all of whom are happily 
married and well settled in life. 

Mr. Walker is a republican in politics; is a 
member of Bentley post. No. 294, G. A. R. , at 
Mantua Station, of which he is chaplain, and 
is also a member of the Junior Order of 
American Mechanics. He and his wife are 
members of the Methodist church, and have 
fully lived up to its precepts, which, it may 
well be borne in mind, ever lead to the 
straight and narrow way that finds its end in 
eternal rest and bliss. 



<>^^ M. WANAMAKER, a rising young 
I /^r lawyer of Akron, is a native of North 
J . P Jackson, Mahoning county, Ohio, was 
born August 2, 1866, and is a son of 
Daniel and Laura (Schoenberger) Wanamaker, 
of German descent. The father is now a resi- 
dent of Akron, but the mother is deceased, 
and of their four children the subject is the 
eldest. Of the remaining three, Mamie was 
married to John A. Campbell, but is now de- 
ceased; Charles S. is assistant cashier for the 
Standard Oil company at Cleveland, and Ger- 
trude C, a stenographer, resides with her 
brother, the subject of this review. 

R. M. Wanamaker was born and reared on 
a farm and received his elementary education 
in the common schools. Farm work engaged 
his attention during vacations; work in a flax- 
mill and baling hay were a source of income 
with which he defrayed his college expenses 
during his first term at the Ohio Normal uni- 
versity, at Ada, Ohio; after this term he began 
teaching, at the age of sixteen, and alternated 
his time between teaching and attending school 
until twenty-one years of age, when he became 
principal of the high school at Ada; a year 
later he removed to Lima (1888), where, for 
three years, he was principal of the public 
schools on the west side, superintending fifteen 
rooms; he was then re-elected by the board the 
fourth year, but resigned in order to be more 
fully able to prosecute his study of the law 
under Ridenour & Halfhill, of Lima, and in 
the fall of 1 89 1 entered the law department at 
Ada university, from which he graduated in 
the spring of 1893, and in March of the same 
year was admitted to the bar. In September, 
1893, he came to Akron, and on October i the 
firm of Young & Wanamaker was established, 
and which still obtains. He at once entered 
upon a vigorous campaign to conquer a client- 
age, and at the same time to do all the work 
he could for the republican party. He was 



936 



• PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



soon recognized as a 3'oung attorney of abil- 
ity, both by the general public and his party. 
His first case as an attorney was the charge 
of a murder trial and he also conducted 
the prosecution in the Cotell murder case, 
which attracted a great deal of public attention 
at the time. 

In 1895 Mr. Wanamaker was placed in 
nomination by his party for the office of pros- 
ecuting attorney of Summit county ( having 
two contestants for the nomination) and at the 
ensuing election ran far ahead of his ticket — 
an indication of his popularity. As an orator 
he is choice in his language, logical in his de- 
ductions and convincing in argument, while 
his legal knowledge is highly creditable for one 
so lately admitted to the bar. He is a mem- 
ber of the State Bar association; of McPherson 
lodge, No. 63, K. of P. ; of Akron lodge. No. 
547, I. O. O. F. ; Tiptop tent, K. of M. ; also 
of the tribe of Ben Hur, and of the Akron club. 

Mr. Wanamaker was most happily united 
in marriage, April 7, 1889, at Ada, Ohio, with 
Miss Fannie Snow, daughter of F. E. and Mary 
Snow, and this union has been blessed with 
two children — Mary Laurine and Walter 
Blaine. The parents are members of the 
First Congregational church and stand very 
high socially. Their residence is at No. 1078 
South Main street, and Mr. Wanamaker's 
office is at No. 182 South Main street, in the 
Harter block. 



m 



'ILLIAM A. WARNER, a highly re- 
spectable farmer of Coventry town- 
ship, is a native of Green township, 
Summit county, Ohio, was born 
October 5, 1845, and is of English descent. 

John Warner, great-grandfather of subject, 
while still a young man, came from his native 
England and located in Maryland, where he 
was married and shortly afterward came to 



Ohio, lived for a short time in Stark county, 
and then permanently settled on a tract of 
land in Coventry township, Summit county, 
among the Indians of the primeval forest, be- 
ing one of the county's earliest pioneers. His 
son, Henry Warner, grandfather of subject, 
was born in Maryland, married Catherine Kep- 
ler, and had a family of eight children, viz : 
John, Adam (deceased), Jacob, William, Ann, 
Abraham, Solomon, and Daniel — the last 
named also deceased. Henry Warner was 
also a pioneer of Coventry township. Summit 
county, Ohio, where he cleared up from the 
forest a farm of 105 acres, and became 
thoroughly identified with the development of 
the township, becoming a charter member of 
the East Liberty church, and a leader in local 
politics, being, himself, a Jackson democrat. 
John Warner, son of Henry and father of 
subject, was born in Coventry township in 
March, 1821, on the farm on which subject 
still resides, and in 1844 married Elizabeth 
Weaver, who was born in 1824, a daughter of 
James P. Weaver. To Mr. and Mrs. Warner 
have been born six children, in the following 
order: William A., Henry, Samuel. John J., 
Adam, and Mary (the last named deceased). 
For many years the parents continued to re- 
side in Coventry township, but finally removed 
to Norton township, generously presenting to 
each of the children a good farm and other- 
wise aiding them, and retaining for themselves 
only sufficient to sustain themselves in their 
old age. Mr. Warner has of late espoused 
the cause of the prohibition party, but was 
formerly a democrat and held many of the 
township offices of Coventry, as well as sev- 
eral offices in the Methodist Episcopal church 
of New Portage. He has been generous in his 
aid to this as well as to all the other churches 
of the neighborhood. He is still hale and 
hearty and is highly respected as an old settler, 
and for his charitable disposition, which has 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



937 



for years been made manifest in the county for 
miles around. 

William A. Warner received a good com- 
mon-school education and was reared to man- 
hood on his father's farm. He married, Feb- 
ruary 1 8, 1866, Miss Sarah Spittler, who was 
born in Springfield township, Summit county, 
April 14, 1843, a daughter of Christian and 
Barbara (Weyrickj Spittler. Her parents 
were natives of Union township, Union county. 
Pa., were there married, and there had born 
to them four of their ten children, the others 
having been born in Ohio. They were named, 
in order of birth, as follows: Jacob, John, 
Elizabeth (Mrs. Jacob Sprigler), Catherine 
(Mrs. Fred Easier"), Mary (Mrs. J. A. Van 
Vermer), Sarah (Mrs. Warner), George (de- 
ceased from effects of army life), Jacob (de- 
ceased) and Henry ist, and Henry 2nd (both 
deceased). Mr. Spittler was a carpenter by 
trade and died in Plymouth, Ind., in 1877; 
his widow died in Munroe Falls, Ohio, De- 
cember 31, 1891 — both members of the En- 
glish Reformed church. To Mr. and Mrs. 
William A. Warner have been born two chil- 
dren: William J., born July 22, 1868 — died 
in December, 1868, and Mary E., born De- 
cember II, 1869. The latter was married, 
December 12, 1889, to William J. Farriss, a 
native of New York, and has had three chil- 
dren, viz: Lottie M., who died in 1890, in 
infancy, Sarah E. and Willie A. 

Mr. Warner's farm consists of 100 acres, 
twenty-five of which were originally part of 
his father's homestead, and seventy-five of 
which have been the result of his own industry 
and frugality. He has improved his place 
with a modern house and barn, at a cost of 
$3,000, and has one of the most pleasant 
homesteads in the township. He and wife 
are members of the Pleasant "Valley Methodist 
Episcopal church, in which Mr. W^arner is a 
trustee. In politics Mr. Warner has chiefly 



voted with the democratic party, and by this 
party was elected township treasurer in 1880, 
which office he still continues to fill. He is 
respected wherever known, both as a liberal 
and public-spirited citizen and as a gentleman 
of strictly moral character. 



HARON E. WARNER, the enterpris- 
ing young blacksmith of Manchester, 
was born in East Liberty, Summit 
county, Ohio, March 11, 1871, and 
is of the third generation of the Summit 
county family bearing his name. 

Adam Warner, grandfather of subject and 
a native of the county, married Elizabeth 
Reminger, and owned a farm in Coventry 
township; he was a substantial and highly- 
respected citizen, in politics was a democrat, 
and with his wife a consistent member of the 
United Brethren church. His son, Henry R. 
Warner, the father of subject, was born on 
the Coventry township farm, on which he lived 
until twentj'-one years of age, when he began 
learning the blacksmith's trade. His educa- 
tional facilities were somewhat limited, but by 
self-, instruction he mastered the common En- 
glish branches of learning. He married Miss 
E. Bower, a daughter of Benjamin and Eliza- 
beth Bower, and this union resulted in the 
birth of the following children: Aaron E. 
(subject), Ida E. (wife of William Richard), 
Homer E., Earl B., Ora B., Lillian M., and 
Stanley B., all still living to bless the declining 
years of the parents, who have lived in East 
Liberty for the past twenty-seven years, where 
Mr. Warner, by his industry, has secured a 
comfortable home. In his politics Mr. W^arner 
was a democrat up to the fall of 1896, when 
he voted for McKinley for president of the 
United States, believing the republican party 
to be sound on the questions of tariff and 
finance. He has reared his family in respect- 



938 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ability, and he and wife enjoy the esteem of 
all who know them. 

Aaron E. Warner received a good common- 
school education, notwithstanding the fact 
that he began learning his trade with his fa- 
ther at the early age of twelve years, and that 
he remained with him until two years ago, 
when he located in Manchester. 

April lo, 1895, Mr. Warner married Miss 
Ella Warner, daughter of J. J. and Sarah 
(Kreigham) Warner. J. J. Warnerisa citizen 
of East Liberty and is the owner of a sixty- 
acre farm, but is beside a dealer in buggies, 
to which trade he chieflj' devotes his attention; 
in politics he is a democrat, and he and wife 
are active members of the Evangelical church, 
and both are greatly respected by their neigh- 
bors. The marriage of Aaron E. Warner has 
been blessed with one child — Grace A. Aaron 
E. Warner has a good shop and tools — far bet- 
ter than the ordinary run — and is rapidly build- 
ing up an excellent trade. Beside his shop 
he owns the lot adjoining, on which he has a 
neat village cottage, and is altogether a thrifty 
and prosperous young man. In politics he is 
a democrat, and during his brief residence in 
Manchester has gained a host of warm friends. 



^"^IMON B. WEARY, the well-known 
•^^^k* lumber manufacturer of Akron, Ohio, 

^ J was born in Marlborough township. 
Stark county, July 29. 1823, a son 
of Samuel and Mary M. (Smith) Weary, natives 
of Pennsylvania and pioneers of Ohio, who 
first located in Canfield, Mahoning county, in 
1817, but in 1823 removed to Marlborough 
township, Stark county, where the father was 
engaged in farming until his death, in 184O, at 
the age of forty-eight years, his widow surviv- 
ing until 1884, when she died at the age of 
ninety. Samuel Weary came of German 
stock, and had served in the war of 1812; the 



father of Mrs. Weary was a soldier prior to 
the Revolution, and was at the capture of 
Fort Duquesne (Fort Pitt), now Pittsburg, Pa. 
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Weary were 
born twelve children, of whom eleven reached 
the years of maturity, viz: Margaret, now 
Mrs. Rue; Catherine, wife of Amos Johnson; 
John, killed by a falling tree, at the age of 
eighteen years; Sarah, wife of John P. Smith; 
Simon B., our subject; Daniel, Jacob, Henry; 
Mary, married to George Cook; Elizabeth; 
Benjamin, who was killed while on. a scout 
during the late war, the day after Lee's sur- 
render. The maternal great-grandfather of 
Mr. Weary was George Smith, who was born 
in France of German parentage and came to 
America in 1764, when the maternal grand- 
father of Mr. Weary was about eight years of 
age, and settled in what is now known as 
Perry county, Pa. 

Simon B. Weary grew to manhood in 
Stark county, received a fair common-school 
education in the frontier log school-house, and 
in the spring of 1841 began a three-year ap- 
prenticeship at the carpenter's trade, at the 
completion of which he worked in Stark 
county as a journeyman until the fall of 1847, 
when he came to Akron and worked until the 
spring of 1848; the next three years he fol- 
lowed his trade in Sheboygan, Wis., and in 
185 1 returned to Akron and worked as a jour- 
neyman until 1853, when he purchased an in- 
terest in a door, sash and blind factory, which 
interest he held for three years; he next alter- 
nated as journeyman and proprietor until 
January, 1864, when the firm of Weary, 
Snyder & Co. was organized, and a successful 
lumber manufacture, especially in the way of 
doors, sashes and blinds, was carried on until 
1894, when a disastrous fire destroyed the 
plant, since which time the members of the 
firm have been engaged in settling up their 
business affairs. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



939 



In politics Mr. Weary has always been 
identified with the cause of freedom, having 
cast his first vote with the liberty party, 
espousing the abolition cause, and finally be- 
coming a republican. He is a public-spirited 
citizen, and has always been industrious, 
thrifty and enterprising, and well deserves the 
great respect in which he is held by his fellow- 
men of all conditions. 

In 1847 Mr. Weary was united in marriage, 
and as a result of this union three children 
are living, viz: Frank O., Flora C. (now Mrs. 
James Moore), and Edwin D., now a resident 
of Chicago. 



aHARLES B. WEBB, proprietor of 
the Garrettsville Journal, was born 
in Freedom township, Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, May 28, 1848, and is a son 
of Dr. James Webb, deceased, of whom full 
mention is made in the biography of Rollin S. 
Webb, on another page. 

Charles Bushnell Webb, our subject, was 
educated in the common schools of Freedom 
and at Hiram college, and for two winters 
taught school. He then chose the trade of 
printer for his life-work, with a view to jour- 
nalism, and began learning the trade in the 
office of the Journal in Garrettsville, and later 
worked in the office of the Leader, in Cleve- 
land, where he remained until 1873, when he 
returned to Garrettsville and purchased the 
Journal plant, "out and out." 

The Garrettsville Journal was founded July 
I, 1865, by Warren Peirce, who conducted it 
until purchased by Mr. Webb. It is one of 
the oldest papers in the county, and has never 
contained objectionable reading matter of any 
kind, either in its news, literary or advertising 
columns. It is a six-column eight-page paper, 
devoted to the interests of Garrettsville and 
surrounding country, and since Mr. W'ebb has 



been its owner has had the full confidence of 
the public, and has thus met with continuous 
success. 

Mr. Webb was married, January 6, 1875, 
to Miss Ella McHenry, a native of Tuscarawas 
county, Ohio, and a daughter of Reuben and 
Adaline (Chase) McHenry. The father was a 
native of Virginia, who came early to Ohio, 
became a farmer of more than ordinary ex- 
tent in Tuscarawas county; later resided in 
Canton, Stark county, and died at the home 
of his daughter in Sandyville township, in the 
county first named. The mother of Mrs. Webb 
was a native of Massachusetts and a daughter 
of Josiah Chase, who was a relative of the 
late Salmom P. Chase, chief justice of the su- 
preme court of the United States. Mr. and 
Mrs. McHenry were the parents of eleven 
children, of whom nine reached mature years, 
viz: Nancy, wife of William Fox, of Charles- 
ton township. Portage county; Eliza, married 
to William Minnis, of Tuscarawas county; Al- 
bert D., a Methodist clergyman, who was a 
missionary to India for eight years, and is now 
a member of the East Ohio conference; Mar- 
tin, a resident of Colorado Springs and super- 
intendent of a mine at Cripple Creek, Colo. ; 
Josiah C. , a railway conductor, residing in 
Allegheny City, Pa. ; William, who was a first 
lieutenant of the Nineteenth Ohio volunteer 
infantry, and killed at Atlanta, Ga. ; James A., 
an attorney of Howard, Kans. ; Alden, of 
Springfield, 111., and Ella, now Mrs. Webb. 
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Webb has been 
blessed with four children, viz: Estella, Ger- 
trude, Lawrence and Helen, all at home, and 
all reared, or being reared, in the faith of the 
Congregational church, of which the parents 
are consistent members, and of which Mr. 
Webb is chairman of the board of trustees. 

In politics Mr. Webb is of republican pro- 
clivities, but has never been an office-seeker, 
nor does he obtrude his personal political views 



y40 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



upon the readers of the Journal, although he 
is a member of the James A. Garfield club, of 
the old Nineteenth congressional district of 
Ohio. Fraternally, Mr. Webb is an Odd Fel- 
low, and his wife and one daughter are mem- 
bers of the Rebekah degree of that order. 

Mr. Webb has been very successful in his 
management of the Journal, and not only 
owns his place of business, but his newly-built 
dwelling on High street. Like all the other 
members of this old family, he stands very 
high in the esteem of the public. 



M 



'ILLIAM H. WEIR. M. D.. of Edin- 
burg township. Portage county. 
Ohio, was born in Hamilton count}" 
November 20. 1838, a son of Dr. 
Elias W. and Mary G. (Ufford) Weir. 

Dr. Elias W. Weir was a native of \\'ash- 
ington county. Pa., was born in January. 1812. 
and when a boy was brought by his parents to 
Trumbull county, Ohio, where his elementary 
education was acquired in the district schools. 
After due preparation he began the study of 
medicine, and after graduation began practice 
in southern Illinois, where he followed his 
profession until his death. In 1830 he mar- 
ried Miss Marv G. Ufford, who was born in 
Middletown, Conn., and who died in Novem- 
ber, 1863. Dr. E. W. Weir served through- 
out the war of the Rebellion in the Eleventh 
Missouri volunteer infantry, and three of his 
sons also served through the same war. in the 
Forty-eighth Illinois, Seventh Ohio and Sixth 
Indiana regiments. At the time of his death, 
in 1880, the doctor was one of the oldest Odd 
Fellows in the United States, being a charter 
member of lodge No. i, of Cincinnati, and 
also charter member of Mahoning lodge. No. 
29, at Warren, Ohio, and few men were more 
generally and highly esteemed, both profes- 
sionally and fraternally. 



Dr. William H. Weir was educated pri- 
marily in the public schools of Warren, Ohio, 
and later attended one term of school at West 
Farmington, where he was a classmate of 
Lieut. -Gov. Jones. In 1855 he read medicine 
with Profs. William Paine and Judson Davis, 
at Warren, and then attended the Eclectic 
Medical college, at Philadelphia, Pa. After 
graduating, he practiced one year in New Wil- 
mington, Pa., and in 1859 removed to Xenia, 
111., where he remained until the spring of 

! 1 86 1, when he went to ElLzabethtown, Bar- 
tholomew county. Ind., meeting with success 
in his profession in both places. He entered 
the Union army in September. 1861, went to 
the front with company G, Sixth Indiana vol- 
unteer infantry, and served three years and 
one month as surgeon's steward and acting-as- 

I sistant surgeon, and was with his regiment 
from the battle of Shiloh to the fall of Atlanta. 
After the battle of Chickamauga, he received, 
in. recognition of his meritorious services, a 
recommendation from the officers of his regi- 
ment, to the governor of the state, a copy of 
which document concludes this iirticle. After 
his return from the army, the doctor came 
direct to Edinburg, Portage county, Ohio, in 
November. 1864, where he held a lucrative 
practice until the fall of 1876, when he re- 
moved to Stark county, Ind., where he re- 
mained until the spring of 1886. when he 
finally returned to Edinburg. Ohio, where his 
success has induced him to remain ever since. 
The marriage of Dr. Weir took place Sep- 
tember 23, i860, to Miss Mary J. Force, 
daughter of Isaac and Mary Force, and to this 
union have been born two children — Elton G. 
(deceased) and William W. The father of 

' Mrs. Weir, Isaac Force, was a native of New- 
ton, N. J., and died in Trumbull county. Ohio, 
April 23, 1865, having lived in the county over 
seventy-seven years: his wife, Mary (Mains) 
Force, of Sparta, N. J., died April 17, 1867. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



941 



Dr. Weir is a member of Douthitt post, 
No. 177, G. A. R., of Edinburg, of which he 
was commander one year; of the National 
Union, Ravenna council. No. 188; of the 
Junior Order United American Mechanics, No. 
198, of Edinburg; of Atwater lodge, No. 649, 
Knights of Pythias, at Atwater; of Buckeye 
division, No. 97, uniform rank. Knights of 
Pythias, of Ravenna. He is a republican in 
politics and has served his party and his fellow- 
citizens as coroner of Portage county two 
years, and is now trustee of his township. He 
stands very high in the esteem of the com- 
munity both as a physician and citizen, and 
the following credentials or recommendations, 
alluded to in a former paragraph, will show 
that this esteem is well deserved: 

To his Excellency, Oliver P. Morton, Gov- 
ernor of the State of Indiana: 

Governor — We, the officers of the Sixth 
regiment Indiana volunteer infantry, take 
great pleasure in recommending to your favor- 
able notice Dr. W. H. Weir, as a man in 
every way worthy of your confidence. The 
doctor desires an appointment as assistant sur- 
geon in one of the new regiments now being 
raised in the state, and should your excellency 
think proper to give him an appointment, we 
feel satisfied that the doctor will fill the posi- 
tion with credit to himself and government. 

Silas D. Huckleberry, captain of company 
I; Daniel W. Conner, lieutenant of company 
I; Oscar F. Rodamel, captain of company E; 
Henry E. Van Tress, lieutenant of company 
E; Chas. C. Briant, lieutenant of company K; 
James F. Simpson, lieutenant of company H; 
Chas. Neal, captain of company H; S. T. 
Finney, captain of company G; A. F. Conner, 
first lieutenant of company D; W. P. Dillon, 
second lieutenant of company D; D. Kav- 
anaugh, captain of company A; W. N. Will- 
iams, first lieutenant of company G; A. W. 
Prather, captain of company C; Chas. A. 
May, lieutenant of company C; Geo. B. 
Green, first lieutenant of company K; Jos. J. 
Siddall, adjutant: C D. Campbell, major 
commanding. 



It is but a duty to me to add my recom- 
mendation to those of the principal officers of 
the Sixth, our regiment, of Dr. W. H. Weir, 
for promotion. He has in reality, during my 
absence from the regiment on detailed duty, 
more then any other person, attended to the 
wants of the sick in the regiment. He was 
present and with the regiment in all the battles 
in which it was engaged, constantly active, 
energetic and efficient. Of temperate habits, 
and well versed in his profession, he deserves 
a preferment, although I consider it as a loss 
to the regiment. 

Chas. Schussler, 

Surgeon Sixth regiment Indiana volunteer 
infantry, at present acting medical director. 
Second division. Twentieth army corps. 



<>^ OLLIN S. WEBB, an eminent attor- 

I ^^ ney of Garrettsville, was born in 

M - F Freedom township. Portage county, 

Ohio, January 4, 1844, and is a son 

of James and Eliza (Landfear) Webb, natives 

respectively of Corfu, Genesee county, N. Y. , 

and Hartford, Conn. 

John Webb, grandfather of Rollin S., was 
the founder of the family in the United States, 
having early settled in Genesee county, N. Y., 
where he owned one of the largest and most 
valuable farms in the county. He had a fam- 
ily of eleven children and lived to reach the 
great age of ninety-four years. 

James Webb, father of subject, was born 
in Genesee county, N. Y., in 1799. His early 
youth was passed on the farm, but, not being 
favored with robust health, he later gave more 
attention to study than to farm labor. His 
preparatory education was secured at Batavia, 
N. Y. ; later he studied and graduated in medi- 
cine, practiced for some years in Holley, N. 
Y. , and about 1840 came to Ohio, and settled 
in Freedom township, Portage county, where 
he bought a small farm and also owned a drug 
store, but his medical practice was very exten- 



942 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



sive and claimed almost his exclusive attention 
until his death, which occurred in 1852. His 
widow subsequently removed to Garrettsville, 
where her death took place. To these parents 
were born ten children, viz: Cornelia, who is 
married to James Scott Reilley, of Bay City, 
Mich.; Warren J. was a member of the law 
firm of Davis, Wingate & Webb, of St. Louis, 
Mo., and died in 1858; Eliza J. is the wife of 
Dr. A. H. Tidball, of Garrettsville, Ohio; 
Caroline is married to W. S. Wight, also of 
Garrettsville; Sarah M. died in Freedom and 
was unmarried; Mervin F., a member of the 
Fifteenth Ohio battery, died at Natchez, 
Miss. ; Rollin Samuel is the subject of this 
biography; Helen M. was married to Warren 
Peirce and died in Garretsville; Charles B. re- 
sides in Garrettsville, and Mary is the wife of 
Charles Roberts, of Trumbull county, Ohio. 
The parents of this family were members of 
the Congregational church, and in politics the 
father was a democrat. 

Rollin Samuel Webb received a common- 
school and academical education, and at the 
age of eighteen years went to Youngstown, 
where he clerked a year, and next taught 
school one year in Ravenna; he then clerked a 
year in Garrettsville, after which he went to 
Trumbull county, Ohio, where he studied 
dentistry, and for a few years practiced that 
profession in Garrettsville. He next studied 
law, was admitted to the bar by the supreme 
court at Columbus, in 1880, and was also ad- 
mitted to the Portage county bar in the same 
year, since when he has been in active prac- 
tice, and has steadily risen to prominence. 
He has an office in Garrettsville and one in 
Ravenna; is attorney for the Western Union 
Telegraph company; for the R. G. Dun com- 
pany, and for many years has been attorney 
for the First National bank of Garrettsville, 
and has a large general practice in the state 
and United States courts, having also been 



admitted to the bar of the latter — his practice 
being about equally divided between the two. 

Mr. Webb was united in marriage, in 1871, 
with Miss Vine F. Gilson, a native of Mid- 
dlefield, Ohio, and a daughter of William H. 
Gilson. This union has been blessed with 
one child — Roscoe J. , who is a student at 
Hiram college. 

In politics Mr. Webb is a republican and 
has served as city solicitor many years under 
the auspices of his party. He is a member of 
the Garfield club and is an ardent worker for 
the success of republicanism at each and every 
campaign. Fraternally, he is a royal arch 
Mason, and is a past member of Garrettsville 
lodge. No. 246, F. & A. M. 



HDAM WENKLER, a thriving farmer, 
and respected citizen of Rootstown 
township, Portage county, Ohio, was 
born in Darmstadt, Germany, July 4, 
1829, a son of John and Catherine (Yountzer) 
Wenkler, the former of whom was a musician, 
and died August, 1839, at the age thirty-nine 
years, the latter having passed away in 1834 — 
both in the Catholic faith, and the parents of 
three children, viz: Adam, George, and one 
who died in infancy, unnamed. 

In 1840, Adam Wenkler came to Ohio 
with an uncle. Being a poor boy of eleven 
years of age, and left to his own resources, 
he sought employment on the canal, where he 
worked a short time, then secured a position 
on the railroad, and also worked in different 
capacities among the farmers until he had 
saved sufficient means to buy a place for him- 
self. He was first married, October 6, 1850, 
to Miss Catherine Gauer, daughter of John and 
Margaret (Rice) Gauer, and to this union were 
born seven children, viz: John; Valentine 
W. ; Catherine, wife of Joseph Husler; Frank; 
Elizabeth, wife of Orlando Bosserman; Mar- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



943 



garet, wife of John Jordan, and Charles. The 
mother of these children died February 6, 
1870, at the age of forty years, and on the 12th 
day of November, 1873, Mr. Wenkler was 
united in marriage with Miss Mary Ann Zer- 
mer, and to this union was born one child — 
Kate, the wife of Henry E. Frank. Mrs. 
Mary A. Wenkler was called from earth April 
14, 1878, aged thirty-two years, and for the 
third time Mr. Wenkler was joined in matri- 
mony, October 7, 1882, marrying Mrs. Reid- 
inger, a daughter of Michael and Barbara 
(Flowers) Rose, but to this marriage no chil- 
dren have born, although Mrs. Wenkler was 
the mother, by her former husband, Henry 
Reidinger, of three children, two of whom still 
survive, viz: Barbara, wife of William Wenk- 
ler, the son of our subject, and John; Mar- 
garet died December 6, 1895, at the age of 
thirty years, the wife of Daniel Morgan. The 
parents of Mrs. Wenkler were natives of Lo- 
benstein, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, where 
Mrs. Wenkler was herself born, September 28, 
1838. The father was a farmer, and died in 
Germany in 1867, at the age of fifty-three 
years, and the mother in 1881, aged sixty- 
seven, both members of the Catholic church, 
and the parents of nine children, viz: Mrs. 
W'enkler; Michael; Barbara, the wife of Charles 
Carl, and Jacob, all still living, and John 
Adam, Philip, Christine and Valentine, all de- 
ceased. In 1882, Mrs. W'enkler (then Mrs. 
Reidinger), brought her two children to 
America, coming to Rootstown township, 
where she met and married our subject, as re- 
lated above. 

In 1879, Adam Wenkler made a trip to 
Germany, where he remained four months, and 
on his return engaged in farming in Roots- 
town township, of which he has made a com- 
plete success. In politics he is a democrat, 
and has filled various township offices, includ- 
ing that of school director, in which latter 



capacity he has served the past nine years, 
He has been a steward in the Catholic church 
for twenty years, and is greatly respected as 
one of the most industrious and useful citizens 
of Rootstown, and is regarded as among its 
most prosperous and substantial farmers. 



BRANCIS SALMON WESTON, one of 
the most prosperous farmers of 
Springfield township, Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, is a native of this county 
and was born January 11, 1857, and is a son 
of Salmon N. and Mary J. (Force) Weston. 
He received his education in the district school 
and was reared on his father's farm until sev- 
enteen years of age, when he engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits on his own account. May 
27, 1880, he was united in marriage with Miss 
Cora J. Elliott, daughter of James and Lu- 
cinda (Norton) Elliott, and this union has 
been blessed with six children, viz: Nellie V., 
who was born December 11, 1882, and died 
in September, 1883; Cynthia B., born March 
10, 1885; Howard S., December 17. 1886; 
Leora A., June 6, 1889; Mary L., June 26, 
1892; and King, September 21, 1896. 

Mrs. Cora J. (Elliott) Weston was born in 
Springfield township. May 27, 1859, her par- 
ents being also natives of this place. King J. 
Elliott was an extensive farmer, in connection 
with which vocation he was for many years 
engaged in threshing, and was likewise a 
breeder of throughbred horses, owning, among 
others, the well-known trotting stallion. North 
Light, which he purchased in Kentucky. To 
his marriage with Miss Lucinda Norton were 
born three children, two of whom are still liv- 
ing — Mrs. Weston and Frederick K. ; a daugh- 
ter, who was married to Mr. White, was 
called from earth December 7, 1891, at the 
age of thirty-four years. In politics, Mr. 
Elliott was very prominent as a republican, 



944 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and served for a number of }ears as county 
commissoner, for over twenty years as a mem- 
ber of the school board, and for a long time 
was township treasurer. Fraternally, he was 
an Odd Fellow and a member of the Knights 
of Honor, and died, a greatly honored citizen, 
November 22, 1896, having been preceded to 
the grave by his wife, who died September 4 
of the same \ear. 

Francis S. Weston, our subject, in connec- 
tion with general farming, was for about 
eleven years engaged in dairying, and also in 
raising live-stock, breeding from North Light, 
mentioned abo\'e, and which was eventually 
sold for $4,000. In politics, Mr. Weston is 
an active and influential democrat, and has 
served his fellow-citizens as township super- 
visor, as school director for ten years, and in 
1897 was elected township treasurer, an office 
he still retains. He is prominent as a citizen, 
and his reputation as a farmer and live-stock 
breeder is not confined to his immediate local- 
ity, his name being most favorably known 
throughout Summit and adjacent counties. 
His integrity' has never been impugned, and 
he and family are honored and respectfully 
alluded to wherever the name of Weston is 
known. 



'^-t'ACOB WERSTLER, a prosperous 
M farmer and highly-respected citizen of 
A 1 Suffield township. Portage county, Ohio, 
was born January 21, 1839, in Lake 
township. Stark county, Ohio, a son of Jacob 
and Sarah (Harley) Werstler, the former of 
whom was a native of Maryland and the latter 
of Stark county, Ohio. The father was but 
six years of age when brought to Ohio by his 
parents, who settled in Stark county, where 
he was reared on a farm. He was twice mar- 
ried, his last wife being Miss Harley, daughter 
of John Harley, and to this union were born 



nine children, of whom six are still living, viz: 
John, Jacob, Benjamin, Sarah (wife of Jonas 
Heiser), William and Allen. The deceased 
were named Daniel, Christine (wife of John 
Eicholtz) and Lewis. In politics the father 
was a democrat, and served as school director 
and supervisor; in religion he was a Lutheran, 
and died in this faith in July, 1866, at the age 
of sixty-five years, a highly- respected citizen. 
The Harley family is of German origin, the 
grandfather of Mrs. Sarah W' erstler being the 
first of this immediate branch to come to 
America. 

Jacob Werstler, the subject of this biog- 
raphy, was reared on his father's farm in Stark 
county, and was educated in the district school. 
At the age of twenty-two years he left the 
home place and engaged in farming on his own 
account, and, March 5, 1865, formed his first 
matrimonial alliance, which was with Miss 
Rebecca Gingerich, daughter of Christian and 
Mary (Bernheisel) Gingerich, and to this union 
were born three children, viz: Mary E. (wife of 
Jacob Bear), Zachariah and Harvey, ^[rs. 
Rebecca Werstler was called from earth August 
30, 1878, at thirty-four years of age, and Mr. 
Werstler chose for his second helpmate Miss 
Hannah Shafer, to whom he was united Jan- 
uary 30, 1879, and this union has been blessed 
with three children, viz: Richard Earl, Thomas 
F. and Salvia Ruth. Mrs. Hannah Werstler 
was born in Marlborough township. Stark 
county, Ohio, January 9, 185 1, and is a daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Elizabeth (^Snyder) Shafer. 
Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, but 
came to Ohio in early life and here married 
Miss Snyder, the result of the union being 
eight children, three of whom died in infancy, 
the survivors being Christe Ann, wife of Joseph 
Bitterman; George; Mrs. Werstler, and Ann, 
wife of Wesley Wise; Gadilia, who was mar- 
ried to Solomon Snyder, and died in 1 89 1 . The 
father was a tailor by trade, but his later years 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



945 



were passed in farming. He was a member of 
the United Brethren church and passed away 
in this faith at the age of sixty-six years, his 
wife dying in March, 1878, aged seventy-two, 
also in the same faith. 

Jacob Werstler, the subject of this memoir, 
first followed agricultural pursuits in Portage 
county after marrying, but shortly afterward 
returned to Lake township. Stark county, 
where he followed the same calling until 1875, 
when he came back to Portage county and 
purchased his present place in Suffield town- 
ship, which has since been his permanent 
home. He is industrious and thoroughly prac- 
tical and well knows how to make his farm 
profitable. In politics he is a democrat, and 
has served as school director three years. He 
and family are consistent members of the 
Lutheran church, and are greatly respected by 
the entire community in which they live. 



OSCAR BOSLEY, an old soldier, and 
for many years engaged in the lum- 
ber business and saw-milling in Gar- 
rettsville, was born in Farmington, 
Trumbull county, Ohio, June 15,1 846, a son of 
Elisha and Elvira (Griffith) Bosley, of an old 
New York state family, and early settlers in 
Ohio. 

Elisha, the father of Oscar, was born in 
Ohio, and was a carpenter. He married, in 
Trumbull county, Elvira Griffith, and the fam- 
ily moved to Illinois about 1848, and located 
first at Poplar Grove, and shortly afterward 
settled in Whiteside county and worked at his 
trade in Morrison and Portland. His children 
were Oscar, Annie, George, Carrie, Mary (who 
died aged about twenty-eight or thirty years) 
and Flora, who died a married woman aged 
about thirty-two years. Elisha Bosley en- 
listed, in 1 861, in company K, Thirty-fourth 
regiment Illinois volunteer infantry, for three 

41 



years or during the war, served three years 
and three months, and was honorably dis- 
charged at Springfield, Ills. He was in many 
battles, and in the great Atlanta campaign. 
In his last battle his company suffered fear- 
fully and had but few men left. He was sick 
with rheumatism in hospital and was greatly 
disabled by his services, and died about 1883, 
from the effects of his army life, at Garretts- 
ville, Ohio, aged about sixty-one years. He 
and wife were both members of the Disciples' 
church and later in life became members of 
the Baptist church. Mr. Bosley was a very 
straight and active man and a respected citizen. 
Oscar Bosley received a common education 
in Illinois, where he was taken by his parents 
when but a child. He enlisted, at the age of 
about seventeen years, at Eaglesville, Ashta- 
bula county, Ohio, April 9, 1865, in company 
B, Twenty-third Ohio volunteer infantry, the 
same regiment in which President McKinley 
served as a private ten months before he was 
promoted to be second lieutenant. Mr. Bos- 
ley enlisted for three years or during the war, 
and was honorably discharged at Cleveland, 
Ohio, in November, 1865, on account of the 
closing of the war. He was an active soldier 
and on duty with his regiment at Strasburg, 
and Staunton, Va. He returned to Eagles- 
ville, Ohio, but later engaged in saw-milling at 
Cory, Pa. He worked at the transfer station, 
near Sharon, Pa. , and then came to Warren, 
Ohio, where he worked in a rolling mill for 
about eighteen years, as weighmaster and 
shearer — a good position. He next engaged 
in the hotel business for two years in Warren, 
and came to Garrettsville in March, 1880, and 
engaged in teaming. He then entered the 
employ of O. Collings in his saw-mill and rake 
factory, and worked until the death of Mr. 
Collings, and then, in company with Nelson 
Steele, bought the mill property and has since 
done a good business, and is well known as a 



946 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



straightforward business man. Mr. Bosley 
married, October 7, 1866, in Warren county, 
Ohio, Catherine Meesmer, of Champion, Ohio. 
She was born in Mercer county, Pa. , daughter 
of Jacob and Cassie Meesmer, of sturd}' Penn- 
sylvania-Dutch stock. To Mr. and Mrs. Bos- 
ley have been born Frank, Nellie I. and Ger- 
trude. In politics Mr. Bosley is a republican, 
is a member of Mark Horton post, G. A. R. , 
at Garrettsville, and has held the offices of 
junior vice-commander and chaplain. 

Mr. Bosley is an excellent citizen and 
stands high for his integrity of character. 
Mrs. Bosley had two brothers in the Civil war — 
Jacob in the Sixth Ohio cavalry, who veteran- 
ized; David was in the Ohio infantry, enlisting 
in the three years' service. 



ISAAC CORNELL, of Garrettsville, 
Ohio, is one of the old soldiers of the 
Civil war and an honored citizen. He 
was born in Orleans county, N. Y. , 
August 6, 1844. He enlisted, September 6, 
1862, at Barre, N. Y., as a sharpshooter in 
Bowen's independent rifles, when he was but 
eighteen years old, but the company was mus- 
tered as company A, One Hundred and Fifty- 
first New York volunteer infantry, Capt. H. 
Bowen, for three years or during the war, and 
served until honorably discharged at Washing- 
ton, D. C, June 26, 1865. He was in the 
following battles: Wilderness. Spottsylvania, 
Cold Harbor, second, Cold Harbor, third, 
Petersburg, Monocacy, Charlestown, Winches- 
ter, Opequon, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, 
Petersburg, and Sailor's Creek, the last battle 
of any consequence of the war, and was also 
in many skirmishes. Mr. Cornell was always 
an active soldier, except three months, when 
he was in hospital with typhoid pneumonia at 
Washington and Central Park, N. J. He was 
in all the campaigns, marches, battles and 



skirmishes, except the battle at Locust 
Grove, Va., while he was sick in hospital. 
He considers the battle of the Wilderness to 
be the hardest in which he was engaged, last- 
ing thirty days. His hardest march was on July 
4, from Frederick City, Md. , to South Mount- 
ain Gap, eighteen miles, through a very heavy 
thunder storm. 

At one time he marched twenty-five miles 
in six hours, and carried his knapsack and 
accouterments, weighing sixty pounds, and 
was one of five comrades of his company who 
came into camp. This march the boys made 
with light hearts, as the war was over and 
they were on the return home in 1865. 

He had received, when young, a common- 
school education, and attended the academy 
at Albion, N. Y. , one term, and one week on 
the second term, when he enlisted from purely 
patriotic motives. On his return to Orleans 
county, N. Y., he engaged in farming on his 
father's farm, and remained until 1873. He 
married, in Orleans county, October 2, 1867, 
Sarah Axtell, daughter of Charles and Phebe 
(House) Axtell. 

Mr. Cornell moved to Garrettsville in 1873, 
and here he has since lived, and for nearly 
twenty-five years has been employed in the Pail 
factory, in which he owned a one-quarter in- 
terest when he came to Garrettsville, but since 
has sold out. His first wife died November 
12, 1874, at Garrettsville, and he next mar- 
ried, September 2, 1875, near Garrettsville, 
Sarah Linton, who was born in Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, May 23, 18^4, a daughter of 
Charles and Charity Linton. Mr. Linton and 
wife were from Somersetshire, England. He 
was a farmer, and settled in Ashtabula coun- 
ty, Ohio, early in the 'forties, and was. a re- 
spected citizen. His children were Elizabeth, 
Thomas, Mary, Sarah, Jennie and Urich. He 
lived to be seventy-four years old, and died in 
Ashtabula county, a member of the Methodist 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



947 



church, and an industrious and straightforward 
citizen. 

The Cornell family is of sturdy Holland- 
Dutch ancestry, and early settlers of the old 
Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. 

Peter Cornell, the father of Isaac, was 
born on the Hudson river, and became a sub- 
stantial farmer. His father, Cornelius Cor- 
nell, was a large landowner of Dutchess 
county, N. Y. and owned 600 acres of land. 
Peter Cornell, the father of subject, owned a 
farm of 300 acres in Orleans county, N. Y. 
His first wife, the mother of subject, was 
Amanda Hall. The maternal grandfather was 
impressed in England, and forced into the 
British army, and came to America to fight 
for the cause of his king in the war of the 
Revolution, but deserted and joined the cause 
of the colonies. His father, Gen. S. G. Hall, 
was a soldier in the war of 18 12. Peter Cor- 
nell and wife had three children who lived to 
maturity, viz: Cornelius A., Amanda J., and 
Isaac. Mr. Cornell lived to be about sixty 
years old, and died on his farm a much re- 
spected citizen. 

Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Cornell are the parents 
of Charles E. and William G. In politics he 
is a republican. Fraternally he is a member 
of Portage lodge, No 456, I. O. O. F., at 
Garrettsville, and of James A. Garfield court, 
No. 684. Mr. Cornell was a good soldier, has 
been an industrious citizen and is much re- 
spected in the community in which he has 
passed so many years of his useful life. 



>^OHN M. BISSELL, a well-known busi- 
M ness man of Garrettsville, Portage coun- 
A 1 ty, Ohio, was born in Medina county, 
Ohio, November 13, 1844, a son of 
Rowland F. and Betsy (Marsh) Bissell. He 
received a limited common-school education, 
and enlisted in January, 1864, in Capt. Jonas 



Schoonover's company H, Twenty-ninth regi- 
ment, Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years 
or during the war, and served until he was 
honorably discharged, in July, 1865, on ac- 
count of the closing of the war, with the rank 
of corporal. He was in the battles of Mill 
Creek Gap, Resaca, New Hope Church, Pine 
Knob, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta. He 
was then on the march to the sea and in the 
battle at Savannah, Ga.; North Edisto River, 
S. C, and Goldsboro, N. C, March 23, 1863. 
He marched in the grand review, at Washing- 
ton, D. C. , and then returned to Ohio. 

After the war Mr. Bissell settled in Bath 
township. Summit county, Ohio, where he 
married Addie M. Conkling January 7, 1869 — 
daughter of Rial and Hannah (Sweet) Conk- 
ling, and in 1873 moved to Garrettsville, 
and, with the exception of two years when 
he lived in Akron, has since resided here. 
For some time he was engaged in draying 
and expressing; he has also been in the grocery 
and coal business, and on July 21, 1896, he 
bought his present property, which consists of 
a residence and twenty acres. He also owns 
another residence and lot in Garrettsville, 
and is now engaged in the ice business. 

Mrs. Bissell is an invalid, and for twenty- 
three years has not walked a step, but uses a 
wheeled chair skillfully and does much work. 
She bears her great affliction with rare patience 
and fortitude, and is a lady of much refine- 
ment. In politics Mr. Bissell is a stanch re- 
publican. He is a member of the G. A. R., 
Mark Horton post, Garrettsville, and has held 
the office of quartermaster. He is also a 
member of the Blue lodge, F. & A. M., at 
Garrettsville, and of Portage lodge. No. 456, 
I. O. O. F. Mr. Bissell has always been a 
straightforward, industrious and reliable man. 
He was a good soldier, and is an excellent 
citizen. 

John Bissell, the grandfather of subject. 



948 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



was bom in New England. He married Miss 
Fish, and settled in Ontario county, N. Y., 
where he died. His children were Rowland, 
Lorenzo, Carlos and Almira. 

Rowland Bissell, the father of subject, was 
born in Ontario county, N. Y. , April 14, 18 10. 
He was a farmer and lumberman, and married 
Betsey Marsh, of Ontario county, N. Y. , a 
daughter of Marcius Marsh. Mr. Bissell 
moved to Ohio, and settled in Westfield, Mor- 
row county, about 1837, and bought land and 
cleared a farm. His children were Dilana, 
Mandona, Lorenzo, Louisa and John M. Mr. 
Bissell moved to Bath township in 1861, 
bought a farm and saw-mill, and here passed 
his remaining days. He was an industrious 
and substantial man, respected by all. He 
lived to be seventy-eight years old and died 
in 1889. Rial Conkling was a second cousin 
to Roscoe Conkling, the famous statesman. 
Rial was the son of Augustus and Rhodah 
(Denton) Conkling. Augustus Conkling was a 
citizen of Cajuga county, N. Y. Rial Conk- 
ling was born July 10, 1820, in Cayuga coun- 
ty, N. Y. , and came to Ohio in 1840 and set- 
tled in Bath, Summit county, Ohio, on land 
and here passed his remaining days. His 
children were Augustus, Addie, Austin, Sel- 
wyn, Frank and George. In politics he was 
a republican. He lived to be seventy-three 
years old and died in 1892. He was an up- 
right, industrious and respected man — car- 
penter and stone mason was his trade. 

John Bissell, the founder of the family, and 
with a brother came over from England to 
the Plymouth colony, Mass., in 1628. One 
brother was drowned in Plymouth harbor. 
John Bissell came with the colony to Windsor, 
Conn. , and was soon sent back to England for 
cattle. For faithful services he was rewarded 
with the Windsor Ferry, called to this day the 
Bissell Ferry. It is believed that all of the 
name in this country descended from him. 



Benjamin Bissell was a soldier in the war 
of the Revolution and died of camp dysentery 
in middle life. He had three sons, viz: Israel; 
Justice, who settled in Aurora, Portage coun- 
ty, Ohio, where he died, aged seventy years, 
and Robert; also four daughters: Eunice, 
Roxanna, Prudence and Anna. Benjamin 
Bissell died in Massachusetts. Prof. Samuel 
Bissell, foHnder of Twinsburg academy, was 
born in Middlefield, Hampshire county, Mass., 
j April 28, 1797, and died in Twinsburg, Ohio, 
August 26, 1895. 



ta 



ILLIAM M. HANSEL, an eminent 
educator of Suffield township. Port- 
age county, Ohio, and an ex-sol- 
dier of the late Civil war, was 
born in Stark county, Ohio, April 6, 1848, and 
is a son of Thomas M. and Mary Ann (Nees) 
Hansel. He spent his boyhood days in his 
native county until his eighth year, when he 
came to Portage county, receiving his element- 
ary education in the public schools, later at- 
tending the Marlboro high school for one year, 
and then entering Mount Union college, where 
he remained two years. He next entered the 
Normal university for two years, and then 
spent a year of study at Hiram college, finish- 
ing his education at the Ohio State university 
at Columbus. He began teaching, in 1868, 
in Lake township. Stark county, Ohio, and 
also taught in Portage and Summit counties. 
In 1880, he began teaching in the city schools 
of Kent, and taught there until 1890, since 
when he has been teaching in the Uniontown 
high school, and ranks as one of the most; pro- 
gressive instructors of youth in this section. 

Mr. Hansel, at the early age of sixteen 
years, manifested his patriotism by enlisting. 
May 2, 1864, and serving until the following 
February, when he was honorably discharged, 
and immediately re-enlisted in company H, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



949 



One Hundred and Eighty-fourth O. V. I., and 
served until October, when he was again hon- 
orably discharged, owing to the close of the 
war. 

William M. Hansel was first married, De- 
cember 25, 1887, to Miss Emma Myer, who 
had been his pupil when but seven years old and 
was a daughter of E. Y. and Matilda (Darner) 
Dyer. To this union was born one son, Clay 
Devailt, September 7, 1888. Mrs. Hansel 
died March 10, 1889, aged twenty-five years, 
and Mr. Hansel next married, November 20, 
1 89 1, Miss Laura Adams, daughter of Charles 
and Rachel (Reidenbach) Adams, who were 
natives of Lancaster, Pa. 

The parents of our subject were natives of 
Stark county, Ohio. The father was born in 
August, 1 818, and was engaged in farming all 
his life. He married Miss Mary Ann Nees, 
daughter of Jacob Nees, and to this marriage 
were born a family of eight children, six of 
whom still survive, viz: Peter, residing in 
Missouri; William M., our subject; Catherine 
E., wife of Frank Hoover; Joseph, residing in 
Thendon, Mich. ; James Murrey, of Summit 
county, Ohio, and Ransom. Those passed 
away were John Wesley and Warren. The 
mother was a member of the Reformed church, 
and passed away in i886, aged sixty-six years. 
The father still survives, and resides at Union- 
town, Stark county, with his daughter. He 
has passed the allotted " three score and ten," 
by nine years, and is still a hale and hearty 
old gentleman. 

Anthony Hansel, the grandfather of our 
subject, was born in Maryland, the son of a 
large slave holder there. Anthony came to 
Stark county, Ohio, about 1812, and bought 
the old homestead of about 280 acres, where 
he lived and died. He was married three 
times^ — the first time to a Miss Murrey, to 
which marriage were born nine children; his 
second marriage was to a Miss Hooven, and 



to this union was born ten children; his third 
marriage was with Miss Mary Carr, but to this 
union there was no issue. Mr. Hansel passed 
away in 1868, and his third wife died in 1864. 

Jacob Nees, the maternal grandfather of 
William M. Hansel, was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and came to this state and settled in 
Stark county, where he engaged in farming. 
He held the office of justice of the peace of 
his township for thirty years. He also was 
married three times, his third wife having been 
a Mrs. Crestleaf. Mr. Nees died in 1866, 
aged sixty-eight years; his widow then married 
a William Myers, and still survives. Jacob 
Nees, great-grandfather on the maternal side, 
was a native of Pennsylvania and served as a 
soldier in the war of 18 12. 

The family of our subject's first wife were 
natives of Summit county. Her father, E. Y. 
Myer, had been a manufacturer and was also 
the inventor of eighty different patterns for 
potter's ware. He was married to Miss Ma- 
tilda Crame, daughter of John Crame, and their 
union was blessed with seven children, four of 
whom are still living, viz: Ida, Mary, Carilla 
(wife of Charles Gibe, secretary of the ABC 
street railway, and residing at Cuyahoga Falls) 
and Bertha, residing at Mansfield; those passed 
away were Emma (wife of our subject), Elmer 
and Salvina. The parents of the second wife 
of our subject were natives of Lancaster 
county, Pa. 

William M. Hansel, when a young man, 
learned the carpenter's trade, serving an ap- 
prenticeship of four years under Henry Miller, 
of Stark county, after which he followed the 
trade for two years. Beside his duties in 
teaching, Mr. Hansel is engaged in farming 
and breeding fine stock, owning some of the 
finest horses in the county, such as Eva 
Wilkes, by Robert Wilkes; Alba Hyle, bred 
by Hyle; also Hyle's Maid, by Hyle; also 
Bounding Boy, by Almatuna; Kitty Almatuna, 



950 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and Maggie and Jerry Almatuna; also King 
Northlight, by Northlight, and Maud North- 
light, by Northlight. Mr. Hansel also pos- 
sesses two Morgan horses — Highland Boy and 
Highland Pearl, by Highland Boy; also some 
other stock, descendants of Bell Northlight. 

Our subject, Mr. Hansel, has served as 
school director for a number of years, but, 
with all his multitudinous duties, he still finds 
opportunities to keep in touch with the outer 
world by taking extensive trips through the 
west and south during his vacations — in i8Si 
taking a journey of 8,000 miles, visiting Cali- 
fornia; in 1882 he visited the northwest, and 
in 1883 spent some time in Florida, but has 
finally settled in his pleasant home in Union- 
town, a genial, enterprising and respected 
citizen. 



a APT. JAMES HORNER, of Garretts- 
ville. Portage county, Ohio, and an 
ex-soldier of the Civil war, was born 
in Philadelphia, July i, 1827, a son 
of Samuel and Jane Horner. He was ed- 
ucated in the public schools of Philadelphia 
and enlisted in the regular United States army 
in January, 1851, in company A, engineer 
corps, Capt. George B. McClellan, afterward 
served in the Civil war. Mr. Horner served 
five years as an artificer. He was stationed at 
West Point about one and a half years, and 
then was one of a detail of ten men from his 
company on the original survey of the North- 
ern Pennsylvania railroad, crossed the conti- 
nent on this survey, and passed the winter of 
1853-4, at Olympia, on Puget Sound. He 
left Fort Snelling, north of St. Paul, Minn., 
and saw no more of civilization until the sur- 
veying party reentered Olympia, on Puget 
Sound. When crossing the plains, the com- 
pany met with different wild tribes of Indians, 
including the Chippewas, Sioux, Blackfeet, 



Snakes, Spokanes, Flatheads and the Chi- 
nocks, but had on trouble. The plains were 
alive with game, and in one enormous herd 
Capt. Horner saw, on the prairies in western 
Minnesota, one estimated to contain at least 
1,000,000 buffalo, elk, deer and antelope. 
It was one year from the time he left West 
Point, until he returned. The expedition was 
about three months in crossing the great 
plains and the Rocky mountains. Capt. Hor- 
ner was mustered out and honorably dis- 
charged in 1856, and came to Ohio in the 
spring of that year and engaged in the shoe 
business at Cleveland, 

Mr. Horner married, in December, 1S56, 
at Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio, Ella 
A. Moore, daughter of Watson W. Moore, from 
Connecticut. Capt. Horner then settled in 
Trumbull county, and enlisted in the Civil 
war, August 26, 1861, on the first call for 
three-year men, in company A, Forty-first 
Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve three years 
or during the war. He then, while in camp 
Wood, recruited company K, of the same 
regiment, and was commissioned first lieu- 
tenant of the company, October 29, 1861, 
and was promoted for meritorious and gallant 
conduct to be captain, February 8, 1862. He 
resigned March i, 1864, having served about 
two years, seven months and three days. He 
was in the battles of Shiloh, Tenn., Stone 
River, Tenn., Woodberry, Tenn., Liberty 
Gap, Tenn., Chickamauga, Ga. , and at Brown's 
Ferry, Orchard Knob, Tenn., Mission Ridge. 
Capt. Horner was always an active and effi- 
cient officer, and was not wounded nor in hos- 
pital nor a prisoner. He was in all the battles, 
skirmishes, campaigns and marches in which 
his regiment was engaged and was always an 
active and gallant officer. Capt. Horner was 
in eight battles and many skirmishes. He 
lost his saber at the battle of Stone River, it 
being shot out of his hand. 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



951 



Capt. Horner returned to Trumbull county 
and engaged at Mesoptomia in the shoe busi- 
ness. He went to Philadelphia in 1870, en- 
gaged in the carpet business, returned to Ohio 
in 1889 and settled in Garrettsville, Ohio, and 
is now retired. He is a member of G. A. R. 
post, No. 2, of Phildadelphia. Capt. Horner 
and wife are the parents of Lottie M., Nettie 
A. and Florence B. 

Samuel Horner, father of the captain, set- 
tled in Philadelphia, about 1825. He became 
a manufacturer of carpets, and was a well-to- 
do man. His first wife died in Philadelphia, 
and he then married Jane E. and their 

children were Catherine L. , Samuel, Jr., and 
Robert. Samuel, Jr., was a ' private in the 
Civil war in a Pennsylvania regiment and 
served three years. His regiment was stationed 
at Long Bridge and Washington, during the 
war and Samuel, Jr., was one of the guards 
when J. Wilkes Booth crossed the bridge, on 
horseback, on his flight after the assassination 
of Abraham Lincoln. 



'^y^l'ILLIAM H. LINTON, trustee and 
■ ■ I superintendent of the Ravenna 
WjL^ water-works, was born in this city 
December 23, 1853, and is a son of 
Isaiah and Mary (Riley) Linton, natives of 
Pennsylvania, Quakers in religion, and parents 
of three children, two of whom are still living, 
viz: William H., the subject of this memoir, 
and Edith, the wife of Arthur D. Knapp. 

Mahlon Linton, the paternal grandfather 
of William H. Linton, was a descendant of the 
family of that name who came with William 
Penn to America in 1682 and settled in Bucks 
county, Penn. He settled in Washington 
county, in the same state, about 1800, and fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits until his death, in 
the Quaker faith, after having reared the un- 
usually large family of thirteen or fourteen 



children. John Riley, the maternal grand- 
father of subject, was a glassworker, reared 
a large family, and also ended his days in the 
Keystone state. 

Isaiah Linton was early taught civil engi- 
neering in his native state and in 1847 came to 
Ohio, making his home in Ravenna. He was 
chief engineer of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh 
for over forty years, was county surveyor two 
terms, and for a number of terms was resident 
engineer of the Ohio board of public works, 
and enjoyed a widespread reputation for his 
wonderful accuracy in the science which was 
his life-long pursuit. His death took place at 
the age of seventy-four, " in 1891, and his 
memory is still kept green by his numerous 
friends. His widow is still a resident of Ra- 
venna — a revered and honored lady. 

William H. Linton was principally educated 
in the public schools of Ravenna and graduated 
from the high school in 1872. He acquired 
the greater part of his knowledge as a civil 
engineer, his life profession, under the tuition 
of his accomplished father. He has held his 
present position of water-works trustee of 
Ravenna for over eleven years, and his pro- 
found knowledge of hydraulics is universally 
conceded to be a fixed fact. 

The marriage of William H. Linton took 
place October 3, 1883, to Miss Clara A. Knapp, 
daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Carson) 
Knapp, who rank among the most respected 
residents of the city. One child has blessed 
this union, and is named Robert Isaiah. Mr. 
and Mrs. Linton are always welcomed in the 
social circles of Ravenna, with whom they are 
held in high esteem, as they are both of genial, 
pleasant disposition and very corteous, having 
kind words for all, regardless of rank or station. 

In politics Mr. Linton is a republican, but 
not a partisan in the office-seeking sense of 
the word, but is simply a republican from con- 
scientious conviction that his party's principles 



952 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



are better adapted than those of any other of 
the leading parties for the proper government 
of the country. 



*^J^ OBERT G. MARSHALL, who is just 

I /^T entering upon his career as a farmer 

M. . F and stockbreeder in Northampton 

township, Summit county, was born 

in Akron, December 12, 1868, a son of 

Thomas C. and Rachel (Fuller) Marshall, who 

are the parents of three children, viz: Inez, 

who was born July 20, 1866, and is now a 

teacher in the public schools of Akron; Robert 

G., whose name opens this paragraph; and 

Thomas J., who was born December 12, 1874, 

and who resides with his parents in Akron, the 

latter being of Pennsylvania origin. 

Thomas C. Marshall, the father of subejct, 
was a wagonmaker by trade, but for the last 
twenty-seven years has been i n the employ of 
Altman, Miller & Co., manufacturers. In 
1894 he purchased the farm of 216 acres 
on which subject now resides. He has made 
all the improvements on this place in the way 
of buildings, etc., so far made, and this farm 
will be one of the finest in the county when 
all the plans now under headway shall have 
been completed. The location is one of the 
most delightful to the eye in the township, 
overlooking, as it does, Cuyahoga Falls and 
Akron. 

Robert G. Marshall was educated in the 
public schools of Akron, and in 1886 entered 
the employ of Altman, Miller & Co., and re- 
mained with them until the spring of 1896. 
March 30, of the same year, he married Miss 
Jessie Smetts, daughter of George A. Smetts, 
also of Akron. The young couple immediately 
went to housekeeping on the beautiful farm 
mentioned above, where their prospect for a 
happy future is most flattering. Mr. Marshall 
is fond of good horses and his stable is well 



supplied with blooded stock, and this will re- 
ceive his special care, as it is his intention to 
devote his time to graded live stock as well as 
to farming: 

Mr. Marshall is a prominent member of 
Atoclia lodge, No. 24, Knights of Pythias, and 
in politics is a republican. Mr. Marshall 
is of pleasing address and has many warm 
friends in Akron who esteem him most highly, 
and as he has always been an industrious and 
temperate young man, of broad intellect and 
comprehensive views, there can exist no doubt 
that he will make a success of life in his new 
field of industry. 



ISAAC MISHLER, a leading farmer of 
Sufifield township. Portage county, was 
born in Springfield township. Summit 
county, Ohio, September 14, 1838, a 
son of Joseph and Magdalene (Garl) Mishler. 
Joseph Mishler was born in Lancaster 
county. Pa., November 11, 181 1, and came to 
Ohio when a young man, settling in Summit 
county, where he bought land and engaged 
in farming. November 23, 1837, he married, 
in New Berlin, Stark county. Miss Garl, who 
was born in Stark county. May 4, 1817, a 
daughter of Reuben Garl, and to this union 
were born eleven children, six of whom are still 
living, viz: Isaac, our subject, the eldest; 
Jacob, born December 9, 1843; Benjamin, 
born August 27, 1845; Eliza, born June 15, 
1850, and married to Conrad Brumbaugh; 
Catherine, born April 17, 1854, now the wife 
of J. B. Richard, and Joseph W. , born July 
27, 1857. The deceased children were David, 
who died July 18, 1840; Levi, who died March 
20, 1 841 ; Elizabeth, who was the wife of John 
May, died in May, 1896, at the age of fifty 
years; twin boys, who died at birth, in Decem- 
ber, 1856. Both parents died in the faith of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



953 



the German Baptist church, of which they 
had been life-long members. 

Isaac Mishler passed his early life on his 
father's farm, receiving, meantime, a limited 
education in the common school. At the age 
of twenty-one he began learning the carpen- 
ter's trade, which he followed fourteen years, 
and in 1866 settled on his present farm in 
Suffield township, where he has ever since 
been prosperously engaged in cultivating his 
fields. 

The marriage of Mr. Mishler took place in 
November, 1859, to Miss Elizabeth Lutz, 
daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth (Mishler) 
Lutz, and to this union were born five children, 
viz: Maria, wife of Jeremiah Garl; Nancy, 
married to Henry Gaymeyer, and Aaron, liv- 
ing with his parents; Reuben, died when one 
year old, and Levi died October 7, 1870, at 
the age of seven months. Mrs. Mishler was 
born March 7, 1 841, in Lancaster county. Pa., 
whence her parents came to Ohio in 1845, ^'^'^ 
settled in Portage county. They had born to 
them a family of twelve children, of whom 
four are now deceased, viz: Kate, Sarah, 
Margaret and George; the survivors are Henry, 
Susan (wife of Isaac Grouse); Ezra, Eliz- 
abeth, William, Maria (Mrs. Henry Woodring), 
Nancy (wife of Benjamin Radabaugh), and 
Joseph. The father of this family died in Au- 
gust, 1875, and the mother in June, 1885, the 
latter being aged seventy-nine years, and both 
were devout members of the German Baptist 
church. 

Mr. Mishler has served as school director 
twenty-three years. He and family are all 
members of the German Baptist church, and 
fully live up to its precepts. He has led a 
truly good and useful life, has always been in- 
dustrious and intelligent in the management of 
his affairs, and as a result is in quite comfort- 
able circumstances, enjoying the good will and 
esteem of all who know him. 



at 



ALLACE SCOTT, a native of North- 
ampton township, and a prosperous 
farmer, was born September 15, 
1843, and is a son of Isaac and 
Fanny (Wallace) Scott, who were, as the 
name fully implies, of Scottish origin. 

Isaac Scott, father of subject, was born in 
Muskingum county, Ohio, March 31, 1817, 
son of Banlield and Lydia (Norris) Scott, who 
were natives, respectively, of Massachusetts 
and Connecticut, and the parents of two chil- 
dren — Isaac and Sarah. Mrs. Lydia Scott 
was thrice married, her first husband having 
been Stephen Lamonyon, to whom she bore 
three children — Charles, Cornelius and Ste- 
phen; her second marriage was with Mr. Scott, 
with the result mentioned above, and after 
his death, in Medina county, Ohio, in 1832, 
she married Joseph Dean, by whom she be- 
came the mother of one child, James. The 
father of subject, at the age of fifteen years, 
commenced the battle of life on his own re- 
sponsibility, and until twenty-two years old 
worked at different employments in Summit 
and neighboring counties. December 28,1 837, 
he married Miss Fanny Wallace, daughter of 
Henry and Clarissa (Strong) Wallace, and to 
this union were born three children, viz : 
Henry, December 28, 1840; Wallace, the sub- 
ject of this notice, and Walter, January 23, 
1852, but who died December 9, 1864. Henry, 
the eldest child, married Miss Ida Bishop, in 
1 86 1, and then enlisted in company H, Twen- 
ty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, but was hon- 
orably discharged in 1862, on account of poor 
health; the next year he re-enlisted and en- 
tered company H, One Hundred and Seventy- 
seventh volunteer infantry, as first corporal, 
was promoted to sergeant and served until the 
close of the war. Mrs. Isaac Scott was a na- 
tive of Stowe township. Summit county, and 
was born April 14, 1822. Her grandfather, 
Theodore Strong, was a commander of a ves- 



954 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



sel of war under Admiral David Porter, in the 
war of 1S12-15. He knew little, indeed, of 
ease and comfort until within a few years of 
his death, in the faith of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, of which his wife was also a 
member. 

Wallace Scott, the subject, was united in 
marriage, March 3, 1867, with Miss Mar\' E. 
Best, who was born June 17, 1857, a daughter 
of John and Rebecca (Watsoni Best; of the 
seven children born to this marriage two died 
in infancy; the survivors are Charles, who was 
born Angust 9, 1875; Fannie, August 20, 1877; 
Florence, January 2, 1880; Mollie Z., March 
3, 1882, and Frank W., March 25, 1886. Mr. 
Scott purchased the farm of 100 acres on which 
he now resides, in 1867, and he also owns 
another tract of sixty-five acres in this town- 
ship, and is recognized as an excellent farmer. 
Although his own education was acquired in 
the district schools, he believes in a higher 
class of education and has seen to it that his 
children have done and are doing better in 
this respect. His daughter, Fannie, is a 
graduate of the Cuyahoga Falls high school 
and is now teaching in school-district No. 3, 
Northampton township; Florence has also at- 
tended the high school at Cuyahoga Falls, and 
one term at Buchtel college. In politics Mr. 
Scott is a democrat, and has held several town- 
ship offices, among them that of treasurer for 
eight years. He is an honorable gentleman in 
all respects, and he and family, who are nicely 
situated on the farm near Cuyahoga Falls, are 
held in high esteem by all who know them. 



REMUS STANFORD, a retired farmer 
and one of the oldest and most high, 
ly respected citizens of Randolph, 
Portage county, Ohio, is a native 
of the Buckeye state, and was born in Mar- 
ietta, August 25, 18 14, a son of Oliver 



and Olin (Mason) Stanford, natives of Massa- 
chusetts, who settled in Ohio in 181 2. 

Oliver Stanford was a carpenter by trade, 
but later became a farmer. To his marriage 
with Miss Olin, daughter of Andrew and Pris- 
cilla (Galop). Mason, were born nine children, 
three of whom are still living, viz: Oremus, 
the subject; Harry, of Nebraska, and Nesslie 
of Rootstown, Ohio; the deceased were Will- 
iam; Mary, who was the wife of William Law- 
rence; Orren, Leroy, Squire, and Jancley (wife 
of K. Redfield). The father of this family died in 
1866, at the age of eighty years, two months, 
and seventeen days, and the mother at the age 
of eighty-four. 

Andrew Mason, the maternal grandfather 
of Oremus Stanford, was a farmer, and also 
for many years a manufacturer of brick. He 
reared a family of ten children, named as fol- 
lows: Olin, Squire, Lauren, Orrison, Ruby, 
Polly, Adaus, Emeline, Noble and Orrin. 

Oremus Stanford received a good public- 
school education, and learned carpentry and 
joining under his father, with whom he re- 
mained until 1832, when he came to Ran- 
dolph and followed his trade twenty-five years, 
and also worked as a millwright, constructing 
a large number of water-wheels. April 14, 
1836, he married Miss Sallie Chendon, daugh- 
ter of Almon and Gertrude Chendon, who 
early came from one of the eastern states and 
first located in Atvvater, Ohio, but later came 
to Randolph, the father being a farmer; they 
reared eight children, of whom only one is now 
living — Susanna, Mary, wife of Dr. Garlie; 
the deceased were named Victor, Hiram. Al- 
mon, Sallie (Mrs. Stanford), John, Henry and 
Chancie. Mr. Chendon died at the age of 
sixty-six years. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Oremus Stanford were 
born two children — Frank, who resides in 
Brimfield township. Portage county, and Vic- 
tor, who was killed in the army b}' the explo- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



955 



sion of a gun in 1864. Mrs. Stanford was 
called to her final home February 14, 1893, 
at the age of seventy-six years, a devout 
Christian, a loving mother, and a loyal and 
affectionate wife and helpmate for fifty-six 
years. Mr. Stanford has always been a strong 
temperance man, and in politics is a repub- 
lican. He has served his fellow-citizens in 
several official capacities, among them that of 
township trustee for many years. He had 
been, up to the date of his retirement, an in- 
dustrious and skillful mechanic and intelligent 
agriculturist, and is now enjoying in peace 
and comfort the fruits of his long and useful 
life, deservedly honored by all his neighbors, 
and by the community in general, as an up- 
right man and a conscientious Christian. 



>T^AMES S. SWEENEY, M. D., who has 
m been in active practice in Kent, Portage 
/• 1 county, for more than a quarter of a 
century, was born in Geauga county, 
Ohio, August 14, 1 83 1, a son of John and 
Dolly (Brown) Sweeney, natives, respectively, 
of Ireland and Vermont (or New Hampshire), 
but married in Trumbull county, Ohio. 

John Sweeney, father of subject, was born 
in Belfast, Ireland, in 1793, and before he had 
reached his majority was impressed into the 
British army and sent with the troops to 
America to aid in crushing the dearly-bought 
liberties of the United States by invading the 
country from 1 8 1 2 to 1815.- He took part in the 
battle of Pittsburg, and when the British army 
went into winter quarters Mr. Sweeney quietly 
left the army and went to Detroit, where he 
worked as a laborer. In 18 14 or 18 15 he 
came to Ohio, stopped for a while in Cleve- 
land, and then removed to Painesville, in Lake 
county, where he purchased land. He was 
then prepared to take a wife and was married. 



in Trumbull county, to Dolly Brown, a native 
of New England (either of Vermont or New 
Hampshire), who came to Ohio with her 
brother, Ephraim Brown, and settled in Trum- 
bull county. On his marriage Mr. Sweeney 
removed to Middlefield, Geauga county, and 
purchased a farm, and here lost his wife in 
1865, his own death following in 1874. To 
John Sweeney and wife were born three chil- 
dren, viz: Edward J., born July 4, 1824, was 
educated for a physician but later became an 
attorney, and died at Painesville at the age of 
sixty-three years; Thomas, born in September, 
1820, was a physician, and died at Chardon 
at the age of about sixty years; James S., the 
youngest, is the subject of this memoir. 

James S. Sweeney was educated element- 
arily in the district and select schools while 
being trained to the hard labor of his father's 
farm. \\'hen fully prepared, he read medicine 
with his eldest brother, Edward J., at Nelson, 
and then with a Dr. Coulter, continuing his 
studies from 1850 until 1854. He then en- 
tered upon practice at Parkman, Geauga 
county, where he remained four years, and 
thence removed to Chardon, then to Stowe, in 
Summit county. In November, 1861, he 
enlisted in company A, One Hundred and 
Twenty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry, and 
served until December, 1862, when he was 
honorably discharged on account of disability. 
On returning he suffered from ill health for 
two years and then resumed practice, finally 
settling in Kent, in 1871, where he has since 
built up one of the most respectable and lu- 
crative lines of practice in the cit^'. 

The marriage of Dr. Sweeney took place 
June 20, 1854, to Miss Addia Rockwell, a na- 
tive of and residing in Rome, Ashtabula 
county, and a daughter of Joseph Rockwell. 
Three children have blessed this marriage, viz: 
Dolly, wife of Byron Longcoy, residing near 
Kent; Edward J., who died April 21, 1886, at 



956 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



the age of twenty-two years, and Alice B., 
wife of C. W. Bales, of Marion county. 

In politics the doctor is a democrat, and 
has served one term as mayor of Kent, and 
several terms as a member of the city council 
and as a member of the school board, and has 
done much toward promoting the many im- 
provements that were so much needed a few 
years since in the way of electric lights, side- 
walks and water-works. Fraternally, he is a 
member of A. H. Day post, G. A. R. , of which 
he is a past commander. The doctor is a 
whole-souled, genial gentleman, ever ready to 
aid a friend or to advance a public improve- 
ment, and the first $500 he ever made went to 
satisfy a security note. He is thorough in his 
profession and has maintained his office and 
residence in the same locality since 1871. He 
has been a soldier, as has been seen; his father 
was a soldier, and his grandfather lost all his 
property by confiscation for the patriotic part 
he took in the Irish "rebellion " of 1798. 




IHOMAS J. WILLIAMS, the able 
superintendent for the Hudson Coal 
company, in Palmyra township, Port- 
age county, Ohio, and an enterpris- 
ing business man, was born in Pontrahydfend- 
digaid, shire of Cardigan, Wales, February 27, 
1848. His father was a miner, and came to 
America about 1848, and for a short time lived 
in Pittsburg, Pa., but later settled in Youngs- 
town, Ohio, where he had charge of a blast 
furnace the remainder of his life. Of his eight- 
een children, four still survive, viz. : David, 
Thomas J., Lizzie (wife of John P. Williams) 
and Griffith. In 1852, while temporarily liv- 
ing at Crab Creek, Ohio, Mr. Williams, in 
company with his brother, drove from Palmyra 
to Paris Center, and while they were crossing 
the Mahoning river, the water being high, they 
missed the road and were both drowned, to- 



gether with both horses. The mother of sub- 
ject still survives and resides in Deerfield, at 
the advanced age of seventy-five years, and in 
excellent health. 

Thomas J. Williams was but a trifle over 
a year old when brought to America by his 
parents, and was four months crossing the 
ocean. He received but little education in 
boyhood, as he was early set to work in the 
mines, and it is through his personal attention 
to his duties, perseverance and indomitable 
pluck, added to habits of the strictest integrity, 
that he has reached his present responsible 
position. After the death of his father, he 
lived with an aunt, Mrs. Davis, in Paris town- 
ship, about six months, and then he, with a 
brother, went to Crab Creek, where he re- 
mained with his mother until twenty-two years 
old, being engaged, meanwhile, in different 
capacities, in the mines. 

November 22, i868, Mr. Williams was 
united in marriage to Miss Catherine Will- 
iams, daughter of Ebenezer and Everina 
(Howells) Williams, and this union has been 
blessed with seven children, viz: Lizzie, wife 
of William R. W^illiams; Everina, wife of Will- 
iam James; Catherine, wife of Rachers Lewis; 
Lavitta, wife of Henry Lewis; Thomas J., Jr. ; 
Myrtle, and Elmira, who died September 27, 
1885, at the age of one year and eight months. 

Marriage seems to have energized Mr. Will- 
iams to greater exertion, as in 1872 he was 
promoted to be foreman of the Church Hill 
mine, in which he had been working, and held 
the position until 1885, when he went to Jack- 
son county, Ohio, where he sank a coal-mine 
shaft, known as the Glenroy, which he worked 
one year, when he sold it to a syndicate and 
returned to Church Hill and opened a mine 
known as the Toddhouse, and remained one 
year. In 1887 he went to Center Point, Ind., 
opened a mine for Weaver, Todd & Co., stayed 
a year, and in 1888 returned to Church Hill, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



957 



and opened a mine for the Vienna Coal com- 
pany, but a short time afterward was sent to 
Pennsylvania to open the Royal shaft for the 
same company. Six months later he returned 
to Church Hill, where he was superintendent 
of the Toddhouse until the spring of 1889, then 
came to Palmyra township, where he held the 
position of " boss " for the Hudson Coal com- 
pany until 1896. During this period of seven 
years, he sank a shaft for this company at 
Deerfield, which is now the best equipped in 
the district. In 1896 he was appointed super- 
intendent of the Hudson Coal company, his 
present position, controlling mines No. i to 4, 
of which No. 3 was finished by Mr. Williams 
himself. 

The proudest event in the life of Mr. Will- 
iams was probably that which happened when 
he left Church Hill, when the employees, 
numbering about 6®o, presented him with a 
gold watch that cost $135, as a token of their 
esteem for him as their foreman. 

In politics Mr. Williams is a republican, 
and has served as township committeeman 
and school director, and also as a member of 
the executive board of Portage county. Fra- 
ternally he is a member of Western Star 
lodge. No. 21, F. & A. M., of Youngstown, of 
chapter No. 93, R. A. M., and St. John's 
commandery, No. 20, K. T. 

Mrs. Catherine Williams, wife of our sub- 
ject, was born in Romney, Wales, December 
10, 1849, and was brought to America by her 
parents when two years of age. Her father 
was a miner, and to his marriage with Miss 
Everina Howells were born three children, two 
of whom are still living, viz: Mr. Williams 
and Elizabeth, wife of Edward Miller; the de- 
ceased child, William, died in 1857, aged one 
year. The father of Mrs. Williams died 
August 16, 1 868, aged forty-four years, and the 
mother May 8, 1857, aged thirty-four, and 
both members of the Welsh Methodist church. 



(D 



RS. ELIZA BRADFORD (PRICE) 

WETMORE is a member of one of 

the most respected of the pioneer 

families of Cuyahoga Falls and one 

of the most venerable ladies living in the 

county. 

Henry Wetmore, her husband was the son 
of Judge William and Anna Wetmore. Judge 
Wetmore was born in Hartford, Conn., in 
17.71. His wife, who was Anna Ogden, was 
born January 10, 1775, in Connecticut. They 
both descended from good old Puritan colonial 
families, and were married November 28, 
1795, at Hartford, Conn. Anna Ogden was 
the daughter of Jacob Ogden, a prominent 
merchant of Hartford. Judge Wetmore was 
engaged in business in early life in company 
with his father-in-law, as a contractor, and 
built the court house of Hartford. Judge 
Ogden later moved to New Haven, and 
moved to Ohio in 1805, as the agent of Judge 
Joshua Stowe, of Middletown,Conn., the judge 
being a large owner of land on the Western 
Reserve. William Wetmore first settled in 
in the woods three miles from Silver Lake, 
now in Summit county, being the original 
pioneer in that part of the township, and the 
country around Silver Lake being then peopled 
by the Indians. Here he built a log cabin and 
lived a short time, and then moved to Raven- 
na, Ohio, where he was one of the first set- 
tlers, and held the office of recorder. He 
resigned this office and settled on a large tract 
of land which he bought of Judge Stowe, at 
Silver Lake, the township being named Stowe 
after Judge Stowe. Judge Wetmore built a 
residence on the banks of the lake, which was 
then called Wetmore pond, and cleared up a 
large farm. At one time he established a store 
between the lake and Cuyahoga Falls, at what 
is now called the old village. His first wife, 
Anna Ogden, died, and on his return to Con- 
necticut, to buy goods, he married at New 



958 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Haven, her sister, Jerusha Ogden (born at 
Hartford, Conn., in March, 1777), but no 
children were born to this marriage. Judge 
WiUiam Wetmore was one of the organizers 
of Summit county. He was long circuit judge 
from the county and filled the office until he 
resigned. He died October 9, 1827, aged fifty- 
six. He was a man of great force of character 
and noble presence. His nearest neighbor 
was at Hudson, Ohio, were he traded. He 
was very friendly with the Indians and accus- 
tomed to deal with them, treating them kindly 
at all times, and was always at peace with 
them. 

Henry Wetmore, son of above, and the 
husband of our subject, was born February 10, 
1 801, in Hartford, Conn., and was a child of 
four years when brought to Ohio by his par- 
ents. He was brought up in the pioneer wil- 
derness and gained his education at Tall- 
madge, Ohio, where a minister from Connec- 
ticut had a celebrated school in those days. 
He early engaged in mercantile business with 
his father, and married Eliza Bradford Price, 
December 8, 1830, at Kent, then Franklin, 
Portage county, Ohio. This lady was born 
October 2, 1810, at Caldwell's Manor, near 
Lake Champlain, Vt. , a daughter of John and 
Hulda (Stillwell) Price. John Price, her 
father, was the son of Dr. Price, a surgeon 
during the Revolutionary war in the British 
army, and a descendant from a family of En- 
glish nobility — the family having a coat of 
arms. Dr. John Price married, in England, 
a Miss Mary Brownjohn, of New York city. 
Their children were John, William, George, 
Mary and Eliza. Dr. Price settled in New 
York city after the Revolutionary war, and 
his sons, WiUiam and John, bought property 
on lake Champlain at Caldwell's Manor. 
They built warehouses and stores at Platts- 
burg and Montreal, and did a large business 
during the war of 1812. 



John Price, the father of the subject, mar- 
ried Hulda Stillwell, and their children were 
Eliza Bradford, Mary (who died aged twenty- 
five years) and John (who died young). Mr. 
Price died while engaged in the mercantile 
business on lake Champlain. His wife soon 
sickened and died, and our subject, Eliza, was 
reared by her uncle, William, who moved 
with his family to Kent, Ohio, probably about 
181 5, when she was very young, as Mrs. Wet- 
more, born in 18 10, can remember but one 
incident of the journey. Mrs. Wetmore was 
brought up among the pioneers and received a 
limited education at Warren. Ohio. Her 
uncle was a merchant and miller at Kent and 
withal a prosperous farmer. He was killed 
by an accident in 1830. Mr. and Mrs. Wet- 
more, after marriage, settled in Cuyahoga 
Falls, where he and his brothers had built the 
.first houses and where he engaged in the mer- 
cantile business and owned the first stone 
house in this place, and, in company with his 
brother, Ogden, Mr. Wetmore cut the first 
trees and marked out the town. They built 
the first bridge and dam and dug the first well, 
and built the first flouring-mill, paper-mill, 
saw-mill and grist-mill, and engaged in the 
manufacturing of tools, and did an extensive 
business. They were well known and ener- 
getic pioneers, and the real founders of the 
town. Mr. Wetmore always refused to hold 
office, although it was frequently offered him, 
but in politics was a whig and later a repub- 
lican. He was a stanch temperance man, and, 
in company with Dr. Wilcox and E. N. Sill, 
organized the first temperance society in the 
state of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs Wetmore were 
both liberal in religious views and assisted to 
build, and aided with their means, all the dif- 
ferent churches in Cuyahoga Falls, and as- 
sisted all other good causes. Mr. Wetmore 
lived to the great age of over ninety years and 
died January 10, 1892. He erected many 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



959 



buildings, among them the old part of the 
present hotel, which he used as a store, and 
in the back part his brother lived with his 
family. He accumulated a handsome prop- 
erty, but was always a public-spirited and lib- 
eral man, and was much respected for his 
honorable character. The children that 
blessed his marriage were Henry W., born 
November i6, 1834, and George Prentiss, 
born September 19, 1836. George Prentiss 
Wetmore married Harriet Tanner Hanford, 
September i, 1862, and they had three sons — - 
all now deceased — who were named William 
H., born June 7, 1863; Henry Price, born 
July 21, 1866, and George Sackett, born Feb- 
ruary I, 1868. 

Mrs. Eliza B. Wetmore is now a venerable 
lady of eighty-seven years of age, but retains 
her faculties wonderfully. She made a trip, 
for pleasure, to California in 1896, and trav- 
eled six months with friends, enjoying the trip 
remarkably. In 1897 she made a trip to Flor- 
ida. Mrs. Wetmore's reminiscences of pio- 
neer days are of great interest, running over 
the entire settlement of the country. 

The following genealogical record, found 
among Mr. Wetmore's private papers, in his 
own handwriting, is well worth the space it 
occupies in this volume: 

Thomas Wetmore, born in England, 161 5, 
came to America in 1635, when twenty years 
old, married Sarah Willock in December, 
1645. Their children were John, Elizabeth, 
Azariah, Beriah, Nathaniel, Joseph, Sarah and 
Judith. His wife died, and he married Mary 
Piatt, and their children were Mehitable M., 
Seth, Katherine, Benjamin, Abigail and Han- 
nah. Seth Wetmore, Sr., married Mary 
Wright, November 14, 1768. Births: Seth 
Wetmore, Jr., September 10, 1769; WiUiam, 
September 16, 1771; Hannah, May — , 1773; 
Samuel, October 5, 1775; Mary, September 
14, 1777; Willard Wright, October 14, 1779; 
Titus, July 16, 1 781; J , July 21, 1783; 



Lucy, April 6, 1786;' Nathaniel, October 30, 
1790. 

Seth Wetmore, Sr. , married Lucy Scott, 
March 27, 1791. Children: Julia, born June 
21, 1792; Harriet, born September 23, 1794. 
William Wetmore married Anna Ogden, No- 
vember 28, 1795. Children: William, Jr., 
born September 5, 1796, and died June 12, 
1852; Edwin, born September 25, 1798; 

, December 25, 1782; Henry, 

born February 10, 1801; Clarissa, born March 
18, 1804, died April 26, 1864; Jacob Ogden, 
born June 29, 1807; Harriet, born February 
17, 1S16. Deaths: Daughter, Harriet, Sep- 
tember 16, 1823; mother, June 10, 1825; fa- 
ther, October 5, 1827; son, Ogden, June 8, 
1841; son, William, June 12, 1852; daughter, 
Clarissa, May 9, 1864. Jerusha Ogden Wet- 
more, second wife and sister of first wife of 
William, died in August, 1854; son, Edward, 
December 25, 1872. 



,V^^ORMAN M. WEYRICK, a rising 

I M young attorney at law, is a native 

^ f of Springfield township. Summit 

county, Ohio, but has his business 

office in room No. 4, Abbey block. No. 126 

Main street, in the city of Akron. 

John W. Weyrick, father of Norman M., 
was also a native of Summit county, Ohio, 
and was a son of David Weyrick, who came 
from Pennsylvania, and was one of the earli- 
est settlers of Springfield township. Summit 
county, Ohio. John W. was reared on his 
father's farm, married Miss Susannah Snyder, 
daughter of Joshua Snyder, and became the 
father of seven children, viz: William F., 
Milton B., Henry D., Ira S., Ellen E., Nor- 
man M. and Loverta M., now the wife of John 
Smith. The father, John W. , became heir to 
the old homestead, was an excellent and pros- 
perous farmer, served many years as township 
trustee, was greatly respected by his fellow- 
townsmen, and died July 4, 1891, a pious and 
consistent member of the Reformed church. 



960 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



His widow still resides on the homestead, is 
also a member of the Reformed church, and is 
most highly esteemed by the entire community. 
Norman M. Weyrick was born April 26, 
1874, and was reared on the home farm, which 
he assisted in cultivating during the summer 
months. He was educated in the district 
school, which he attended during the winter 
months until eighteen years of age, and then 
taught school one term. In 1893, however, 
he had begun the study of law under the well- 
known lawyer, ex-Mayor Watters, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in June, 1895. He at once 
opened his office at the address mentioned in 
the opening paragraph of this article, and has 
already secured a very fair share of current 
patronage. He is still unmarried, and his 
leisure hours are passed on the old homestead, 
with his mother, in Springfield township. He 
is a member of the Reformed church, in poli- 
tics is a democrat, and is highly respected for 
his individual merits, and there is beyond a 
doubt a bright career awaiting him in the near 
future. 



aH. WHIPPLE, M. D.,of Barberton, 
Norton township, Summit county, 
Ohio, is a native of Pennsylvania, 
and was born in Mansfield, Tioga 
county, August 18, 1859. His great -great- 
grandfather, Benjamin Whipple was long a 
captain in the war for American independ- 
ence, and a brother of Abraham Whipple, 
who was an admiral in the United States navy. 
Joseph Whipple, grandfather of the doctor, 
was born and reared, and farmed until his 
death, in Rutland county, Vt. , and was a strong 
abolitionist in his politics. 

Joseph Whipple, father of the subject, was 
born in the city of Fair Haven, Rutland county, 
Vt. , August 22, 181 3, and always followed the 
vocation of farming. He married, in Pultney, 



Rutland county, June 7, 1839, Miss Eliza A. 
Culver, a native of Vermont, born December 
19, 181 5. Some considerable time after mar- 
riage Mr. and Mrs. Whipple removed to Earls- 
ville, N. Y. , and later to Mansfield, Pa., where 
Mrs. Whipple ended her days February i, 
1885, and Mr. Whipple April 26, 1894. 

C. H. Whipple, the subject, passed his 
early days on his father's farm in the Keystone 
state, and was preliminarily educated in the 
district schools. He also attended the Pennsyl- 
vania state Normal school and prepared him- 
self for teaching, a vocation he followed for 
nine successive winters — farming in the sum- 
mers. During this period he industriously 
devoted himself to the study of medicine under 
proper preceptors, and in the fall of 1887 en- 
tered the Hahnemann (Homeopathic) college, 
Chicago, and immediately on graduating, eight 
years ago, chose his present field for prac- 
tice, and that he has been successful is proven 
by his long stay. The doctor has for fourteen 
years been a member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, and in this he has filled the office 
of steward; in his politics he is a prohibitionist, 
and fraternally he is a member of Knights of 
Pythias lodge. No. 486, in which he has filled 
all the chairs. He is ex-examining physician 
of Ben Hur tribe, but his private practice now 
requires all his available time and attention. 
The doctor is an affable gentleman, and is as 
much respected for his genial and pleasant 
disposition as for his professional skill. 

Mrs. K. W. Cory, M. D., the accomplished 
lady physician of Barberton, Ohio, was born 
in Mansfield, Pa., November 9, 1849, and in 
June, 1868, graduated from the Mansfield 
Normal college. For the ten following years 
she was engaged in school-teaching — studying 
medicine the meanwhile. In 1880 she gradu- 
ated from the Cleveland Homeopathic hospital 
and college and at once began practice in 
Painesville, Lake county, Ohio, meeting with 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



961 



phenomenal success. In June, 1882, she was 
united in marriage with N. S. Cory, a me- 
chanic of Barberton, Ohio, to whom she has 
borne one son — Jay W. In 1889, Dr. Cory 
located in Akron, where she controlled a lib- 
eral share of patronage until 1894, when she 
settled in Barberton, occupying the same office 
with her brother, Dr. C. H. Whipple. She 
has been physician to the Ben Hur tribe and 
I. P. A., and the Ladies' Maccabees society, 
but her private practice now absorbs all her 
attention. She is an active member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, a teacher in the 
Sunday-school, and has gained hosts of friends 
since she has taken up her residence in the 
city of Barberton. 



BRANK H. WHEELER, secretary of 
the Van Wart Liquor & Opium Cure 
company of Akron, Ohio, is a native 
of this city and was born March 2, 
i860, and here his parents, Henry F. and Ella 
(McMasters) Wheeler, still maintain their resi- 
dence. The son, Frank H., received his pre- 
liminary education in the public schools of the 
city, and this education was supplemented by 
an attendance at Buchtel college until he had 
attained his eighteenth year, when he began 
the study of medicine under the preceptorship 
of Dr. Jacobs; being prepared for advanced in- 
struction, he entered the Rush Medical college 
of Chicago, 111., and attended the usual course 
of lectures. In 1884 he went to New York 
city, having accepted the position of secretary 
of the Fabric Fire Hose company, in which 
capacity he proved to be so usefully compe- 
tent that he was retained until 1893, when, as 
more congenial to his medical education, he 
associated himself with the Van Wart company, 
of which further mention will be made, and in 
1894, returned to Akron to assume the duties 
of his present responsible position. 

42 



Frank H. Wheeler was united in marriage, 
in January, 1890, with Miss Mary E. Draper, 
of Brooklyn, N. Y. , and this happy union has 
been blessed by the birth of one child — Henry 
Stevens Wheeler. The pleasant home of Mr. 
and Mrs. Wheeler is at No. 1 14 South Summit 
street, where, the center of a coterie of ge- 
nial friends and neighbors, they pass the too 
fleeting hours of leisure in tranquil happiness. 

The Van Wart Liquor & Opium Cure com- 
pany was incorporated, under the state laws 
of Ohio, in 1894, with a capital stock of $200,- 
000. It was formed, as its name implies, for 
the treatment of the victims of the too prodi- 
gal use of either alcoholic beverages or of 
opium in any form, and for the annihilation of 
the appetite for, and the toxical effects of, and 
indulgence in their too frequent use. The 
preparations used for this treatment are en- 
tirely harmless, and the desired result is 
reached within ten days, improvement taking 
place immediately after the first portion or 
dose, with no consequent evil effect, after full 
treatment. The remedy is pleasant to the 
taste, and can be partaken of by the patient 
either at his own home or at the office of the 
company, at No. 20 li South High street, with 
no detention from business, nor any inconve- 
nience whatever. The officers of the company 
are: W. C. Jacobs, M. D., president; B. F. 
Clark, vice-president; G. C. Berry, Jr., treas- 
urer, and F. W. Wheeler, secretary. 



eDGAR WHITTELSEY, e.x-county 
commissioner and one of the oldest 
and most experienced farmers of At- 
water township. Portage county, Ohio, 
his native place, was born March 9, 1828, and 
is the second of the five children born to Ran- 
dolph S. and Clarissa (Mansfield) Whittelsey, 
and who were named, in order of birth, Pat- 



962 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



rick, Edgar, Friend, Randall and Clara, the 
last named being the wife of Ambrose Goss. 

John H. Whittelsey, the paternal grand- 
father of Edgar, was a native of Wallingford, 
Conn., was of Scotch descent, and came to 
Ohio in 1807, settled in Atwater township, 
and developed a fine farm from the woods, 
afterward inherited by his only living son, 
John B. Whittelsey. Randolph S. Whittel- 
sey and wife were also natives of \\'allingford, 
Conn., the former born in September, 1799. 
and the latter in November, 1800. Randolph 
S. was but seven years of age when brought 
to Atwater township by his parents, was here 
reared to manhood, and was here married; he 
here reared his family, and died in 1870, a 
most honored gentleman. His wife was called 
away in 1875. 

Edgar Whittelsey received a common- 
school and academical education in Atwater, 
and after finishing his educantion engaged in 
farming, a vocation to which he had been well 
trained in his youthful days. November 10, 
1852, he was united in marriage with Miss 
Margaret Teel, who was born September 16, 
1823, and this union has been blessed with 
two children, Lucy and Powell. He has con- 
tinued his farming and stockraising until the 
present time, and has made a specialty of the 
live stock branch of his industry in partner- 
ship with his brother. Friend Whittelsey, for 
years, and together they do an immense busi- 
ness in this line; in conjunction with his son, 
Powell, he owns over 700 acres of land, which 
is devoted to grazing and agriculture. At the 
present time he is engaged in shipping large 
numbers of hogs to the stockyards at West 
Liberty, Pa., but at other times has frequently 
found a market for stock further to the east. 

In politics Mr. Whittelsey is a stanch re- 
publican, and has served two terms — 1876 to 
1882 — as county commissioner, and has also 
served as township trustee and assessor. While 



not a member of any church or secret order, 
he is recognized as one of the most upright 
men of the township and is everywhere hon- 
ored for his probity. He is a worthy repre- 
sentative of the early pioneers of the county, 
and maintains the fair fame of his ancestors 
without blot or blemish. 



sr 



ILLIAM L. WILCOX, one of the 
most prosperous farmers and re- 
spected citizens of Deerfield town- 
ship. Portage county, Ohio, is a 
son of Alexander H. and Betsey (Diver) Wil- 
cox, was born on his father's farm in Deerfield 
township March 20, 1845, and was here reared 
to manhood, receiving a good education in the 
district school in the meantime, and aiding in 
the cultivation of the home place until he 
reached his majority, when he engaged in 
agricultural pursuits on his own account. 

March 4, 1879, Mr. Wilcox was united in 
marriage with Miss Adelia Haines, daughter of 
Stacy and Rebecca (Armstrong) Haines, and 
the same year purchased his present farm in 
Deerfield township, where he has since made 
his home, and where have been born his three 
childien — Earl M., Edna D. and Stacy H. 

Rebecca ( Haines) \\'ilcox was born in Deer- 
field township, September 20, 1852. Her 
father, Stacy Haines, was a native of New 
Jersey, was born in 1808, and by trade was a 
shoemaker, but in his later years became a 
farmer. Her mother, Rebecca (Armstrong) 
Haines, was born July 31, 1815, in Goshen 
township, Mahoning county, Ohio, and bore 
her husband six children, of whom five are 
still living, viz : Albert, Eliza (wife of John 
Frank), Mary (Mrs William Spires), Rebecca 
(Mrs. Wilcox) and Clark; the deceased child, 
Libbie, was thirty j'ears of age at the time of 
her death, October 6, 1889. Stacy Haines 
died on his farm in Deerfield township July 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



963 



31, 1876, a highl)' respected citizen, and his 
widow, at the age of eighty-two years, still re- 
sides on the homestead, in the enjoyment of 
excellent health, and venerated by all who 
know her. 

Ale.xander H. Wilcox, father of William 
L. , was born in Saundersville, Mass., Novem- 
ber 27, 18 1 2, a son of William and Louisa 
(Gibbs) Wilcox, and in 181 5 was brought to 
Ohio by his parents, who for a short time 
lived in Tallmadge township, Summit county, 
and then settled in Deerfield township, Port- 
age 'County. There Alexander H. served an 
apprenticeship of four years at the carpenter's 
trade under Lyman P. Hanlin, and after en- 
gaging in business on his own account, etected 
some of the most substantial buildings in the 
township, including the First Methodist 
church, and also built the bridge across the 
Mahoning river south of Deerfield, which stood 
fifty years. He later engaged in farming, 
which he successfully conducted in conjunction 
with his business of contracting. His first 
marriage took place Afay 4, 1837, to Miss 
Betsey Diver, daughter of John and Catherine 
(Hartzell) Diver, to which union' seven chil- 
dren were born, of whom the living are Hen- 
rietta (wife of John Hoffman), George, William 
L. and Charles E.; the deceased were Susan 
E., who died September 5, 1850, at the age of 
three years; Joseph, who died May 16, 1865, 
when twenty-two years old, and Julia, who 
died April 5, 1872, the wife of William Wil- 
son. The mother of this family departed from 
earth August, 6, 1850, aged thirty-five years, 
and Mr. Wilcox next married. May 15, 185 1, 
Miss Adaline Barrick, who was born February 
24, 1 81 7, a daughter of William and Sarah 
Barrick, to which union have been born three 
children — E. B. , J. B. , and Sarah, who died 
November 3, 1861, at the age of ten years. 
Mr. Wilcox has always been a democrat in 
politics, and for a number of years served as 



school director and township supervisor; he 
also carried the mails between Deerfield and 
Enon Valley, a round distance of thirty-seven 
miles, making the trip twice a day. 

William Wilcox, grandfather of subject, 
was a native of Massachusetts, was a farmer 
nearly all his life, and to his marriage with 
Louisa Gibbs were born eleven children, of 
whom two survive — Alexander H. and Cla- 
rissa, wife of Elias Mowen. The deceased 
children of these eleven were named Julia, 
Harriet, Emma, Lucinda, Mary, Seneca, Law- 
rence, George and Newell. 

William Barrick, mentioned above, was a 
native of Maryland, and his wife, Sarah 
Romich, of Berks county. Pa. To their mar- 
riage were born seven children, viz: Adeline 
(Mrs. A. H. Wilcox), and John, who still sur- 
vive, and Harriet, Elizabeth, Mary, William 
and Cornelius, all five deceased. 

George A. Wilcox, the eldest son of Alex- 
ander H. and Betsey (Diver) Wilcox, was 
born October 2, 1841, in a diminutive log 
cabin just northwest of Deerfield, and has 
been a farmer all his life. October 3, 1866, 
he married Miss Calista E. Kibler, daughter 
of George and Mary (Ruggles) Kibler, one of 
the oldest families in the township, the union 
resulting in the birth of six children, viz: 
Mary, wife of Arthur Jenkins; Lucy, wife of 
Charles E. Burkey; Grace G., Clayton G. 
and Bessie, all still living, and Bertha I., who 
died May 28, 1895, ^t the age of nineteen 
years, nine months and three days. In 1868 
Mr. Wilcox settled on his present farm, a half 
mile west of his father's homestead, and until 
1873 was engaged in the production of potash, 
etc., since which date he has devoted his time 
to general farming. Mr. Wilcox is very popu- 
lar in the township and has filled the offices of 
school director and supervisor for several years. 

Calista E. Kibler, the lady who became 
the wife of George A. Wilcox, was born in 



964 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Palmyra township, Portage county, Ohio, 
January 7, 1845, her mother being a native of 
the same township and her father of the state 
of Virginia. To the marriage of George Kib- 
ler to Mary Ruggles, daughter of William and 
Malinda (Wilson) Ruggles, were born seven 
children, viz: Melissa, now Mrs. Lester Pat- 
terson; Calista E., the wife of George A. Wil- 
cox; Maria, married to Charles Waller; Jesse 
C, Charles M., and Blanche May, the wife of 
Arthur Williams. George Kibler met with an 
accidental death July 31, 1889, being killed by 
a fall from a wagon, but his wife had passed 
away November 1 1, 1888, at the age of sixty- 
nine years. The grandfather of Mrs. George 
A. Wilcox, Henry Kibler, a native of Virginia, 
was one of the earliest settlers of Palmyra 
township, was a farmer by occupation, but at 
one time owned the largest saw-mill in north- 
eastern Ohio. 



ORLANDO WILCOX, one of the lead- 
ing attorneys of Summit county and 
a respected citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, 
was born at Hinckley, Medina county, 
Ohio, December 16, 1 851, a son of Dr. Orlando 
and Lucy fFletcher) Wilcox, who descended 
from Connecticut Puritans, of English stock, 
the name being originally spelled Wilcoxson. 
Lemuel Wilcox, grandfather of Orlando, 
was the son of Joseph. He was born in Con- 
necticut, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. 
He settled in New York state, after his mar- 
riage to Rhoda North, about 1800. His chil- 
dren were Orlando, Alanson, Evelyn, Lemuel, 
Adelia, Mary and Sarah. Lemuel Wilcox 
moved, in 1830, and settled at Hinckley, Me- 
dina county, Ohio, on a farm, although a stone- 
mason by trade. He reached the venerable 
age of eighty-four years and died a knight 
templar Mason. 

Dr. Orlando Wilcox, father of our subject, 



was born February 22, 1802, at Broadalbin, in 
New York state. He received an excellent 
medical education in New York city, gradu- 
ated about 1827, and settled for the practice at 
Cuyahoga Falls, about 1828. Dr. Wilcox 
mprried, in this place, Lucy Fletcher, March 
26, 1829. She was born on Grand Island, 
lake Champlain, July 6, 1809, and saw, as a 
child, the naval battle on that lake. Her fa- 
ther moved to Burlington, Vt., and from there 
to Ohio, in 1817, and settled as a pioneer in 
the woods of Boston township. Summit county, 
but later moved to Hinckley, Medina county, 
Ohio, where he died, aged about seventy years. 
Dr. Wilcox was one of the pioneer physi- 
cians,' was a member of the early medical 
societies of Cuyahoga Falls, and well known 
throughout the surrounding country. He 
moved to Hinckley in 1831, where he practiced 
for many years. He died in Cuyahoga Falls, 
April 3, 1886. He was a strong advocate of 
temperance and as early as 1829, in connec- 
tion with Henry Wetmore, of Cuyahoga Falls, 
organized the first temperance society in Ohio. 
His children were Nelson E., Rev. Alanson, 
Lester, Rebecca, Lucy and Orlando. Politic- 
ally, he was a free-soiler, abolitionist and 
republican. 

Orlando Wilcox, subject of this sketch, 
received his education at Hinckley and Bald- 
win university, at Berea, Ohio, and read law 
at Cleveland, in the office of A. J. Marvin, a 
prominent attorney. He began the practice 
of his profession in 1884, and soon established 
a successful business. 

Mr. Wilcox married, October 7, 1874, Miss 
Zelia M. Severance, born at Hinckley, Medina 
county, Ohio, a daughter of Asaph and Mary 
(Pierce) Severance, and to this union have been 
born two daughters — Lottie and Mabel. In 
politics Mr. Wilcox is a republican, and has 
held the office of city solicitor for ten years. 
He was a candidate for probate judge in 1896, 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



965 



but was defeated for nomination by a small 
majority. He is a K. P., being a member of 
Pavonia lodge, No. 301, of Cuyahoga Falls, 
and also of the Ancient Essenic order. Mr. 
Wilcox and wife are members of the Disci- 
ples' church. 



BRANCIS ALBERT WILCOX, a lead- 
ing business man of Akron, Ohio, was 
born in Richfield, Summit county, 
May 17, 1852, and is a son of Jere- 
miah C. and Julia A. (Wilder) Wilcox, the 
former of whom was a native of Connecticut 
and the latter of Vermont. 

Jeremiah C. Wilcox descended from an 
English family that settled in America in 1636, 
but for the purposes of this narrative it will be 
only necessary to state that he was well edu- 
cated and came to Ohio in 1808, locating in 
Trumbull county, and there married a Miss 
Bushnell, who bore him five children, viz: 
Harriet, the deceased wife of Rev. Daniel 
Emmerson; Maria, deceased wife of the late 
Judge Robert Clark, of Sacramento, Cal. ; 
Jeremiah D., a retired merchant of Dead wood, 
S. D. ; Jerusha, wife of Gen. S. D. Sturgis, of 
Minneapolis, Minn., and Amelia, who died in 
early childhood. The mother of these chil- 
dren was called away in due course of time, 
and then Mr. Wilcox married Mrs. Pettee, 
formerly Miss Wilder, who became the mother 
of the subject. The father of Mr. Wilcox died 
in 1872, at the age of eighty-two years, but 
the mother still survives, and has now attained 
her eighty-second year. 

Francis A. Wilcox was educated in the 
common schools, then at the Richfield acad- 
emy, and at the age of seventeen years began 
teaching school, by which effort he was able 
to pay his way through Oberlin college, from 
which he graduated in 1878. His school work 
extended through nineteen terms — the last 



three years of which were employed as super- 
intendent of the Glenville schools. He had 
taken the opportunity, however, during the 
years he was employed as a teacher, to study 
law with T. E. Burton, of Cleveland, reading, 
under instruction, one year. In 1882 he lo- 
cated in Akron, bought a half-interest in the 
abstract business of W. W. Warner, and for 
two and a half years was associated with this 
gentleman in this specialty, then purchased 
his partner's interest, and for six months car- 
ried on the business on his own account. In 
1885 he disposed of one-half of this business 
to Andrew H. Noah, and until January, 1896, 
it was carried on under the firm name of Wil- 
cox & Noah, when C. I. Bruner was admitted 
and the name changed to Wilcox, Noah & Co. , 
which has since done an abstract, insurance, 
real estate and general agency business, hav- 
ing in its supervision the affairs of the Akron 
Building & Loan association. Mr. Wilcox is, 
beside, treasurer of the Akron China company, 
is president of the Akron Electrical company, 
of which he was one of the organizers, and has 
been a director in the Akron Savings bank 
since its organization. His surplus capital is 
invested in the stock of various industrial con- 
cerns in the city, and he has done as much as 
any man of his age to advance the progress of 
Akron in its material, educational and moral 
prosperity, and is emphatically what is usually 
denominated a self-made man. 

In politics Mr. Wilcox is a republican and 
has served as a member of the city council in 
Akron, as well as in Glenville. Fraternally 
he is a Knight of Pythias and an Odd Fellow, 
in the latter order having filled the office of 
past grand and having represented it in the 
grand encampment, and is, beside, the organ- 
izer of the lodge of Maccabees in Akron. 

Mr. Wilcox was united in marriage No- 
vember 9, 1893, with Miss Delia M. Doyle, 
daughter of W. B. Doyle, of Akron, and this 



966 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



union has been blessed with one child, Doyle 
Wilcox, born May 7, 1895. ^I^- ^"d Mrs. 
Wilcox have also taken to their hearts and 
home a little girl, who was left an orphan by 
the death of a brother of Mrs. Wilcox and 
whom they have adopted as their daughter, 
and who was born August 13, 1894, and is 
named Elizabeth Lulu Wilcox. Mr. Wilcox, 
with his family, resides at No. 1 10 Park place, 
where he and wife enjoy the company of a 
large circle of friends, to whom a generous hos- 
pitality is always extended. 



^"V" OLOMON C. WILD, a thrifty young 
v^^^^* farmer of Northampton township, 

^^ y Summit county, was born in Union- 
town, Stark county, Ohio, December 
7, 1865, a son of Frederick and Susan (Brum- 
baugh) Wild, the former a native of Switzer- 
land. 

Frederick Wild was born about 1839 and 
was the sixth child of Rudolph Wild, who died 
in his native land in 1844. Mrs. Wild came 
to America in 1854, landing in New York after 
a voyage of eighteen days, the quickest that 
had ever been made by a sailing vessel up to 
that date, and arrived at Uniontown, Ohio, on 
the first day of the foUowingyear. She brought 
with her the children she had borne to Rudolph 
Wild, who were named Jacob, Sophia, Sam- 
uel, Mary, Frana, Frederick, Rudolph and John. 
Of these, Frederick, father of our subject, 
worked as a day laborer for several years, and 
on reaching his majority married Miss Susan 
Brumbaugh, rented a farm in Lake township, 
Stark county, lived thereon seven years, and 
then purchased the farm of seventy-three acres 
on which his son, Solomon C, now resides. 
On this farm Mr. Wild made most of the im- 
provements and placed it under good cultiva- 
tion, and here passed the remainder of his life, 
dying June 19, 1892. His wife, Susan, was 



born in Stark county, Ohio, her parents hav- 
ing come from Pennsylvania. Her death took 
place September 10, 1886, leaving to mourn 
her loss her husband and three children — 
Clement, Solomon C. and Irene. 

Solomon C. Wild has added considerably 
to the improvement and cultivation of the old 
home farm and has made it both attractive 
and profitable, being an industrious as well as 
a well-trained agriculturist, and having had 
possession of the premises ever since the death 
of his father. November 9, 1886, Mr. Wild 
married Miss Fannie Galloway, daughter of 
Adam and Almira (Cochran) Galloway, of 
Stowe township, the union resulting in the 
birth of one son and one daughter — Harold 
C, April 2, 1890, and Susan Almira, January 
5, 1897. Adam Galloway, father of Mrs. 
Wild, was a brave soldier throughout the late 
Civil war, having served as second lieutenant 
in the Sixth Ohio volunteer artillery, and as a 
citizen was one of the most respected residents 
of Stowe township. In politics Mr. Wild has 
always acted with the democratic party, and 
while he has been true in his allegiance to the 
same and active in promoting its welfare, has 
never yet sought preferment at his party's 
hands nor been desirous of holding public 
office. He and wife active long been active 
and ardent members of the United Presbyte- 
rian church, at Metz, Ohio, and have lived con- 
sistently with its tenets and teachings. Both 
are likewise members of the Patrons of Hus- 
bandry order, and are socially classed among 
the most respectable in the society circles of 
Northampton township. 



HNDREW.J. WILHELM, one of the 
best known attorneys at law in Akron, 
Ohio, has his ot^ce at No. 1 1 1 South 
Howard street and has been a resi- 
dent of the city since 1882. His birth took 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



967 



place in Canton, in Stark county, Ohio, No- 
vember 19, 1863, and he is one of the three 
children born to Frederick and Matilda (Pon- 
tious) Wilhelm, the former of whom was born 
in Germany and the latter in Pennsylvania, of 
German extraction, and both are now deceased. 
Of the three children, Andrew J. is the only 
survivor. He was reared by his maternal 
grandparents, Samuel and Sarah Pontious, 
from his si.xth until his fourteenth year, and 
he then began to take care of himself. He 
was educated in the district and graded schools, 
and at the age of sixteen years began teaching, 
and in this vocation was employed two terms 
in Stark county, six terms in one school in 
Portage county, and one term at anotherschool 
in the same county, and two terms in Summit 
county, making a total of eleven terms. Dur- 
ing vacations he was employed as a clerk and 
also as a carpenter. In 1881 he entered 
Union college and defrayed his expenses en- 
tirely from the funds he had previously earned 
as teacher, carpenter and clerk. In 1887 he 
began the study of law with Voris & V^oris and 
was admitted to the bar March 6, 1890, and 
soon afterward formed a partnership with 
Samuel Rogers, under the firm-name of Rogers 
cS: Wilhelm, but six months later the firm dis- 
solved, and since then Mr. Wilhelm has been 
in practice alone, and has attained a proud 
distinction as a general attorney. During the 
period of self-instruction Mr. Wilhelm was first 
strongly inclined toward the ministry of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was 
and is now a member, and passed a success- 
ful examination as a candidate for ordination, 
delivered many sermons, and acted as a "sup- 
ply," but circumstances led to the practice of 
the law, and in a financial sense the change 
was a fortunate one, as his abundant success 
as an attorney has since proven. 

In politics Mr. Wilhelm is a member of the 
republican party, and as an attorney is equally 



popular with his fellow-practitioners as with 
the general public. He was married, May 30, 
1888, to Miss Rose Anna Price, daughter of 
George Price, and this marriage has been 
blessed with three children — Earle P., Lillian 
A. (deceased) and Edith. 



^^yrw»iLLIAM L. WILLIAMS, the old- 
■ ■ I time blacksmith and wagonmaker of 
• jLjI Palmyra, Portage county, Ohio, 
was born in Wales August i, 1833, 
a son of William L. and Margaret (Jones) 
Williams, who came to America in 1839. 

William L. Williams, the father, was also 
a wagonmaker and blacksmith, and on coming 
to America settled in Palmyra, where he fol- 
lowed his trade as long as strength permitted. 
To his marriage with Miss Jones were born 
seven children, of whom three are still living, 
viz: Ann, Elizabeth and William L. The 
deceased were named Isaac, John, Henry and 
Martin, the last named of whom died in Wash- 
ington, D. C. , May 10, 1894, at the age of 
sixty-four years. The father passed away 
November 18, 1861, when fifty-six years old, 
and the mother October 17, 1887, at the age 
of eighty-three years — both devout members 
of the Methodist church. 

\\'illiam L. Williams, in whose interest 
this biography is written, was but five years of 
age when brought to Palmyra, Ohio, here at- 
tended the district school and learned his trade 
under his father. When his father became 
invalided, he for some time managed the busi- 
ness, and in 1854 started a shop in Palmyra 
on his own account, and up to the present time 
has been very successful in this line, as well as 
in farming, which he carries on in conjunction 
with his trade. 

June I, 1867, Mr. Williams was united in 
marriage to Miss Maria M. Williams, daughter 
of William and Martha (Roberts) Williams, 



968 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



and this marriage has resulted in the birth of 
two children, viz: Warren B., who married 
Miss Kate Lewis, daughter of David and Mary 
Lewis, and William, who is still unmarried. 
Mrs. Maria M. Williams was born in Palmyra 
township July i8, 1840, of Welsh parentage. 
Her father was a painter, and to his marriage 
with Martha Roberts, daughter of Thomas 
Roberts, were born seven children, two of 
whom are still living — T. R., whose biography 
appears on another page, and Mrs. William L. 
Williams. The deceased were named Ann, 
William, David, John and Martin- — of whom 
the last named died in Minneapolis, Minn., 
December 10, 1891, at the age of sixty years. 
The parents of Mrs. William L. Williams set- 
tled in Palmyra township in 1832, and here the 
father died October 26, 1846, at the age of 
fifty-two years, and his widow died October 
15, 1880, at the age of eighty, both in the 
faith of the Methodist church. 

William L. Williams has always been an 
industrious mechanic and farmer and has con- 
sequently won the respect of all who know him. 
He and family are members of the Methodist 
church, of which he has been a trustee for 
many years, and to the support of which he 
liberally contributes, and the teachings of which 
constitute his guide and monitor in his walk 
through the paths of life. 




• HOMAS R. WILLIAMS, ex-sheriff 
of Portage county, and a greatly re- 
spected retired farmer of Palmyra 
township, was born in Wales, No- 
vember 23, 1823, and was but eight years of 
age when brought to America by his parents, 
William and Martha (Roberts) Williams, who 
settled in this township, in 1832. Thomas R. 
is the eldest born in a family of five children, 
of whom two only are still living — he and a 
sister, Maria, wife of William L. Williams, of 



Palmyra. The deceased were David, who 
was killed by falling from a barn when nine 
years old; William, who died when quite young, 
and John, who was drowned in California. 
The father of this family was a painter by 
trade, but on coming to Portage county also 
engaged in farming, and here died in 1850, at 
fifty years of age; his widow, however, reached 
the advanced age of eighty-four years. 

Thomas R. Williams was educated in the 
district school and assisted on the home farm 
until eighteen years of age and then served an 
apprenticeship of three years at painting and 
paperhanging with M. Carnahan, for whom he 
worked as a journeyman three years longer, 
and then bought him out and continued the 
business for six years on his own account, 
taking his stock to Ravenna. He then sold 
out to a Mr. Turby and returned to Palmyra 
and engaged in farming on the home place 
until 1858, when he was elected sheriff of 
Portage county on the republican ticket, and 
so well did he fill the duties of .the office he 
was re-elected at the expiration of his term. 
At the conclusion of his second term he re- 
sumed farming, and in 1864 was elected coro- 
ner of Portage county for two years, and 
about 1868 was elected justice of the peace. 
Mr. Williams has also filled many township 
offices, such as constable, school director, 
etc. , and in every position has given thorough 
satisfaction to his constituents and gained the 
approbation of the general public. 

Mr. Williams was united in marriage Oc- 
tober 28, 1850, to Miss Mary E. Merwin, 
daughter of William M. and Phebe (Vaughn) 
Merwin, and this union has been blessed with 
seven children, four of whom are still living, 
viz: Martin R., who lives in Anderson, Ind., 
and is manager of the strawboard works; A. 
J., an employee of the Muncie Land company 
of Ohio; Arthur E., with the strawboard 
works in Anderson, and Herman M., with the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



969 



same company, with headquarters at Noble- 
ville. The deceased children were: Nelson, 
who died at the age of twelve years; Alice, 
who died when eleven years old, and one 
child, who died in infancy. The mother of 
this family was called away July 27, 1896, at 
the age of fifty-five years, in the faith of the 
Methodist church, of which she had been a 
devout and exemplary member for many years. 
Her parents were both natives of Ohio and 
had born to them four children, all now de- 
ceased, viz: Sarah, who died when small; 
Cordie; Abigail, wife of David Force, and Mrs. 
Williams. The father had been a very prom- 
inent man in his day, and for fifteen years was 
a justice of the peace, dying in ofifice in 1851, 
at the age of fifty years. 

Fraternally, Mr. Williams has been a Free- 
mason since 1861, and is now a member, in 
good standing, of Charity lodge. No. 530, of 
Palmyra. He has been all his life a man of 
enterprise and public spirit, and has done 
much toward the development of Palmyra 
township, and no man stands higher in the es- 
teem of its residents than he. 



>nr*ULIUS T. WILLIAMS, a prosperous 
fl business man of Brimfield , Portage 
/• 1 county, Ohio, is a native of the town, 
was born February 27, 1833, and is a 
son of the late James C. and Elizabeth (New- 
hour) Williams, pioneers of Portage county. 

James C. Williams, father of subject, was 
born in Meadville, Pa. ; Elizabeth Newhour 
was a native of Amsterdam, Holland, and 
when a child was brought to America by her 
parents. James C. was a farmer, early came 
to Portage county, Ohio, and to this union 
with Miss Newhour were born fourteen chil- 
dren, of whom four are still living, viz: Silas, 
James, Julius T., and Martha, wife of Samuel 
Fauser. The father died June 2, 1845, at the 



age of forty-eight years, a member of the 
Methodist church, but the mother survived 
until October 3, 1870, when she expired at 
the age of seventy-eight, in the same faith. 

Julius T. Williams passed his early boy- 
hood on the home farm, receiving but a lim- 
ited education, as he was but twelve years of 
age when he lost his father. At the age of 
sixteen he began learning the shoemaker's 
trade, which he continued to follow, in all, 
sixteen years, studying, in the meanwhile, and 
greatly adding to the meager education ac- 
quired in boyhood. On relinquishing shoe- 
making he embarked in the grocery business, 
which he has conducted with marked success 
ever since, handling, also, wool, clover and 
timothy seed. In 1887 he erected a large 
cheese factory in Brimfield, which is still un- 
der his sole management and ownership. 

In politics Mr. Williams has always been 
a democrat, and for four years filled the re- 
sponsible office of township treasurer, and that 
of township-trustee four years, and for twenty 
years was postmaster of Brimfield, retiring 
from the latter office in the spring of 1897. 

The marriage of Mr. Williams took place 
April 3, 1853, to Miss Sarah A. Moulton, 
daughter of Anson and Daphne Moulton, and 
to this union have been born five children, of 
whom three still survive, viz: Cora, a school- 
teacher, and still unmarried; Millie, wife of 
Ralph Waldron, and Harry, who married Miss 
Nina Moulton. The deceased were Clarence, 
who died November 13. 1856, at the age of 
eight months, and an infant, who died un- 
named. The father of Mrs. Williams was a 
native of Massachusetts and was a farmer; her 
mother was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. They 
were married in 1820, and had born to their 
union fourteen children. The father of Mrs. 
Williams, who had held various public offices, 
died at the age of seventy-six years, and his 
wife at the age of seventy-eight. Jeremiah 



970 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Moulton, paternal grandfather of Mrs. Will- 
iams, was of French descent, was a farmer 
and school-teacher, a justice of the peace and 
also a county judge, and died at the age of 
seventy-six years, a member of the Methodist 
church, in which faith his wife also died at 
about the same age. They reared a family of 
ten children, all now deceased. 

Mr. Williams is emphatically a self-made 
man, and is highly esteemed in trade circles 
for his enterprise and integrity, and in social 
life he and family are among the most re- 
spected of the residents of Brimfield. 



HRVIN WILSON, one of the old sol- 
diers of the Civil war, and a re- 
spected citizen of Hiram, Portage 
county, Ohio, was born February 19, 
18 17, at Tyringham, Mass., a son of Capt. 
Oliver and Patience (Thompson) \\'ilson. He 
received a common education and early began 
to work for himself, as he was but ten years 
old when his father died. He learned the fork- 
makers' trade, and afterward learned the trade 
of a blacksmith. He first married, in Massachu- 
setts, May 28, 1840, in Sandersfield — Louisa 
B. Wolcott, who was born in Sandersfield, a 
daughter of Capt. Samuel and Rebecca (Mark- 
ham) Wolcott. Mr. Wilson continued to live 
in Tyringham, where there were born two 
children to him, and then, in 1847, came to 
Ohio and settled in Shalersville, in Portage 
county, and worked at his trade of blacksmith 
until he moved to Freedom, Ohio--a short 
time before the breaking out the Civil war, and 
there enlisted, September 10, 1861, in Capt. 
A. J. Konkle's battery D, First Ohio light 
artillery, to serve three years, unless sooner 
discharged, and was honorably discharged at 
St. Louis, Mo., January 3, 1863, on account 
of disability. Shortly after his enlistment he 
was detailed as an artificer, or as one of the 



blacksmiths of his battery. He always 
marched with his battery and was on active 
duty until he was disabled by exposure and 
hardships in the mountains of Kentucky, where 
he took a severe cold, which finally caused 
valvular disease of the heart. He was in hos- 
pital at St. Louis, Mo., in 1862, from the 
middle of May until January 3 following, at 
which time he was discharged as not being fii 
for further duty. He returned to Freedom, 
Ohio, where he lived until he came to Hiram 
about December, 1863, and on partial recovery 
worked at his trade of a blacksmith, but for 
more than twenty years has been entirely dis- 
abled, and for some years he owned and lived 
on a small farm north of Hiram. The chil- 
dren by his first wife were Maria R., Alzadia 
L. and Mary S. Mrs. W^ilson died at Shalers- 
ville and he next married, at Mantua Center, 
Lucella Reynolds, who was born in Mantua, 
April 5, 1835, a daughter of Robert G. and 
Elizabeth (Stevenson) Reynolds. 

Robert G. Reynolds was born January 26, 
1796, and his wife was born May 15, 1809. 
His children were Louisa, born August 27, 
1824; Lucius, born February 13, 1826; Me- 
lissa, born February 3, 1828; Robert C, born 
July 25, 1829; Alvin V., born June 26, 1833; 
Orrin, born October 23, 1836; W. H. H., born 
July 15, 1840; Vincent, born December 19, 
\ 1 841; Albert, born July 9, 1843; W'aiter, born 
March 15, 1845; Orville, born F"ebruary 2, 
1848; Emory, born July 25, 1851; Martha, 
born October 17, 1855, and two others. There 
were fifteen children, ten sons and five daugh- 
ers, of whom all lived to maturity, and four- 
teen of them raised families. Of the Rejnolds 
children five served as soldiers in the Civil 
war — Alvin, Vincent, W. H. H., Albert and 
Orville. Alvin served in an Illinois regiment; 
the remainder in Gen. Garfield's regiment, 
and all escaped without wounds, although in 
many battles. Mr. Reynolds was a whig in 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



971 



politics and was a strong Union man. He 
was well educated for his day, and taught 
school in Au;burn a number of years — also at 
Kingville and Mantua. He was a straight- 
forward and respected man, and died at the 
age of seventy jears. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been settlers in 
Hiram since December, 1863. They were 
the parents of one .daughter, Lora, who died 
at the age of eleven years. Mr. Wilson has 
always been known as a respected citizen and 
upright man, and he and wife are members of 
the Disciples' church. In politics he was first 
a democrat, but later became one of the 
original republicans, and was a justice of the 
peace two terms, and constable at Freedom. 

,Mr. Wilson is now a venerable man, but 
retains his mental faculties unimpaired, and 
has an excellent memory. His father, Capt. 
Oliver Wilson, died aged about forty-five 
years. He was the son of Joseph Wilson, 
and was a lieutenant in the militia. Capt. 
Oliver Wilson was a captain in the old Massa- 
chusetts state militia. His wife. Patience 
Thompson, ;was a daughter of James Thomp- 
son, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and 
was a boy about si.xteen years old when he 
was on the campaign against Lord Cornwallis. 
Capt. Oliver was the father of Charles, Aba- 
line, Jarvis, Arvin, William, Harriet and 
Lovell. 

Joseph Wilson, the grandfather of Arvin 
Wilson, was a farmer, and a strong member 
of the old republican party, and represented 
his town in the Massachusetts state legislature 
for several years. 



m 



' ARREN A. WILLMOT, junior part- 
ner in the firm of Miller & Willmot, 
proprietors of the Actual Business 
college of Akron, was born in Mas- 
sillon, Ohio, June 12, 1868. His parents, 



Joseph and Lucinda Willmot, were respect- 
ively natives of Brussels, F"rance, born No- 
vember 28, 1844, and Richville, Ohio, August 
13, 1840. 

The paternal grandparents of Warren A. 
Willmot, also natives of France, came to 
America in 1846, and settled in Massillon, 
Ohio, where the grandfather followed his 
trades of cooper and wagonmaker until his 
death, at the age of seventy-six years. Of the 
paternal great-grandparents of Mr. Willmot 
not much is remembered, but they were re- 
nowned for great physical strength, and the 
great-grandfather for longevity; he died at a 
great age, but his wife was killed in the bom- 
bardment of Luxembourg by being struck by 
a cannon-ball. The maternal great-grand- 
parents were also noted for their longevity, the 
great-grandmother attaining an age of over 
100 years. Grandmother Willmot, who bore 
the maiden name of Remy, was a native of 
France, was small of stature, but also noted 
for her great strength as well as longevity, as 
she lived to be eighty-one years of age. The 
maternal grandparents of Mr. Willmot were 
natives of Pennsylvania, came to Ohio early 
in the 'thirties, and settled at Richville, near 
Massillon, where Grandfather Wear followed 
his trade of weaver, but later moved to Can- 
ton, where he died at the advanced age of 
ninety-two years — his wife having died at the 
age of seventy-seven years. 

Warren A. Willmot began his school career 
at the early age of four and one-half years in 
Canal Fulton, whither his parents had removed, 
and continued his studies until nineteen years 
old. He then learned telegraphy in the of- 
fice of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling 
Railroad company at Easton, Ohio, and then 
for seven years was employed in the telegraph 
and accounting service of the following rail- 
road companies: Cleveland, Lorain & Wheel- 
ing; Cleveland, Canton & Southern; Cleveland 



972 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



& Marietta; Cleveland, Akron & Columbus; 
Northern Pacific; Erie, and Baltimore & Ohio. 
December 27, 1894, Mr. Willmot relin- 
quished the railroad service and took up the 
study of shorthand at the Akron school of 
Standard Phonography, which was then under 
the control of H. A. Miller, his present part- 
ner, and studied the art under the personal di- 
rection of that gedtleman until May, 1896, at 
which time he accepted a position with the N. 
C. Alten Hardware company, at Lorain, Ohio, 
which position he held three months. Sep- 
tember I, 1896, he associated himself with H. 
A. Miller in the ownership and management 
of the Actual Business college of Akron, un- 
der the firm name already mentioned, and of 
which further information may be gained from 
a preceding review of the life of Mr. Miller. 



aALVIN G. WILSON, traveling sales- 
man for Voegle & Dinning, dealers in 
candies and cigars at Mansfield, Ohio, 
has been a resident of Akron since 
1869, and has his residence at No. 418 West 
Center street, this city. He is a native of the 
Buckeye state, having been born at Wilson's 
Corners, Medina county, December 24, 1837, 
a son of John and Elizabeth Wilson, who 
were among the pioneers of the county named, 
where the father was first a farmer, but later 
engaged in the manufacture of matches, being 
one of the first to embark in that industry in 
that part of the country. 

At the age of fourteen years Calvin G. 
Wilson was withdrawn from the public schools 
of his district and sent on the road by his fa- 
ther with a wagon to sell cigars and matches, 
and thus initiated into his present employ- 
ment. At the death of his father in 1861, an 
elder brother of the subject succeeded to the 
business, for whom our subject continued m 
the same capacity until August, 1 864, when he 



shipped on board the gunboat Argosy, No. 27, 
of the Mississippi river squadron, and served 
seven months as captain of the hold, on the 
lower river. After being honorably discharged 
he returned to his native county and town and 
conducted a small grocery store for one year; 
then went to Seville, and thence came to 
Akron, and for nine years was employed as 
traveling salesman by Collett & Carr, candy 
manufacturers, and for the following four and 
a half years traveled for Clark & Co., Elyria, 
Ohio, also manufacturers of candy. In 1882 
he formed his present business connection, 
and the statement that he has been phenom- 
enally successful and faithful is substantiated 
by the fact that he has held this position for 
over fourteen years, traveling all over the ter- 
ritory of northeastern Ohio. 

Mr. Wilson was admitted as a member of 
Wadsworth lodge. No. 119, I. O. O. P., in 
1866, and is at present a member of Akron 
lodge. No. 547; he is also a member of Akron 
encampment, No. 18, and a charter mem- 
ber of Akron canton, No. 2. He is likewise a 
member of the Cleveland Commercial Travel- 
ers' association, the Travelers' Preferred of 
Chicago, and of the United Travelers' council, 
No. 87, of Akron. 

Mr. Wilson was united in marriage June 
12, 1859, with Miss Emily E. Houghton, 
daughter of Oliver Houghton, and this union 
has resulted in the birth of three children — 
Charles L., Carl A., (deceased) and Frank C. 

Frank C. Wilson, city clerk of Akron, and 
also clerk for the city commissioners, is the 
youngest child born to Calvin G. and Emily 
E. (Houghton) Wilson, who are spoken of in 
full above. He has been a resident of Akron 
since two years of age, having been brought 
to this city by his parents in 1869. His birth 
took place in River Styx, Medina county, 
Ohio, October 10, 1867. He was educated in 
the public schools of Akron, and at the age of 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



973 



fifteen years entered the city engineer's de- 
partment, where he was employed nine years. 
April 25, 1893, he was appointed commission- 
ers' clerk, which position he has most ably 
filled until the present time, through annual 
re-appointments. April 20, 1896, he was 
elected city clerk by the republican party, of 
which he is a stanch adherent in principle and 
active in support, and has also served as sec- 
retary of the city board of elections. He is a 
member of McPherson lodge, K. of P., Akron 
lodge, I. O. O. F., and is active in all things 
pertaining to the welfare of the city and 
county, having for the past two years been 
treasurer of the Union Charity association. 
He was married October 4, 1893, to Miss Ma- 
bel E. McGhee, and has his happy home at 
No. 416 West Center street. 



"^Y'OSEPH K. wise, a representative 
m farmer of Randolph township, Portage 
A J county, Ohio, was born in Lorraine, 
France, March 19, 18 19, a son of John 
and Eva Wise, but was brought to the United 
States when only five years of age, his parents 
coming here early in 1832, and being seventy- 
three days on the ocean. Their family con- 
sisted of six children, of whom three are still 
living, viz: Joseph K., John and Anthony; 
Catherine died at the age of twenty-six years, 
Eva at the age of thirty, and Theressa, who 
was married to Wendell Uhlem. The father 
died at the age of sixty-six and the mother at 
seventy years — all in the faith of the Catholic 
church. On coming to America the family 
lived one year in Canfield, Ohio, and then 
came to Randolph, Portage county, where they 
remained six years on a farm, when they sold 
the estate and moved to Kno.\ county, where 
they lived four years, and then came back to 
Portage county. In 1841 the father bought 



the farm on which our subject now lives, and 
here passed the remainder of their days. 

Joseph K. Wise was reared to agricultural 
pursuits and was well trained in pioneer farm- 
ing. He has been twice married — first, in 
January, 1856, to Miss Elizabeth Earhart, a 
daughter of Lawrence Earhart, but this lady 
was called away in 1858, at the age of thirty- 
nine years, leaving no issue. The second mar- 
riage of Mr. Wise took place May 2, 1859, to 
Miss Catherine Kline, daughter of John and 
Elizabeth (Knapp) Kline, and this union has 
been blessed with ten children, born in the fol- 
lowing order: Mary, who is the wife of George 
Becks, of Kent; Eva, wife of Philip Seigfried: 
Joseph, who married Ella Bixler; Clara, mar- 
ried to John Kauffman; Louisa, wife of Michael 
Hoover, of Akron; Emma, now Mrs. William 
Colton, of Rootstown; Frank, who married 
Emma Maxon; George, manager of a machine 
shop in Kent; Rosie and Laura, still under the 
parental roof. The mother of this family was 
called to her eternal home September 16, 1889, 
at the age of forty-eight years, dying a true 
Catholic. Her parents were natives of Ger- 
many, and came to the United States about 
1831-, settling in Randolph township, where 
the father engaged in farming until his demise, 
in 1888, at the age of eighty years, in the 
faith of the Catholic church, his remains be- 
ing interred in Saint Joseph's cemetery, beside 
those of his wife, who had passed away in 1857. 
Of their seven children five survive, viz : 
Adam; John; Elizabeth, wife of Harvey Ward; 
Nancy, widow of William Neff, and Betsey, 
wife of Peter Kline. 

In politics Mr. Wise is independent, and 
votes for the man best fitted for the office. 
He has served as township supervisor and 
school director many years. He is a devout 
Catholic, being a member of Saint Joseph's 
congregation, and has been very liberal in his 
contributions to the church and in aid of all 



974 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



its charities and good works. He is greatly 
respected for tils many excellent traits of char- 
acter, and well deserves the high esteem in 
which he is held by his neighbors, with whom 
he has passed so many years of his useful life. 



t^y^R. JOSEPH WINGERTER, veteri- 
I I nary surgeon, No. 804 South Main 
/<^^_^ street, Akron, Ohio, is a native of 
this city, was born February 6, 1864, 
and is a son of Lewis and Mary (Smith) Win- 
gerter, the former of whom was born in Paris, 
France, and the latter in the province of 
Alsace-Lorraine, Germany. 

Lewis Wingerter, on reaching America with 
his wife and younger children, at once came to 
Akron and superintended the Wilcox pottery 
on Lock avenue until his removal to Coventry, 
Summit county, where he erected a pottery of 
his own in 1840, and operated it until 1891, 
when he retired from business. In politics, 
as a democrat, he served as postmaster of 
Coventry seven or eight years, and also filled 
several township offices. Having lost his wife 
in the spring of 1893, he has since made his 
home with his daughter, Mrs. Lewis Yeck. 
To Lewis Wingerter and wife were born six 
children, in the following order : Lena, wife 
of Lewis Yeck, of Coventry; Lewis, who is a 
potter in Coventry; Philip, who resides at No. 
135 Wooster avenue, Akron, and is comb in- 
spector at the Goodrich rubber works; Leo, a 
potter, residing at No. 205 Wooster avenue, 
Akron; Augustus, a horse-trader, residing in 
Coventry, and Joseph, the subject of this 
biography. 

Joseph Wingerter was reared in Coventry, 
or Wingerger's Crossing, was educated in the 
common schools, and later entered the Ontario 
Veterinary college at Toronto, from which he 
graduated in 1894. On first quitting school, 
however, he became a shipping clerk in the 



O. B. Hardin & Co. pottery, and afterward 
was for eight years connected with a brother 
in the livery and saloon business, but his livery 
barns having been destroyed by fire, he en- 
tered the veterinary college mentioned above, 
and since his graduation therefrom has been in 
active practice in Akron. In connection with 
his veterinary practice he conducts an infir- 
mary for the treatment of unsound, sick or in- 
jured animals, and has, beside, a well equipped 
livery stable, and in all these he is doiug a 
thriving business. j 

Mr. Wingerter is a member of the Veteri- 
nary Medical Association of Toronto, Canada, 
and is considered,- by his fellow-members, and 
the public in general, to be an able veterinary 
surgeon. He is careful, tender and humane 
in his treatment of the animals confided to his 
care, inflicting no unnecessary pain in his 
surgical operations. He is, like all his family, 
a devout member of the Catholic church, and 
as a citizen is respected by all who know him. 
He was united in marriage February 6, 1897, 
to Miss Clara A. Serfass, a native of Summit 
county, Ohio, and daughter of Peter and An- 
sennetta Serfass. 



aHARLES L. WILSON, the accom- 
modating and popular proprietor of 
the livery, feed and sales stables at 
No. 717 South Main street, Akron, 
was born June 24, i860, at Wilson's corners, 
Medina county, Ohio, and is a son of Calvin 
G. Wilson, whose biography will be found 
above. He came to Akron in 1869, with the 
remainder of the faniil}', as has already been 
mentioned in the biography of his father, and 
here he was educated in the excellent public 
schools of the city. At the age of eighteen 
years he entered the employ of the city in its 
engineering department, in which he remained 
seven years, reaching the position of assistant 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



975 



city engineer. His next position was with the 
Akron Knife works, in the shipping deparlnient 
of which he performed his responsible duties 
in a most satisfactory manner for five years. 
He then succeeded Mr. Buhrlee in the livery 
business on South Main street, and, in com- 
pany with his brother, under the firm name of 
Wilson Bros. , carried on a very satisfactory 
trade until the fall of 1895, when he assumed 
control in full of the establishment. In con- 
nection with his ordinary livery, feed and sales 
stables, he also does a great deal of coach 
work, but as a livery and sales stable his es- 
tablishment has its broadest celebrity, inas- 
much as it is one of the best ordered in the city. 
Politically, Mr. Wilson is a democrat, and 
in his fraternal relations is a member of Akron 
lodge. No. 547, I. O. O. F., with which he has 
been united for more than fifteen years. No- 
vember 2, 1883, Mr. Wilson was married to 
Miss Clara Cahow, a daughter of Daniel Ca- 
how, of Akron, and this union has been blessed 
with six children, viz: Bessie, Josephine, 
Hazel, Mabel, Calvin G. and Catherine. The 
residence is at No. 563 Exchange street. 



^y* ACOB E. WISE, a young and sucessful 
■ farmer, and a respected citizen of 
A 1 Green township. Summit county, Ohio, 
was born here March 10, 1868, on his 
present farm, which was entered by his grand- 
father. 

John Wise, father of Jacob E., was born 
in Germany, June 16, 1809, and when a boy 
was brought to Ohio by his parents, who set- 
tled in Green township. Summit county, Ohio, 
where his father purchased the farm alluded 
to above. John here grew to manhood, and 
married Miss Catherine Semler, who was born 
in Germany, March 24, 1827, a daughter of 
Michael Semler, and to this union were born 
two children — Charles, who married Mary 



Stametz, and resides in Stark county, and 
Jacob E., whose name opens this biographical 
sketch. John Wise assisted in clearing up 
the original homestead, and on his father's 
death, succeeded to its possession. 

John prospered greatly in his management 
of the place, and became a highly respected 
citizen. He served as a member of the 
school board, and was an active member 
of the Lutheran church, in the faith of which 
he died April 5, 1895. His widow is now 
seventy years of age, and makes her home 
with her son, Jacob E. The maternal 
grandparents of Mr. Wise were also natives of 
Germany, but early settlers of Ohio, Michael 
Semler being a stonemason. To his marriage 
were born six children, of whom five are still 
living; of these Mrs. Wise, mother of Jabob 
E., is the eldest; Frederick is the next in 
order of birth; Caroline is the wife of Jona- 
than Snyder, and Godfrey and John are the 
other two survivors; Jacob was the name of 
the deceased child. Mr. and Mrs. Semler 
died in the faith of the Methodist church, and 
had been among the steady-going and sub- 
stantial residents of the township. 

Jacob E. Wise was reared a practical 
farmer, was educated in the common schools 
of his district, and has lived on the home- 
stead all his life, with the exception of five 
years, when he was employed in the sewer- 
pipe works of his neighborhood. He was 
united in marriage, September 25, 1892, with 
Miss Elizabeth Sloat, daughter of Monroe and 
Mary Ann (Oberlin) Sloat, and this union has 
been blessed with two daughters, Vernie C. 
and Mary Irene. Mrs. Elizabeth Wise was 
born in Jackson township, Stark county, Ohio, 
December 5, 1874, of which county her par- 
ents were also natives, the father having been 
born in Lake, and the mother in Jackson 
township; they now reside in Green township, 
Summit county, and of their children six are 



976 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



still living, viz: Elizabeth (Mrs. Wise), Charles, 
Sarah, William, Mary and Bessie. Mr. Sloat 
has been a farmer from his youth upward, is a 
highly respected citizen and has served as 
school director for some yeirs. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wise are consistent members of the Lutheran 
church, and have so lived as to merit the re- 
spect of all who know them, and which is be- 
stowed upon them in a very marked degree. 



SON. SIMON PERKINS WOLCOTT. 
of Kent, Portage county, was born 
in Summit county, Ohio, January 30, 
1837, a son of Alfred and Mary Ann 
(Scovill) Wolcott, natives, respectively, of 
Ohio and New Haven, Conn., and paternally 
descends from Henry Wolcott, who came from 
England in 1633 and settled in New England. 

Alfred Wolcott, grandfather of subject, was 
the first of the family to settle permanently in 
Ohio, was a school-teacher and surveyor, and 
founded his home in Summit county. To the 
parents of our subject were born eleven chil- 
dren, five dj'ing in infancy and Andrew Au- 
gustus in the army; four are still living: Simon 
P., the subject of this memoir; John M., a 
resident of Grand Rapids, Mich. ; Anna Au- 
gusta, wife of Rev. Lemuel C. Bissell, a Pres- 
byterian minister of Monroe, Mich. ; Alfred, an 
attorney of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Fremont C, 
was a manufacturer in Canton, Ohio, and died 
in that city in the fall of 1895. 

Simon P. Wolcott, the subject proper of 
this memoir, received his elementary education 
in the country schools of Summit county, and 
at the age of fourteen years entered Hiram 
institute (now Hiram college), which he at- 
tended three winters. He then taught school 
a few terms, re-entered Hiram institute and 
was prepared for college, partly under the pre- 
ceptorage of his former fellow-student, James 
A. Garfield — a life-long friend. He next en- 



tered the Western Reserve college at Hudson, 
Summit county, from which he was graduated 
in 1862, and then read law with Hon. H. B. 
Forrester, of Hudson, and later read with 
Judge N. D. Tibbals, of Akron, and in the 
latter city was admitted to the bar in 1864. 
He at once settled in Kent for the practice of 
his profession, and is now the oldest lawyer in 
the city, and for ten years was, and now is, the 
attorney for the Erie Railway company. 

A stanch republican in politics, Mr. Wol- 
cott has risen to prominence in his party and 
state. His first public office was that of mem- 
ber of the school board of Kent, which he 
filled ten years; was also city solicitor of Kent 
two terms; was elected the second mayor of 
the city in 1866, and was re-elected, serving 
two terms, and has also served as a member 
of the committee of school examiners. In the 
fall of 1 88 1 he was elected to the state senate, 
to represent the senatorial district comprising 
the counties of Portage, Summit, Lake, Geauga 
and Ashtabula, and so satisfactorily did he 
perform the arduous duties of this office, he 
was re-elected to succeed himself in the fall of 
1883. During these two terms he served on 
the railroad committee, the judiciary commit- 
tee, was chairman of the committee on sol- 
diers and sailors' orphans' homes, and of the 
committee on the school for feeble-minded 
youths, at Columbus. As a member of the 
railroad committee one grand speech made his 
name famous throughout the state, and this 
was an argument before the committee of the 
whole senate in opposition to the Brigham 
bill (senate bill. No. lo) for the regulation of 
transportation rates by railways, and this was 
so fair and convincing that the railwaj' com- 
panies printed and circulated 5,000 copies of 
the argument in pamphlet form. For six 
years Mr. Wolcott has also served as deputy 
state supervisor of elections of Ohio for Por- 
tage county, having been appointed to the 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



977 



office by the secretary of state. April 28, 1 884, 
he was appointed by Gov. McKinley one of 
the board of managers of the reformatory at 
Mansfield, and under this administration there 
was erected one of the finest buildings of 
its kind in the country. Mr. Wolcott has also 
been appointed attorney for Ohio to represent 
the county of Portage and five or six adjoining 
counties, under Dr. B. F. McNeil, food com- 
missioner of Ohio, in 1894, and still holds this 
office. 

Mr. Wolcott was happily married, July 17, 
1866, to Miss Mary Helen Brewster, daugh- 
ter of Anson A. and Sally P. (White) Brew- 
ster, the former a merchant of Hudson, Ohio, 
and a direct descendant of Eider Brewster, 
who came to America with the Puritans. The 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott has been 
blessed with three children, named as follows: 
Nellie B. , who is a teacher in Kent; Jennie 
B., married to E. S. Parsons, of Kent, and 
Duncan B., who graduated from the Western 
Reserve college in June, 1896, was his class 
orator, and is now a law student. 

Mr. Wolcott has not only won the reputa- 
tion of being one of the foremost lawyers and 
statesmen of the state of Ohio, but is recog- 
nized in his community as being one of the 
most energetic citizens of Kent, the prosperity 
of which city has always been one of his chief 
aims and the promotion of the material in- 
terests of which has been his constant study. 



*-|-» lEUT. FRANCIS H. WRIGHT, of 
I j Tallmadge, Ohio, one of the old sol- 
^^^J^ diers of the Civil war, a respected 
citizen and descendant of one of the 
best families and first pioneers, was born July 
7, 1834, at Talmadge, a son of Francis H. and 
Eliza (Fenn) Wright. He received an aca- 
demic education in the excellent academy at 

Tallmadge and was one winter at the agricult- 
43 



ural college in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 
reared to farming and enlisted in the Onio 
national guards in the winter of 1862-63 to 
serve five years, was elected first lieutenant 
and was called out with his company by Gov. 
Brough and mustered into the United States 
service May 11, 1864, at Cleveland, as first 
lieutenant of company D, One Hundred and 
Sixty-fourth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, 
for lOO days. He served out his time and was 
honorably discharged at Camp Cleveland, 
Ohio, August 27, 1864, having served about 
four months. 

His service was at Arlington Heights, Va., 
opposite Washington, D. C. , on guard duty. 
Mr. Wright was always an active and efficient 
officer and always on duty, and prompt and 
and cheerful in its discharge. He was not in 
hospital and was always well and hardy. After 
the war Mr. Wright returned to Tallmadge 
and has since been engaged on the farm. He 
married January 28, 1858, at Akron, Ohio, 
Harriet Eliza Killbourne, born January 29, 
1838, in Akron, a daughter of Louis and Eliza 
(McCune) Killbourne, and to this union have 
been born four children, viz: Winnifred B. , 
who'died June 10, 1882; Elberta C, Fran- 
cis H. and Ida L. After marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. Wright settled on their present home- 
stead, and for the last six years has been en- 
gaged in dairy farming. He is a member of 
Buckley post, G. A. R., at Akron. In politics 
he is a republican and has served as a member 
of the board of education several terms. He 
was a member of the board when the present 
high school was organized and clerk of the 
board for some years. Mr. Wright is a well 
known and respected citizen and stands high 
for integrity of character. 

Elizur Wright, grandfather of subject, was 
born at W^estfield, Litchfield county. Conn. 
He had a good education, probabh' acquired at 
Yale college. He married Rhoda Homer, in 



978 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Connecticut, for his first wife, and their chil- 
dren were Polly, Harriet, Amelia, Francis H. 
and Philo, all born in Connecticut. He mar- 
ried for his second wife, also in Connecticut, 
Clarissa Richards, and their children were 
Elizur, James R. , Clarissa, Martha and Lucy. 
Two of these children were born in Tallmadge. 
Mr. \\'rio;ht moved with his family to and 
settled in, Tallmadge, in 1810, on the farm 
where Daniel A. Upson now lives. He bought 
3,000 acres of land and was one of the first 
teachers and founders of the Tallmadge acad- 
emy, which he taught si.x years. His home- 
stead consisted of 200 acres, on which he 
erected, in 181 3 or 18 14, the present substan- 
tiel residence in which Mr. Upson now lives. 
Elizur Wright was one of the founders of the 
Congregational church at Tallmadge and was 
a deacon many years. Politically he was first 
a whig, and next an abolitionist. He was a 
man of sterling character and lived to be 
seventy-seven years old. 

Francis H. Wright, father of our subject, 
was born April 16, 1795, in Connecticut, and 
was a boy when he came to Ohio. He first 
married, in Tallmadge, ClarindaFenn, and they 
had one child, Eliza. Mrs. Wright died, and 
Mr. Wright married Eliza Fenn. and their 
children were Clarinda, Harriet, Francis H. 
and Martha. Mr. \\'right was a prominent 
pioneer and substantial farmer. He lived to 
the venerable age of ninety-three years and 
died in 1SS6. He was a man who was well 
known for his sturd}' traits of character, and 
was respected by all. 



'^t'OHN H. WXXHTER, of Norton town- 

M ship. Summit county, Ohio, was born 
(9 J on the farm he now owns and occupies, 
April I, i860, and which, with the ex- 
ception of one year, has been his life-long 
residence. 



John Wuchter, grandfather of the subject, 
was a native of Pennsylvania, and was the 
first of the family to come to Ohio, settling in 
Summit county in the pioneer days. Eli 
Wuchter, son of John, and father of subject, 
was born in Lehigh county. Pa., January 12, 
1827, and was but eight years of age when 
brought to Ohio by his parents, who settled on 
the farm now owned by John H., the subject 
of this memoir. Eli was educated in the log 
school-house of his district in Norton town- 
ship, and in this township married Susan 
Betz, who was born August 19. 1833, a daugh- 
ter of John and Rebecca (Byers) Betz, the 
former of whom was born March 15, 1808, 
and died February i, 1863, while his wife, 
who was born January 27, 1807, survived until 
December 17, 1887. Eli Wuchter, after 
residing on the farm in Norton township for 
fifty-one years, removed to Johnson's post- 
offke, in 1887, where he died April 29, 1896, 
and where his widow still resides. Eli was a 
strong republican in politics, and, with his 
wife, a strong adherent of the Lutheran church, 
in which he was an officer, and in which he 
was highly honored, as well as in the communi- 
ties in which he had lived. 

John H. W'uchter received the usual com- 
mon-school education, and clung affectionately 
to the home farm until 1883, which year he 
passed in South Dakota. After his return to 
his farm in Ohio he married. May 20, 1886, 
Miss Ida May Souers, a native of New Port- 
age, Summit county, who was born November 
8, 1865, and is a daughter of David and Cath- 
erine (Brown) Souers. The father, David 
Souers, was born in Summit county, Ohio, in 
November, 1839, and for twenty-four years 
was a blacksmith of New Portage; later he 
moved to the Reservoir in Franklin township, 
where he followed his trade eighteen years, 
and now owns a farm of seventy-seven acres, 
but makes his residence in Akron. He and 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



979 



wife are parents of four children, viz: Ida 
M., Arthur C, Harvey and Albert R., who all 
attend the Disciples' church. In politics Mr. 
Souers is a republican. David Souers, grand- 
father of Mrs. Wuchter, was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, and he and wife were early pioneers 
of Coventry township, Summit county, Ohio, 
where he died September 29, 1888, aged 
seventy-eight years, and where his widow died 
April 17, 1892, at the age of seventy-seven 
years, eight months and three days — both 
members of Grace Reformed church. The 
three children born to Mr. and Mrs. John H. 
Wuchter are named Charles H., Gertrude F. 
and Susie M. 

Mr. Wuchter is a strong republican in pol- 
itics and is very influential with his party. 
During the late campaign he was called by 
wire to Chicago by Major Charles Dick, of 
Akron, and for twelve weeks his influence and 
advice were felt and heeded at republican 
headquarters in that city. In religion he is a 
Lutheran, while his wife is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. He has a neat 
farm of fifty-five acres, and is highly respected 
as a citizen and gentleman. 



HUSTIN T. WOODS, M. D., of Loyal 
Oak, Norton township, Summit coun- 
ty, Ohio, was born in Union Town, 
Stark county, April 6, 1856, and is 
of English extraction, his paternal grandfather, 
John B. Woods, having come from England; 
he first located in Pennsylvania, whence he 
came to Ohio and made his home in Summit 
county and later in Stark. 

J. B.Woods, father of the doctor, was born 
in Springfield township, this county, Decem- 
ber 17, 1823, and was two years of age when 
taken by his parents to Union Town, Stark 
county, where he was reared on a farm, and 
later clerked in a store in Union Town. In i860 



he returned to Summit county and engaged in 
business at Akron, forging rapidly to the front 
as a business man and financier, realizing 
wealth and influence. He married Miss Susan 
Willis, who was born March 28, 1848, and 
who died June 26, 1897, the marriage result- 
ing in the birth of the following children: 
Mrs. Emily J. Andrew, Perry, John B., Dr. 
Austin T. , and Mary, the wife of John H. Hil- 
bish. Mr. Woods died August 14. 1896, a 
member of the Universalist church, and hon- 
ored by all who knew him. 

Dr. Austin T. Woods graduated from the 
Akron high school, and later graduated from 
the Akron Business college, and then entered 
Cleveland Medical college in the fall of 1876, 
from which he graduated in 1879, since which 
time he has been in active and lucrative prac- 
tice in Loyal Oak. 

June 15, 1880, Dr. Woods was joined in 
wedlock to Miss Ella O. Harrier, who was 
born in Norton township, Summit county, a 
daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Santee) Harrier, 
and his only child, Lillie B., born November 
25, 1882, is now attending Norton Centre 
high school. In politics the doctor is strongly 
republican, but his professional duties are too 
engrossing and extended to permit him to de- 
vote much time to political matters. He has 
been very successful and has won a high posi- 
tion as a physician and surgeon. 



>^OHN VOSLER WYCKOFF, a substan- 
m tial and well-known farmer of Bath 
m J township, Summit county, Ohio, was 
born in New Jersey, August 16, 182 1, 
and is a son of Tunis and Ann (Vosler) Wyck- 
off, also natives of New Jersey, and the for- 
mer of whom descended from an old colonial 
family. 

Peter Claus Wyckoff, the founder of this 
family in America, came from the Netherlands 



980 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



in 1665, bringing with him his wife, whose 
maiden name was Grietye Hendrick. To this 
couple were born seven sons, named Claus, 
Hendrick, Cornehus, John, Gerritt, Martin 
and Peter. To the third named of this fam- 
ily, Cornelius, was born Simon; to Simon was 
born Dennis, and to Dennis was born Tunis, 
the father of our subject. 

Tunis Wyckoff was born January 25, 1797; 
his wife, Ann Vosler, July 7, 1797. To their 
marriage were born seven children, in the fol- 
lowing order; Margaret Melick, May 17, 1819; 
John Vosler (subject), August 16, 1821; Ann 
Eliza, March 6, 1824; Dennis, September 21. 
1826; Luke Vosler, March 23, 1829; Sarah 
Ellen, May 29, 1831, died March 31, 1897, 
and Mary, April 13, 1834. The mother of 
this family died May 23, 1847, and the father, 
May 4, 1 87 1. Of their children, Dennis died 
in California May 5, 1876; Ann Eliza (Mrs. 
Munson), in Missouri, in October, 1884, and 
Luke v., in Bath township, Summit county, 
Ohio, in November, 1892. 

John V. Wyckoff was a mere lad when he 
came to Ohio with his parents, who located on 
a farm in Wayne county. Being then the 
eldest boy in the family, he assisted on the 
home farm until 1841, when he came to Bath, 
Summit county, where he worked at various 
occupations for eight years, when he married 
Miss Sarah Tinkler, December 28, 1849. This 
lady was born in England January 4, 1829, 
and in 1834 was brought to America by her 
parents, who settled in Wayne county, Ohio, 
to which county Mr. Wyckoff removed after 
marriage and remained until 1850, when he 
went to California and worked in the mines 
two years. On his return to Summit county, 
in 1852, he purchased his present farm of 114 
acres, in the northwestern part of Bath town- 
ship, about fifteen miles from Akron, which 
he has improved with fine buildings. 

To the marriage of Mr. Wyckoff were born 



four children, viz: Ellen N., born April 14, 
1853, is the wife of Webster Bowles, of Me- 
dina county; Luke, born October 21, 1854; 
Elizabeth, born July 28, i860 — died April 3, 
1863; John Grant, born September 9, 1864 — 
died April 16, 1885. The mother of this fam- 
ily died June 22, 1891, a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, to which Mr. Wyckoff 
also adheres. In politics Mr. Wyckoff is a 
stanch republican. He cast his first presi- 
dential vote for William Henry Harrison; he 
has served as school director several terms, 
and also as assessor. He has been industrious, 
hardworking and prudent since the days of his 
youth, having assisted in clearing the Wayne 
county farm, as well as the one on which he 
now lives, and has always been respected. 

Luke Wyckoff, the elder son of John V., 
was reared on the Bath township farm, which 
is now under his charge, the father having vir- 
tually retired from active labor. In March, 
1878, Luke married Miss Omie Wise, who 
was born August 25, 1856, and died Novem- 
ber 7, 1895, leaving one daughter, Florence, 
born June 3, 1879. Florence is now house- 
keeper for her grandfather and father, and a 
very good housekeeper she is. She received 
her education in the common schools and also 
at the Richfield high school. 

Luke Wyckoff is a stanch republican iri^ 
politics. He is a member of Osborn's Corners' 
grange. No. 1079, and is the present master, 
and his daughter. Flora, is organist and Ceres 
of the grange; she is also a member of the 
I. O. of G. T. , No. 194, at Richfield, Ohio, an 
organization of about seventy-five members. 



' w ^ ENRY D. YOUNG, a thriving young. 
»^^^ farmer of Suffield township, was born 
J ^ P in Summit county, Ohio, March ii, 
1 86 1, a son of David and Catherine 

(Mishler) Young. He received his early edu- 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



981 



cation in the public school, which he attended 
until he reached the age of twenty, and here 
he passed his life on his father's farm, until 
his twenty-first year, when he commenced 
farming for himself. He was married, Octo- 
ber 4, 1 88 1, to Miss Emma Schrantz, daugh- 
ter of Alfred and Fiana (Martin) Schrantz, 
and to their union was born a family of five 
children, viz: Ellen, January 5, 1883; Har- 
vey, November 12, 1886; Delia, June 24, 1891 ; 
Bessie, April 16, 1894, and Lottie, October 
I, 1896. In the spring of 1886, Mr. Young 
removed to the farm which he now occupies, 
and he and family are faithful members of the 
German Baptist church. 

The parents of our subject were both na- 
tives of Lancaster county. Pa. In the days of 
his early manhood, the father learned the 
trade of a potter, and followed that trade for a 
number of years after coming to Summit 
county, Ohio. He afterward engaged in farm- 
ing, and in 1865, he came to Portage coun- 
ty, where he has since resided. He was mar- 
ried June 28, 1849, to Miss Catherine Mishler, 
daughter of Henry and Nancy (Eberly) Mish- 
ler, and six children came to bless their union, 
of whom only three remain: Nancy, wife of 
Benjamin Mishler; Henry D,, and Lovina 
(wife of Samuel Royer); those passed away 
were Maria, who died in 1861, aged ten years, 
Louisa, who died in 1861, aged eight years, 
and Lizzie, who died in 1861, aged two years 
— ^these three all having died within a week of 
that dread disease, diphtheria. Mr. Young, 
father of our subject, was ordained as a minis- 
ter of the German Baptist church, in which he 
is still preaching, also being an elder of 
the church; both parents reside in Suffield 
township. 

Samuel Young, paternal grandfather of Mr. 
Young, was a native of Pennsylvania and in 
his early days was a teamster, driving a team 
between Pittsburg and Philadelphia, Pa. He 



came to Ohio and settled in Summit county, 
where he lived all his life. He was married 
to Miss Elizabeth Rhoads, and to them were 
born eight children, seven of whom are still 
living, viz: John, Henry, Simon, Samuel, 
David, Lovina (wife of Henry Landis) and 
Frederick. The grandfather was the owner 
of a large pottery in Summit county and also 
engaged in farming. He passed away Novem- 
ber 20, 1880, at the ripe old age of eighty-four 
years, eight months and ten days. 

Henry Mishler. the maternal grandfather 
of our subject, was also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania and emigrated to Ohio when a small boy. 
He afterward located in Portage county, where 
he engaged in farming. He was married to 
Miss Nancy Eberly, and eleven children blessed 
this union, eight of whom are living, viz: 
Annie (wife of Michael Rabenstine), Susan 
(wife of William Mills), Catherine (wife of 
David Young), Jacob, Elizabeth (wife of Dan- 
iel Merkley), Martha (wife of Emanuel Bell- 
inger), Emma (wife of Joseph Stevens), and 
Fiana (wife of Richard F. Adams). Those 
who have passed on before were Henry, Oli- 
ver, and Polly. Mrs. Young, wife of our sub- 
ject, was born April 13, 1863, in Stark county, 
Ohio, which was the birthplace of both her 
parents, her father having been born Septem- 
ber 4, 1 84 1. He was principally engaged in 
farming and also engaged in threshing. He 
was married November 5, 1861, to Miss 
Fiana Martin, daughter of Jacob and Maria 
(Surbey) Martin, and to them were born two 
children, Mrs. Young being the elder, and 
Alvin, the younger, resides in Suffield. The 
father died September 21, 1866, at the early 
age of twenty-five years, in the faith of the 
German Baptist church. His widow was next 
married to Jacob Mishler, to whom she has 
borne two children, but one of whom is living 
— Ellen (wife of Silvanus Fausnight); John 
died in infancy. 



982 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



Michael Schrantz, paternal grandfather of 
Mrs. Young, was born October 3, 1819, in 
Lititz, Lancaster county, Pa., his parents then 
residing near a place known as Shaffer's Mill. 
In his early boyhood days he attended the 
graded school under the tutorage of Prof. 
John Beck, at Lititz, when his parents emi- 
grated to Stark county, Ohio; he was then in 
his sixteenth year, and was instructed with the 
driving of one of the teams. He remained 
with his parents on their farm, two miles north 
of New Berlin, Stark county, until his marriage 
with Miss Sally Mohler, which occurred 
March 15, 1840. They began housekeeping 
on a small tract of land in Stark county, and 
in the spring of 184s removed to a farm three 
miles north of Canton, Ohio, where they re- 
sided until the spring of 1851, when they re- 
moved to the old homestead in Stark county, 
which the family have ever since occupied. 
Mr. Schrantz was a member of the German 
Baptist church and died September 12, 1887. 
The fruit of this marriage with Miss Mohler 
was eight children, viz : Alfred, Mary, Cath- 
arine, Malinda, John, Mahala, Henry and 
Sarah. 

Henry D. Young, although still a young 
man, has exhibited wonderful skill as a farmer, 
and his well-tilled fields give evidence of most 
excellent management. He and family hold 
a high position in the social circles of Suffield 
township, and are among its most respected 
residents. 



HLEXANDER B. YOUNG, superin- 
tendent of the Kent Water & Light 
company, is a native of Carbondale, 
Pa., was born July 11, 1849, and is 
a son of William and Elizabeth (Bryden) 
Young, natives of Scotland. 

William Young, father of Alexander Bry- 
den Young, the subject, was a farmer in Scot- 



land, but for some years lived in Glasgow. 
He and wife came to the United States in 
1845 ^nd settled in the Keystone state, where 
Mr. Young engaged in the grocery trade in 
Carbondale and also engaged in draying. 
Later still he removed to Scranton (then 
known asSlocum's Hollow) and was employed 
as foreman in the mines of the Pennsylvania 
Coal company; his death took place May 20, 
1892, at the age of seventy-two years, and his 
widow is still a resident of Scranton. They 
were the parents of fourteen children — seven 
sons and seven daughters — of whom thirteen 
grew to maturity and were reared in the re- 
ligious faith of their parents — that of the Pres- 
byterian church. Of these children, James D. is 
superintendent of the Pennsylvania Coal com- 
pany's mines and resides in Dunmore, Pa. ; 
Andrew was a molder by trade and also a 
miner, and died in Scranton, Pa., December 
12, 1893; Maggie is married to James Bryden 
and resides in Carbondale, 111. ; Alexander B. 
is the subject of this biography; Mary is wife of 
James Meers, of Hyde Park, Pa.; Belle mar- 
ried Alexander Smith; David is a baker and 
grocer of Newburg, Ohio; Katie, Jennie and 
Lizzie are living with their mother; Thomas, 
is a foreman in Gj'psy Grove colliery and lives 
in Dunmore, Pa.; William died in Scranton; 
Robert is a locomotive engineer at Scranton. 
Alexander Bryden Young was six years of 
age when his parents moved to Scranton, and 
at the age of nine years was placed at work in 
the coal mines as a mule driver. These mines 
were closed about four weeks each winter, and 
during these periodical closings young Alex- 
ander attended school. At the age of fifteen 
years he entered the molding shops of the 
Pennsylvania Coal company and learned the 
trade, serving as an apprentice until nineteen 
3'ears old. and then visited Oswego, N. Y. , 
and Cleveland, Ohio. December 10. 1869. 
he came to Kent and was appointed assistant 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



983 



foreman in the railroad shops, and so served, 
with the exception of one year, until appointed 
to his present position, about 1886. 

The Kent Water & Light plant, which is 
owned by an eastern syndicate, was con- 
structed in 1886-87, although the light plant 
was not completed until 1889. The water is 
obtained from six Cook wells, which supply a 
reservoir of 12,000,000 gallons capacity — the 
average, daily consumption being about 350,- 
000 gallons. In the light plant the Westing- 
house system is used, and furnishes both arc 
and incandescent lights. Of the former, the 
city makes use of sixty, which are furnished 
at $60 each per annum, and of the latter 
about 1,000 are in use. Mr. Young superin- 
tended the construction of these plants, has 
been the superintendent of the company ever 
since, and is the only officer of the companj' 
resident in Kent, the president, C. C. Pomroy, 
and the secretary and treasurer, C. E. Kim- 
ball, being residents of New York city. 

The marriage of Mr. Young took place 
March 9, 1872, with Miss Mary F. Newberry, 
who was born in Kent, March 4. 1850, a 
daughter of O. H. Newberry, an old re-sidtnt 
of the city, and this union has -been blessed 
with seven children, viz: Mamie, James E., 
Oliver H., Irena S., Harry Alexander, Will- 
iam C. and Robert Hamilton. In politics 
Mr. Young is a republican and always takes 
an active part in the campaigns of his party as 
far as his time from business will permit. Fra- 
ternally he is a royal arch Mason, and also a 
member of the Royal Arcanum. 

Mr. Young has two uncles and three aunts 
still living, who came to the United States with 
his father, William Young. Of these, Thomas 
Young was lost sight of soon after arrival; 
David is a machinist at Norwalk, Ohio; Belle 
married Andrew Bryden and died in Pittston, 
Pa. ; Mary is still unmarried, and Betsey is 
married to John Hoyte, a resident of Michi- 



gan. Mr. Young has been the maker of his 
own way in life and has well won the high es- 
teem in which he is held by his fellow-citizens 
of Kent. 



^^y^ILLIAM E. YOUNG, .mayor of the 
■ ■ I ^'^'^ °^ Akron and the senior mem- 
^_%^ ber of the law firm of Young & 
Wanamaker, No. 182 South Main 
street, Akon, was born in Mount Hope, 
Holmes county, Ohio, February 3, 1863, a son 




Mathias and Catherine (King) Young, natives 
of Tuscarawas and Holmes counties, respect- 
ively, and of English and Irish t. descent, and 
now reside in Canton, Ohio. The father is 
a mechanic, politically is a democrat, and for 
many years has been a leader in local politics 
and a man of much influence. He and wife 
are members of the Methodist church, and in 
this faith have reared their children, of whom 
there are five, viz: William E., the subject 



984 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



of this memoir; Lottie A., of Canton; Har- 
vey R. , advertising manager for Bryce Bros. , 
clothiers, of Columbus; Nora and Joseph R. , 
at home. 

William E. Young was reared in Holmes 
county, Ohio, and educated in the public 
schools, alternating the winter months in study 
with the summer months in farm work for 
about three years, until seventeen years old, 
when he began teaching, a vocation he followed 
for five jears, applying his salary, as fast as he 
collected it, to the defraying of his college 
expenses, and alternating his time between 
the school-room and the college, as he had pre- 
viously done between the farm and school- 
room; this college was the Ohio Normal uni- 
versity at Ada, which he entered in 1882, and 
from which he graduated in 1 888. In the fall of 
the latter years, he was appointed principal of 
the high school at McConnelsville, Ohio, which 
position he held two year, and while thus en- 
gaged passed an examination and was granted 
a life certificate as teacher. In the fall of 
1890 he entered the law department of the 
university of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from 
which he graduated in 1892, and then came 
to Akron, Ohio, and was here appointed local 
editor and business manager of the City 
Times, and local correspondent of the Cleve- 
land Plaindealer. January I, 1893, he opened 
a law office in the Pfleuger block, on Howard 
street, Akron, having been admitted to the 
bar in March, 1892, and practiced his profes- 
sion alone until October i, 1893, when he 
formed his present partnership with Mr. Wana- 
maker, since which time his growing practice 
has absorbed all his time and attention. 

In politics Mr. Young is a democrat and 
takes and active part in advancing his party 
and its principles, and in April, 1897, was 
elected mayor of the city of Akron, being the 
only democrat elected upon the cit\' ticket 
at that election. In his fraternal relations. 



he is a member of McPherson lodge. No. 63, 
Knights of Pythias, and is also a member of 
the Akron club. 

Mr. Young was united in marriage, June 
12, 1895, with Miss Mary R. Pouts, daughter 
of W. O. Pouts, of McConnelsville, Ohio. 
Mrs. Young is a consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. They have their 
home at No. 417 Perkins street, where they 
are surrounded by a host of estimable and 
esteeming friends. 



'HARLES YOUNG, residing in Tall- 



madge, Ohio, and one of the old sol- 



^^^^/[ diers • of the Civil war, was born 
October 20, 1834, in the north of 
Ireland, is of sterling Scotch-Irish ancestry, 
and is a son of Samuel and Mary (Kemmer) 
Young. He received a common-school educa- 
tion, and came to America when he was but 
fourteen years old, with his mother and sister 
Bella, '"ho had married Robert McGull. They 
came in October, 1849, in a sailing vessel, and 
were six weeks on the passage to New York 
city, whence they made their way to Akron, 
Summit county, Ohio. 

When old enough, Charles Young engaged 
in common labor, as he had to support his 
mother. He enlisted at Akron, Ohio, in Au- 
gust, and was mustered in at Camp Jefferson, 
Ohio, September 30, 1861, for three years or 
during the war, in company G, Twenty-ninth 
Ohio volunteer infantry, Capt. John Clemmer, 
and served until honorably discharged at Camp 
Chase, Ohio, October i, 1862, on account of 
disability — typhoid fever. He served in the 
Shenandoah valley, Va. , and was in the battle 
of Kingstown, near Winchester, and in several 
skirmishes, and in many hard marches in the 
winter of 1861. He was in the hospital sick 
with chronic diarrhea for some time, and on 
partial recovery assisted as nurse in the care 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



985 



of the sick and wounded, and about one month 
was sick with typhoid fever. He was in all 
the battles, skirmishes, marches and cam- 
paigns in which his regiment was engaged and 
did his full duty while in health. 

Mr. Young married, the first time, in New 
Castle, Pa., before the war, Margaret Orr, 
who was born in the north of Ireland, a daugh- 
ter of Samuel Orr, and to Mr. and Mrs. Young 
were born John and Bell (both deceased), Char- 
lotte, Margaret and Fannie. Mrs. Young died 
in 1865, at New Castle, Pa., and Mr. Young 
was ne.xt married in Akron, Ohio, in March, 
1868, by Rev. Fitch, to Lucy Telley, and the 
children were Charles, born in Delaware coun- 
ty, Iowa, February 28, 1870, and died in May, 
1879; John S. , born December 27, 1872, in 
Dubuque, Iowa; Thomas, born at Tallmadge, 
Ohio, May 5, 1875, and died May, 1879; Mary, 
born at Tallmadge, Ohio, May 25, 1876, and 
died May, 1879; James, born May 8, i878, at 
Tallmadge, Ohio; Grace M., born May 3, 
1 88 1, in Akron, Ohio; D. K., born at Tall- 
madge, September 28, 1884. In politics Mr. 
Young is a republican. He is a member of 
Buckley post, G. A. R., at Akron, and has al- 
ways been a hard-working, industrious man, 
but is much disabled from his service to his 
adopted country. 

Samuel Young, father of Charles, was a 
native of the north of Ireland, and to his mar- 
riage with Miss Kenner were born ten chil- 
dren, all of whom lived to marry and rear 
children, and all of whom came to America, 
except the second son, Robert. These children 
were Samuel, Robert, Isabel, Jane, John, 
Fannie, James, Charles, Nancy, and Mary, 
who died when young. Samuel Young died 
in Ireland and his widow came to America and 
died in Akron, Ohio, an old lady. Both were 
members of the Presbyterian church. 

Charles Telly, father of Mrs. Charles 
Young, was a farmer, born near Dublin, Ire- 

44 



land, and was a foundry man by occupation. 
He married, in Ireland, Mary Byrne, and the 
children were Catherine, Thomas, Charles, 
Mary, John and Lucy. Mr. Telly came to 
America directly after his marriage, located 
at Monroe Falls, but soon moved to Cuyahoga 
Falls, where he worked in a foundry and there 
passed his remaining days. All the children 
were born there except Catherine, who was 
born at Munroe Falls. Mr. and Mrs. Telly 
were members of the Catholic church, and 
had two sons in the Civil war — John and 
Charles. John was out one year, was in sev- 
eral battles, and on Sherman's march to the 
sea; Charles was in the 100-day service. Mr. 
and Mrs. Young went to Iowa after marriage 
and lived in Dubuque county several years, 
but are now among the most respected citizens 
of Tallmadge township. Summit county, Ohio. 



tJX 



ILLIAM H. YOUTZ, formerly one 
of the most respected farmers of 
Suffield township, Portage county, 
Ohio, but now deceased, was born 
in Stark county, Ohio, December 12, 1840, a 
son of Henry and Mary (Ream) Youtz. When 
he was sixteen years of age his parents came 
to Portage county, but he continued his resi- 
dence in Stark county until he reached his six- 
teenth year. He then came to Portage county, 
and engaged in farming, and June 29, 1867, 
married Miss Louisa Weaver, daughter of 
Jacob and Hosanna (Little) Weaver, the cer- 
emony being performed by 'Squire William 
Paulus. To this congenial marriage were 
born seven children, five of whom still survive, 
viz: Minnie, wife of Seward Thomas, of 
Akron, Ohio; Charles E. , who married Miss 
Elizabeth Vile, and is residing in Mogadore; 
Murray, bookkeeper in Cleveland; Thomas 
and Flossie H. Those who passed away were 
Bertha, who died May 21, 1871, at the age of 



986 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



nine months and one da)', and Nellie, who 
died March 15, 1885. at the age of four years 
and four months. Mr. Youtz, who was a very 
industrious man, accumulated considerable 
property in his vocation as a farmer, and af- 
forded his family a ver\' comfortable home, 
but was called away, August 2, 1896, at the 
age of fifty-five years and eight months, a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church, of which he has 
been a devout member and a trustee. 

The parents of William H. Youtz were 
both born in Dauphin county. Pa., but were 
among the early settlers of Ohio. Henry 
Youtz, the father, was a district school-teacher 
in his young manhood, and was also a farmer. 
To his marriage with Miss Mary Ream, a 
daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth (Wagoner) 
Ream, were born eleven children, besides 
the subject, six of whom are still living, 
viz: Urias; Elizabeth; Mary Ann, wife of 
Noah Falor; W infield, married to Tillie 
Thornton; Zachariah, married to Kate Pack- 
ard, and Sarah, the wife of Isaac Paulus. 
The deceased were Jefferson, Josephine, two 
that died in infancy, and William H., our sub- 
ject. The parents were consistent members of 
the Evangelical church, and died at the re- 
spective ages of eighty-six and seventy-nine 
years. 

Mrs. William H. (Weaver) Youtz, wife of 
our deceased subject, was born in Summit 
county, Ohio, October 7, 1848. Jacob Weav- 
er, her father, was a native of Germany, was 
born January 14, 18 19, and his wife, Hosanna 
(Little) Weaver, was born in Columbiana 
count}', Ohio, May 8, 1812, of English parent- 
age. Jacob Weaver came to America in 1840, 
and located in Fulton, Ohio, where he joined 
a brother, but later changed from place to 
place, engaged in trade, mostly of a mercantile 
character, until i860, when he came to Port- 
age county, where he purchased a small farm, 
on which he lived a few jears and then sold, 



purchasing the one now occupied by his 
daughter, Mrs. Youtz, and on which his 
death took place. To his marriage, October 
28. 1846, with Miss Little, daughter of Adam 
and Sarah (Miller) Little, there were born 
two children — Mrs. Youtz and Sarah, the lat- 
ter now the wife of William Hively, and the 
mother of two children, Minnie and Burd. 
Mr. and Mrs. Weaver were members of the 
German Reformed church, of which Mr. 
Weaver was a deacon and elder, and in the 
faith of which he died September 7, 1892, his 
wife having preceded him to the grave March 
5, 1889, at the respective ages of seventy-one 
and seventy-two years. 

Daniel Weaver, the grandfather of Mrs. 
Youtz, on the paternal side, came from Ger- 
man}- to the United States, and with his wife 
and three children settled in Uniontown, 
Stark count}', Ohio, and engaged in farming. 
Six months later he lost his wife, who, it is 
said, died of home-sickness. Daniel and 
Elizabeth Weaver died at the respective ages 
of seventy-two and fifty years, both in the 
faith of the German Reformed church. The 
maternal grandparents of Mrs. Youtz were 
natives of Dauphin county. Pa. The grand- 
father came to Ohio when a young man, 
settled in Columbiana county, where he was 
a school-teacher for several years, but event- 
ually settled down to farming. He was a man 
of influence in his township, and served thirty 
years as justice of the peace; was also a 
soldier in the war of 18 12, and in the war 
with Mexico. To his marriage with Miss 
Sarah Miller, daughter of George and Kate 
Miller, were born eight children, who were 
named, in order of birth. Andrew, Hannah 
(who was married to Charles Post), John, 
Cathena (Mrs. John Chubb), Thomas, Will- 
iam, Hosanna and Eli. The deaths of the 
parents of this family took place December 9, 
i860, when the father was ninety-six years 



OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES. 



987 



old, and that of the mother occurred in 1840, 
at the age of sixty -seven. The great-grand- 
father of Mrs. Youtz was a cloak merchant in 
England, made a successful business trip to 
America, but on his return homeward died on 
shipboard, and was buried in the depths of 
the Atlantic ocean. 

Mrs. William H. Youtz still resides on the 
family homestead in Suffield township, and is 
regarded with the utmost esteem by all her 
neighbors and the hundreds of friends whom 
her many amiabilities of mind and heart have 
drawn to her side. 



>^OHN A. ZOOK, of Cuyahoga Falls, 
■ Ohio, was one of the old soldiers of 
/• J the Civil war and is a respected citizen. 
He springs of German and Scotch an- 
cestry, was born July 6, 1840, in Pittsburg, 
Pa., and is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Mun) 
Zook. 

Jacob Zook was born in Washington coun- 
ty. Pa., was a ship carpenter and farmer and 
married, in Pennsj'lvania, becoming the father 
of six children, viz: John A., James, Michael 
A., Lydia, Mary C. and Margaret E. Jacob 
Zook came to Ohio in 1844 and settled in 
Coshocton county, where he engaged in farm- 
ing. He enlisted, in the fall of 1861, in the 
Eightieth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, 
to serve three years or during the war. He 
was wounded while bridge building, and was 
honorably discharged and returned home, and 
on recovering went to Indiana, where he en- 
listed in an infantry regiment, for three years. 
He had served but two years, when the w'ar 
closed and he was again honorably discharged, 
and died at Fort Madison, Iowa, August 12, 
1887. He had two sons in the Civil war — 
James and John A. James enlisted in the 
Nineteenth Ohio infantry, for the three-months' 
service, and was in the battles of Rich Mount- 



ain, and Laurel Hill, Va. He died of sick- 
ness — black measles — one week before his 
time expired. 

John A. Zook was but four years old when 
brought by his father to Ohio. He received a 
common-school education and was reared to 
farming. At the age of twenty-one years he 
enlisted in Coshocton county in company K, 
Twenty-fourth Ohio \olunteer infantry, Capt. 
Josiah Givens, to serve three years or during 
the war, served eighteen months, and was 
honorably discharged, on account of sickness, 
at Camp Chase in the fall of 1862. After 
partial recovery, he enlisted, at Camp Chase, 
Ohio, in company A, Second Ohio cavalry, 
for three years or to the close of the war, and 
served until honorably discharged, in Novem- 
ber, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio. He was in 
the battles of Greenbrier Mountain, Va., and 
Pittsburg Landing, while in the infantry, but 
was taken sick with typhoid fever after the 
battle of Shiloh and was confined in hospital 
three months at Lawrenceville, Ky. In the 
cavalry service he was in the battle of Cum- 
berland river, Ky. , on the raid after Morgan 
in Ohio, at the siege of Knoxville, at Blue 
Springs and Bristol, Tenn., and at Strawberry 
Plains and Green Station; he fought through 
the Wilderness, and was in the Shenandoah 
valley, fighting through to Appotomax Court 
House. Mr. Zook was alwa3S an active sol- 
dier, was never a prisoner nor wounded, and 
served his country faithfully. 

Mr. Zook married, in Summit county, Oc- 
tober 5, 1868, Maria Thompson, who was 
born in Pennsylvania, September 22, 1833, a 
daughter of William and Eliza (Matthews) 
Thompson. Mr. Thompson was a farmer and 
his children, beside Mrs. Zook, were George, 
Ann, Elizabeth, Louisa, Nancy, Jennie and 
Sarah. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were mem- 
bers of the Seceder Presbjterian church, and 
Mr. Thompson lived to the great age of nine- 



M^ 



988 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



ty-six years, dying at Hudson, Ohio, in 1892, 
at the home of his daughter, Louisa. Mr. and 
Mrs. Zook have lived in Summit county since 
the war, and came to Cuyahoga Falls in 1888, 
and bought a pleasant residence. The chil- 
dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Zook are William 
J., Margaret, E. J. E. and Mary C. 

Mr. and Mrs. Zook are members of the 
Methodist church, and in politics he is a re- 
publican. He is a member of the G. A. R., 
post. No. n , at Cuyahoga Falls, and is a 
highly esteemed member of the community in 
which he now lives. 



m. 



^ILLIAM HENRY ADAMS,of Akron, 
may well be classed as among the 
leading liverymen of northeastern 
Ohio. He was born in Manchester, 
Summit county, July 15, 1848, the fifth of a 
family of si.x children who blessed the union 
of Daniel and Mary (Shook) Adams, natives of 
Pennsylvania, who settled in Summit county, 
Ohio, pior to 1830, and now reside on a farm 
near Manchester, although the father is by 
trade a stonemason and plasterer, and through 
his skill and industry in this line acquired suf- 
ficient means with which to purchase his farm 
and retire to the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. 



William H. Adams was educated in the 
common school of his district, which he at- 
tended until fourteen years of age, and then 
began learning the plasterer's trade under his 
father, and continued this trade until 1882; 
he next carried on the butchering business for 
two years, and then farmed for about seven 
years, when he came to Akron, and for three 
years traveled for the Columbian Medicine 
company. On severing his connection with 
this company he engaged in the livery business 
in the Empire barn, one of the oldest livery 
stands in this city, as well as one of the best 
appointed barns in the county. For twenty- 
five years Mr. Adams has been manufacturing 
Adams' Eureka Liniment, for man and beast, 
the efficacy of which secures for it a ready sale. 

Mr. Adams was married, in 1868, to Miss 
Lavina E. Workinger, daughter of Emannel 
Workinger, and this union has been blessed 
with two daughters — Jennie and Mabel. In 
politics, Mr. Adams is a democrat, and Mrs. 
Adams is a member of the Reformed church. 
Mr. Adams is a popular and genial gentleman, 
is accommodating to his patrons, and on all 
occasions manifests a disposition to please, 
and prosperity has been the reward of his fair 
and liberal methods in transacting his present 
business. 




':in 



1,° "^^v 










A 



N^t 













'^^^ 







o V 



^'-^ V 








4 o 






■p. 














o V 




nfC t96av =^W:^; y^ \ 






